A step at a time [WEEK 8]


Hey guys!I'm back:)

Ahhhh, finally found time to update this humble space of mine.Have been really occupied with lots of stuff for the past few weeks and I felt the need to take some time off school and all the commitments to pen down my thoughts here.

I'm currently left with one more midterm exam and a few other projects and assignments due soon so I'm still in the midst of clearing my work but as always,I'm taking a step at a time to clear things slowly,I really love pacing myself such that I won't feel so overwhelmed cos things will eventually work out anyway,no point stressing yourself out like how I did in the past,such a big fool.

So,I've met with some conflicts with one of my project group mate,she's actually part of our geog clique but I knew she has some kind of EQ issues and she somehow always ended up in a conflict with everyone even though there wasn't any conflict to begin with. But well, at least she was willing to admit on her fault so yep,that issue was resolved and we are currently embarking on our next project:)

Other than this project issue,the past few weeks have been pretty smooth sailing for me except for maybe being sick for the whole of last week, the weather is rather erratic these few days so guys, please take good care of your health!!!Really not a good time to fall sick when you have so many things due soon but I'm grateful for friends who've been by my side,helping me whenever I'm in need, really grateful and should they have the need for my help in future,I will make sure I'm there for these people:D Having a bunch of good friends in NUS is really important, I really can't picture myself surviving school for so long without them.

So these are the highlights for the past few weeks:
1)Completed Geog Challenge Prelims 2017 on 25 February 2017
2)Passed my 2nd TP Test on 4 March 2017
3)Completed 40% of GE4222 CA

For Geog Challenge, I'm really glad that it's finally over now. I was involved in both GC prelim planning and execution so I've been working with GCOC since last september. I wouldn't say it's super time-consuming but it's not too chill either.I had to attend meetings, set questions for GC, undergo rounds of vetting, trying out test papers and dry runs before the actual day. I would say that it was a good experience for me to learn how fellow peers in GCOC managed to run the whole event by themselves and was glad to meet some new friends along the way. This would probably be my first and last GC involvement,I don't really like doing the same thing multiple times unless it really interests me and I believe being involved in other aspects of Geog soc would probably be more beneficial for me by exposing me to other stuffs:)

ANDDDDDD here comes the long awaited post for my TP test:) I've been dying to blog about my TP journey ever since I've passed my retest last saturday and I would say that this has been the greatest motivation for me to update my blog today HAHA!So for those who don't know, I've been learning how to drive since 2016. I took my BTT and FTT under CDC (I chose CDC because I live in the extreme east and it would only make sense for me to go to CDC) as a school student cos stupid me did not know that I was able to save so much money if I took my theories as a private student LOL,so I recommended the private route to my sister who's currently considering whether to start learning driving.I passed both theories with one try, both 50/50 okay lame,nobody cares about theory...I decided to enrol myself as a private student for my practical test because school driving lessons are really expensive and the most important reason for why I've opted for private instead of school is the flexibility and convenience of booking lessons with a private instructor. I really don't have the luxury and energy to camp by my computer to book lessons if I went for school. So right after I passed my BTT in June 2016, I started to source for a private driving instructor online and through word of mouth but my final decision was made based on an online PDI review. I went for auto (class 3A) instead of manual btw, because I don't see a need to learn manual driving given that most cars are now auto and I doubt I would ever have the courage to drive overseas (I don't even dare to drive on the expressway in SG yet).

I was quite fortunate to get a decent PDI,my instructor's name is Mr Koh (you can drop me a chat with your conteact info in my chatbox for his details if you're keen) and Mr Koh only teaches class 3A. He's really nice, patient and punctual, he have never scolded me throughout the whole journey with him though I must admit that my driving skills really sucked. He's also very punctual for all his lessons and I never had to call him to remind him of my lessons unlike some of my friend's irresponsible instructor. I honestly believe that your instructor really plays a very important role in your journey to get a driving license because a bad instructor really makes life even harder for someone who has zero experience in driving. My driving lessons are $36/hr for outside driving and around $64/hr for circuit since I am a private student and I usually book circuit lessons from 6pm-7pm because that's when the circuit is relatively empty and the sky is still bright, making it the most ideal time for me to learn circuit therefore,I have to pay slightly more for better circuit conditions. I don't see any point in learning circuit driving at night when the sky is dark since your test is in the day plus there's really no point saving up on circuit by opting for congested time slots because you will just end up wasting your time and money queuing up to do the various stations. If you are planning to learn under Mr Koh now,his lessons are now $38/hr already because he recently changed his car from Toyota Vios to Mitsubishi Lancer and he said that the latter's fuel economy is not as good as the Vios so he has to increase his lesson rate to recover some fuel costs (phewwww so lucky that I joined him earlier)! His rates are actually slightly higher than other PDIs but not too high,I'm still willing to pay more for a better instructor.

