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View Full Version : How to stop being nervous?


ladylove25
Jan 29, 2012, 12:36 AM
I'm 20 and I haven't gotten my drivers licence yet. (yea I know) anyway I keep delaying taking the test because I'm afraid ill fail again. I already failed twice and I haven't gotten back to the dmv because ill just freak. Any way I can stop being nervous so I would not mess up? I do not smoke or do drugs so please no advice to do those things. Thanks.

joypulv
Jan 29, 2012, 05:32 AM
My advice is to not drive. If you are so nervous that you fail tests, you will be equally nervous if not more so when driving on your own. I have seen even people who managed to pass the test drive so nervously that they were a hazard on the road - quick stops for no reason, jerking the wheel to one side when a car passes in the next lane, refusing to move when the signs are confusing. It's not a badge of shame to tell people you don't drive.

joypulv
Jan 29, 2012, 05:36 AM
If you feel that you absolutely must have a license (work, for example), then spend more time with a friend or family member in a big empty parking lot. Try to find one with parking lines to practice parking, including between two cars on a curb (or two objects to act as cars). If you've done all that, then tell us exactly in what ways you failed the previous tests. And tell us how a driving test is different in your mind from an exam in school. Did you pass the written part of the driver test?

Jake2008
Jan 29, 2012, 07:23 AM
I can relate. I didn't get my licence until I was 22. My first test I forgot to release the parking brake, my second test I made a left turn into oncoming traffice, my third test I couldn't parallel park worth beans. It was all being nervous with a man sitting next to me with a clipboard.

But, I eventually got it, and I've been driving ever since. Have never caused an accident, been pulled over, or cited for anything.

But I've always driven trucks, and can't count the number of times I've pulled 'good' drivers out of ditches, or helped with 'good' drivers who got lost, or those that drove too fast on my street and end up in the ditch in front of my house. I've been rear ended twice with 'good' drivers talking on cell phones, and been backed into with 'good' drivers not paying attention.

My advice to you is to find out and define what your weak areas are, and work on them. Go through the test as best you can in your mind, over and over.

Don't give up!!

ladylove25
Jan 29, 2012, 02:27 PM
JOYPULV-The actual driving test. I already passed the written test.. the fourth time when I was 17. Was nervous about that one too. I have my restircition but lost it recently and I'm trying to just get my drivers licence since I'm 20. But I have never really driven much by myself because my parents were afraid something would happen to me. So I never gained experience between the ages of 17-20. The first time I took the test I failed everything. The second time I started the test pretty well until I made a turn that was not wide enough and I ended up climbing on the curb... sigh. I hate it when the instructor rushes you to back up because I was being slow. I end up backing up OK but it makes my nerves go everywhere. All of my friends have their licence except 1 and he's going to take it the same week as I am. If he passes the first time its going to kill me lol