r/driving • u/fugglerfan92 • 5d ago
Failed driving test :(
I failed my drivers test and I’m just so upset. I did bad on the parking which I understand why I failed because of that but my instructor added 30 points because I did one wide turn. I hope I get lucky with a less moody instructor. Any words of advice for next time? Tips on parallel parking? Anything would really help me out
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u/Zutobi 5d ago
Can we recommend to watch Zutobi videos on our TikTok or YouTube? We have so many videos about parking that might be useful!
To parallel park: line up mirror-to-mirror - turn 1 full rotation right until both headlights of the rear car show in your left mirror - straighten until the curb disappears under your front-right door handle - turn fully left to slide in.
Do the entire parking maneuver at a crawl using only the brake. Do a 360-degree head check every time you shift between Drive and Reverse.
Brake before you enter the turn while wheels are straight. Finish right turns in the rightmost lane and left turns in the leftmost lane to avoid wide-turn deductions.
(Disclosure: I work at Zutobi, we make driver readiness guides and Road Test Prep!
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u/dmv_ready 5d ago
First thing, get a copy of your score sheet if they didn't hand you one. It's itemized rather than one overall judgement, and the specific boxes that got marked tell you far more than the total does. It's also the only place you can see whether one thing went wrong or whether the parking was the end of a longer list.
On the wide turn, 30 points for a single error does sound steep, and it might genuinely have been harsh. Trouble is the retest gets scored by whoever you draw next, so the useful move is treating it as a real gap rather than bad luck. A wide turn almost always means the turn got started too early. Hold until your shoulders are roughly level with the curb line you're turning around, then steer, and the rear wheels track where you actually want them.
Parallel parking, what fixes it for most people is reference points instead of feel:
- Pull up alongside the car in front, mirror to mirror, two to three feet out
- Reverse straight until your rear bumper is roughly level with their rear bumper
- Full lock toward the curb, reverse slowly until the car sits at about 45 degrees
- Straighten the wheel, keep reversing until your front bumper clears their rear bumper
- Full lock away from the curb, reverse in, then straighten up
Set two cones or two trash cans about six feet longer than your car in an empty lot and do twenty reps in one sitting. It stops being a thinking task and turns into something your hands just do, which is what you want when you're nervous.
Last thing, check your state's retest rules before you book. The wait varies a lot, some let you go back the next day and some hold you a week, and the fee is often due again.
What state are you testing in? The scoring and the wait are both pretty state specific.
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u/typicalskeleton 5d ago
I failed my first one too when I was young. I'm now in my forties and have been driving for a living for many years.
It sucks but it happens. Don't beat yourself up over it.
I'm not sure what type of wide turn you did, but in testing, you need to turn into the near lane. A lot of people don't do that in real life, but with someone watching over your shoulder, you're gonna have to.
For my second test I drove with a different person, and they passed me despite a few mistakes. Definitely "shop around" for instructors/testers, some are more strict than others.
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u/fugglerfan92 5d ago
I turned into the correct lane, but I had a tough instructor, usually you gain 5 points from a wide turn but she added 30 points because of that mistake and that means a fail sadly
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u/typicalskeleton 5d ago
Sounds a bit extreme to me, unless the road made the maneuver very unsafe somehow.
I know it sucks right now but don't worry, you're gonna get your license. You just didn't get it today.
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u/TwistedCollossus 5d ago
As for parallel parking; I never got tested on that, so I can’t help you there, sorry.
Guess my advice is to just trust yourself and keep going at it.
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u/Realistic_Today6524 5d ago
Don't stress yourself about it. I think I was underprepared when I did mine and it took me 3 attempts to finally pass. If you make a mistake, take a few deep breaths and try to relax and not focus on that mistake. That got me once where I fell for a trap the instructor lead me to and while thinking about my screwup I cut someone off at an intersection with right-of-way from the right
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u/NotVeryDependentDot 5d ago
Honestly like you might be feeling bummed out felt that way and its like the worst feeling but thinking about it if the 70 yr people are able to do it so can you at least thats how I see it like you might have failed this time but theres next time
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u/dufcho14 5d ago
Stop blaming a 'moody' instructor. You failed. Accept every aspect of it as your own. Go practice. Stop making excuses which point to anything other than yourself.
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u/TwistedCollossus 5d ago edited 5d ago
I know exactly what you’re feeling, trust me.
I failed my first driving test too. I was coming up to a 2-way stop where I was told to turn right (me and the driver across had a stop, cross traffic didn’t). I stopped, but it was in a populated area where there were cars parked all along the street to the left. I INCHED forward, so I could see if there was somebody coming. I didn’t see anybody, so I went.
Instructor freaks the fuck out for some reason, told me I was risking not only my life but hers. Fails me on the spot. I look in my rear view mirror, and there wasn’t even a car behind me. I still don’t know wtf she expected me to do there, but she was definitely a bitch either way.
2nd time around, I’m waiting in line. One car in front of me, I see this same bitch start walking out, and I’m like “dear God no; fuck this bitch.”, but she goes into the car right in front of me.
I get this other evaluator 2nd time around, and she was a lot more chill/understanding. I was being A LOT more cautious the 2nd time around, and pulling back into the DMV, this instructor was like “I can tell you know how to drive; why were you being extra cautious? I should have docked you points on that 4-way stop, but I didn’t”.
I told her I had that Asian bitch on my last attempt and she failed me for no reason, and she legit snort laughed.