My first driving lesson was on 10 July 2016 (Sunday) and that was before I got my FTT. I decided to start learning driving before my FTT because I could speed up the whole learning time and I was very confident that I will pass my FTT on my first try which is just 2-3 weeks after my first lesson so not much problems!I took a total of around 34 lessons (including circuit lessons) before my first TP test on 17 December 2016 but unfortunately,I failed. For my first TP test, my time slot was supposed to be the best slot at 10.15am according to Mr Koh and online forums as that is when the circuit and outside roads are clear but oh well, I wasn't really confident with myself that day and met a tester who wasn't very friendly. After failing the first test, I then booked another 6 lessons before the second test from January 2017 to March 2017,I went for 3 outside driving and 3 circuits before the test with no warm up this time round. Just like the first test, I chose to take my TP test on a saturday because I have school in the weekdays and saturdays are when ubi roads are slightly emptier since the industries are closed on saturdays. Mr Koh initially helped me to book my retest on 25 February (10.15am) but I had GC prelims the whole day so fml,had to say goodbye to the 10.15am good slot but I was very fortunate that Mr Koh managed to get me a slot at 11am on 4 March 2017. He told me 11am is good too but not as good as 10.15am because the circuit will be more congested at 11am but I had no choice and I believe that if you practise hard enough and is confident with your own skills, coupled with a reasonable tester, you will pass. Plus I've always been told that as long as you avoid the morning and evening peak slots,the chances of you passing is quite decent so I decided to just take the 11am slot and true enough, I performed well and passed at that slot:)

