My Theory Test

I could not swerve to avoid my driving theory test now. I had spent six months gearing myself up, so after persistent nagging and nudging from my instructor, I conceded to book my test.

I had exactly three weeks to learn what had seemed a steep hill of technical vehicle information. The fourteen sections of my driving manual did not even include the Highway Code; so this seemed a daunting task. Being a modern generation child, I decided to invest in the CD-ROM which became my oxygen over the coming weeks. I scratched my head over the documents and motorway rules section many a time.

Furthermore, I shrieked to find out about the ‘Hazard Perception’ part of the test. Now if you have been following my progress, you may recall that I am not visually very aware of my surroundings. To gather that there is an extra fifteen minutes to predict whether an old woman was going to cross the road from three miles away made my stomach turn.

After many late nights becoming utterly radioactive straining over my computer, the day came. With officially three hours of sleep mainly due to last-minute hazard perception panicking, I succumbed to taking a taxi to Croydon test centre. Being half an hour early proved vital as the driver gestured he was lost and I walked around aimlessly to find it in an inconspicuous building.

Thankfully, I made it on time and rushed into a waiting room full of nervous provisional drivers. An impolite man moved me towards my fate, which multiplied how bad the test was going to be. However, as I placed my deafening headset on, I realised I had pretty much memorised the whole manual. I finished the first half of the test in 10 minutes, with 5 minutes to ponder over a few of them.

Now onto the hazard perception part of the test. This was tricky. I was tempted to put matchsticks in my eyes to keep myself awake. My nose was about a millimetre away from the screen as I clicked on various potential dangers; wanting the ordeal to be over. I walked out mortified from lack of sleep and general computer exposure, waiting anxiously for my results.

There they were. I scanned down the page. PASS, you have received full marks for first part, and 62 out of 75 for the second. I had a mini celebration right there in the corridor by myself. All I thought was first stage done and now for the practical…