You Don't Study Hard for the Driver's License Exam.
Most people got the idea of traffic rules long before applying for a driver's license. Certainly, as a kid, you rode in a car with your parents and asked them what some road signs meant and why your daddy needed to use turn signals before performing a turning maneuver. Therefore, even minors have some basic knowledge about traffic rules, road lanes, car controls, ticked points, etc. So, it may seem you are so experienced in all this traffic stuff that it is enough to read the state driver's manual a couple of times to get prepared for your driver's license exam.
But this isn't true. Even if you are enrolled in some driver education course and study traffic rules within it, you are hardly able to remember all the important information that will be presented in driver's license exam questions without peeping into the driver's manual. And yes, there are some things which you have to learn by heart, whether you like it or not. And it is really smarter to spend some time on learning than to spend it on retaking the driving exam over and over again. But does studying hard always mean monotonous cramming? No, and this leads us to the next reason for driving exam failures.
Passive Learning Doesn't Help Much to Prepare for the Driving Exam.
It will be hard to absorb the knowledge from the driver's manual if you choose the old-fashioned way: just to read the handbook from the beginning till the end round and round until you get it by rote. It is boring, and you don't need it since there are many more effective and challenging ways to study for your driving test.
Start with an overview, which will help you understand the content structure and identify the chapters which contain the most important and complicated information. Then move to work with each chapter with a sheet of paper and a pencil. Write down figures, terms, notions, and other things you don't know yet and which can be used as some basis for other rules.
For example, write down the maximum speed limit in your state and then the minimum speed limits specified for school zones, blind intersections, alleys, and other higher-risk zones. Then try to reveal some patterns that will help you remember all other speed limit options between the maximum and the minimum.
Be creative! Make columns, lists, and sheets to arrange the information in an easy-to-remember way and engage your visual memory. Namely, put basic dos and don'ts in two columns and read them aloud (do you know that when just reading, you learn up to 50% of the information, while reading and repeating it aloud, you can improve your learning efficiency up to 70%?).
Make flashcards or use those available on the Internet as a part of learning tools developed specifically for preparing for the DMV driving test. They help focus on a certain question and the correct answer and are especially useful for difficult questions.
You Don't Practice for Your Driving Test.
As you already know, you can improve learning efficiency by up to 70% by simply reviewing information aloud. But, do you want to improve the efficiency even more? Researchers show that personal participation in learning activities (for example, in interactive games) can improve learning efficiency by up to 90%! So, when studying for your DMV permit test, combine reading the driver's manual with practicing DMV tests that are available online.
Why do we recommend online practice? You can find DMV knowledge test questions and answers both on the official DMV website and in the driver's handbooks. But usually, only a dozen sample questions are given there, so you can get an idea of what test questions and answers look like, but there are too few of them to have good practice. In fact, a real driving theory test covers several hundred questions, so you need to read and understand as many of them as possible. Otherwise, you risk missing important topics and stumbling across some questions you don't know how to answer.
That's why it is very useful to take sample DMV tests, which include a lot of questions and are based on real DMV exams. The more you train, the fewer gaps in your knowledge, so you increase your chances of passing the exam on the first try.
Besides practicing with sample tests, you involve active learning while checking your competence level. You choose an answer and then learn whether it is wrong or correct, obtaining an explanation. Then, you can check the corresponding information through the driver's manual to better understand why exactly this answer is correct. Thus, you get reasoning instead of just cramming correct answers, and the reason is one of the most effective methods of active learning. In addition, you can reveal your weaknesses and correct them at the appropriate times before you make an appointment for the driver's license test.
And on top of everything else, sample test practice can be real fun since it is challenging and interactive. But we shouldn't forget about one more thing related to the practice in a certain way.
You Are Not Ready For Multiple-Choice Driver's License Written Exam
Quite many people feel at a loss when it comes to multiple-choice tests. They start hesitating over a choice; they suspect some catchy questions like "none of the above" or "all of the above"; they can't understand the meaning of questions, especially when long sentences and complex grammatical structures are used. Are you one of them?
When taking practice with the help of DMV sample tests, you get a kind of vaccination against your fears. First, you can go through the hundreds of questions and make sure that there are no curveballs and that each question has one sound answer. You can easily find out how the questions and answers are formulated to catch their meaning during your real driving exam. Finally, after taking the multiple-choice test a dozen times, you will feel more confident and well-prepared – this will help you hold your nerve on the exam.
You Don't Have Any Strategy for Your DMV permit test.
Yes, you need some smart strategy for the driving test, as many applicants failed it just because they answered in a hurry, were inattentive, and thus made too many mistakes. On the other hand, some of the applicants can't score the required number of correct answers because they waffle and stall from the very start of the testing, and then they haven't enough time to ponder the rest of the questions and answer correctly. So, both excessive haste and deliberation bode no good when taking the driver's license exam. To manage your time, follow the simple strategy:
- Read each question and set of answers twice.
- If you know the correct answer, for sure, tick it.
- If you can't choose the correct answer and feel it requires mature deliberation, skip it and move to the next question.
- When all easy questions are answered, check the time and estimate approximately how many minutes you have to answer the rest of the questions.
- Please go through the difficult questions, but skip those of them that stick.
- If you have some time left and haven't got the passing score yet, go back to where you got stuck and try to guess right.
You Can't Get a Grip on Yourself During Driving Theory Test.
Isn't it pitiful to fail the driving theory test only because you are too nervous? But sometimes people do fail for this reason: they can't choose the right answer though they are sure they learned it, or they make stupid mistakes for no reason at all. It is really important to have psychological readiness to take the exam, so try to do your best and engage your positive thinking. If you feel uncomfortable because your friends or relatives will laugh at you in case you fail, don't tell them about your DMV knowledge test. And vice versa: if you feel better with your cheer team support, ask close people to come with you. Don't take any sedative drugs that can slow down your reaction, but don't drink too much coffee or energy drinks. Sleep well before the exam, eat healthy food, drink more water, and breathe deeply if you need to ease the nerves. And have good luck!
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