For my first test, I was still nursing a really bad fever and sore throat plus the lack of test experience caused me to loose focus. I was tested for all components in the circuit (so you can see why sometimes a good slot with less congested circuit conditions might not be ideal after all) and the sequence were as follows: directional change->ramp->S course->slope->parallel parking->crank course->vertical parking->Ebrake. I striked the kerb at parallel parking, at station 43 right beside the slope which is my weakest parallel parking lot because there's no sighting point for you to turn out unlike other parallel parking lots. I didn't reverse back enough before I turned out and strike the kerb unfortunately. Actually I kinda knew I had the chance of striking kerb but did not want to reverse back fearing that at that weird angle which I've never encountered before, I might risk mounting or striking kerb at the rear end so I decided to try my luck but was unlucky:( Right after the mishap at parallel parking, the malay tester became even stricter with me and my whole mind was on the mistake at parallel parking. I had no other major mistakes in the circuit but my outside driving was disastrous. I don't know if testers will really stick to the route that was balloted for you or they can just pick any routes for you during the test itself (I've heard too many different sayings so I can't tell which is more credible) but I was brought to a route that I was unfamiliar with. Mr Koh had never brought be to the route that goes to Eunos Link and requires you to do a Uturn in heavy traffic but it was a legit test route,I was quite upset with Mr Koh after this because even after 30 odd lessons,he failed to bring me there.The unfamiliarity together with heavy traffic at Eunos Link since it's near the MRT station coupled with my mind on the mistake I made,I totally lost myself and almost got into an accident at the Uturn part where I had to filter 3 lanes to do the Uturn.That near accident only took place when I was changing at the 3rd to 4th lane and that's quite unfair because even qualified drivers find it hard to change so many lanes within such a short period of time and I was awarded an immediate failure for that "improper action almost causing an accident). I missed the Uturn point too and had to make a huge detour back to CDC. On the way, the malay tester just kept reprimanding him but I was too upset to care about what he said and I was thinking to myself "that's it,today's a wasted trip and I have to make the decision whether to continue learning or just give up". I got 1 immediate failure and 30 demerit points on my first try, my friend actually got 52 demerit points so I guess that's the only thing that made me feel slightly better.Right after the test,the malay tester told me to try again and learn from my mistakes and I went home right away with no mood to even top up my CDC account to book my next retest. Mr Koh was really nice about it,and he told me to not give up and he will help me book the retest and top up my account for me. I had the though of giving up but knowing that I've spent so much money and time on learning how to drive,I shouldn't give up just because I failed the first time. It took me some time to have the courage to resume my lessons. This time round,I made sure I work on my weaknesses which are lane-changing and parallel parking so I took some outside driving lessons at peak hours to train myself to change lanes properly. I believe that if I can handle lane-changing at peak hours, I definitely would find lane-changing during my retest manageable:) For circuits,I made sure I was confident with every station and I practised very hard on my parallel parking, before the retest I was so stressed but I didn't want to overburden myself since I had other work to do too and I fell sick again on the monday of that week but I guess my hardwork really boosted my confidence. The night before my test,I couldn't sleep at all and had only 2 hours of sleep?!? I told myself that after 40 lessons,I'm well prepared enough and nothing can stop me from getting the license I deserve,not even the tester. My tester this time round was a chinese guy,he's nice but not overly nice as in he just kept quiet throughout the test and just gave me instructions. He was late for 5 minutes and I was the last one to be called out this time round (the previous time I was also one of the last few to be called out) and I was really nervous in the waiting room. When I got into the car with the tester, I told myself that I can do this and the test is really short so I just have to perform well in this 30 minutes and I calmed down a lot and started the circuit component. I was tested in this sequence: directional change->ramp->slope->parallel parking->S course-> crank course->vertical parking. I didn't get tested on Ebrake because the circuit was still congested and that's one good reason to take your test when the circuit is congested to avoid Ebrake or even some other stations potentially. I got parallel parking at 43 again, really strong fate with that fking lot but this time round,I did all my safety checks and procedures carefully and slowly and after completing the parallel parking without any mistakes I felt really relieve and believe that there was a high chance that I could pass this time round. At the S course which is one of my least confident station because there's no sighting points at all but to rely on my gut feeling (surprisingly I've never strike or mounted kerb at S course before),I made sure I drove through it carefully and steadily and sure enough,it was one of the most perfectly executed S course driving I've done before:)) Vertical parking was a little scary cos my right wheels were quite close to the kerb but I remembered Mr Koh telling me that sometimes if you go slow enough,you might still be able to make it and I did not want to do corrections because each corrections will increase the chances of getting so mistakes so I inched slowly into the parking lot praying hard that I won't hit the kerb and I didn't woohoo! Since it was my last circuit station, I felt really happy that I survived the circuit and that gave me even more motivation to do well for my outside driving. I went out through the side gate this time round and only had to do a short route at upper paya lebar,I think the tester cut short the route knowing that I can drive well:D

In a short moment,I was on my way back to CDC, happily returning the car to Mr Koh while I followed the tester up to collect my test results:) I knew I had around 90% chance of passing but I was still afraid that I missed out on something. While waiting for the tester to print my test report,I overheard a boy who also took the test at my time slot crying while his tester reprimanded him for making some mistake,I felt really sorry for that boy as I fully understand the feeling when your tester told you that you've failed the test given that I went through the same just a few months before.My tester came back and told me to go down and watch the graduation video and explained the minor mistakes that I've made and told me the procedures to apply for a license:) I got only 8 demerit points with 0 immediate failures and I was really happy to finally see the PASSED on my test report:) I went down to look for Mr Koh before watching the graduation video and Mr Koh was really happy for me,so thankful to have a nice instructor!

I was super happy and the gory scenes in the video did little to scare me as I was still thinking of who I should send my result slip too HAHA.My family and friends were very happy and proud of me and I'm glad that I've made the choice to hide my retest date from most people except 3.

So to all who've failed your TP test,don't give up because you're just a step away from your license. You will only let yourself down if you give up now after putting in so much efforts and spending so much in your pursue to get your driving license. If so many people including myself can get it,I believe you can too,jia you!

That's all for now,got to catch up on some work,good bye!

With Love,
Cheryl

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