MrsTofu's Journal, 07 January 2014

More happy news today! After multiple attempts, I finally passed my road skills test. :-D Good thing too, my learner's permit was due to expire 11 days from today. My state does not renew permits, so besides the immeasurable relief and satisfaction passing the test today meant I saved $50 (the fee for a new learner's permit)!

It's taken me about a decade to get to this point. (First time I took the written test to try to get my permit was in 2003, but I failed and wasn't able to coordinate another attempt until July (or August?) 2007.

~2 months after passing the written permit test I found out I was pregnant. I managed to do driver's ed before my daughter was born, but I wasn't able to log driving practice. So my permit expired and a couple years passed before I could take the written test again. I passed and learned my permit was good for 2 years this time. I finished logging driving practice the first year but had trouble arranging a time to take the road skills test.

I learned I was pregnant again and managed two attempts (failed on parallel parking both times within the first 8 minutes of the test. :( ) before my younger daughter was born. (One test I had scheduled I wound up not going to the MVA at all- the Maryland equivalent of the DMV- because I was 9 months pregnant and thought I was in labor. It was a false alarm, but my daughter was born exactly one week later.) I tried a third time at a different branch, but failed again. So today I went to a third branch that was much quieter than the one nearer my home. (It also had a practice area on site which was enormously helpful.)

So 10 years, 2 permits, 6 scheduled road tests (one canceled, one missed, three failed and today's attempt), 2 kids later,with many, MANY hours of practice, and the help of several gracious friends has allowed me to achieve this new milestone!

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Congratulations! I am very happy for you. Just be persistent, and you can accomplish so many things. And as for parallel parking, I don't know how I was able to pass it at all. I still cannot do it unless there is enough space to park a big rig. 
06 Jan 14 by member: Ingria
Congrats! I have only parallel parked once in my life and it was in drivers ed. Since I passed that time I have avoided it since. Lol. I think I was just lucky. 
07 Jan 14 by member: iamachristianjesusfreak
Lol. Thanks ladies! My friend who took me to the DMV told me that she wasn't sure if she'd be able to pass the road skills test if she was told, spur of the moment, that she needed to retake it to keep her license because she's been driving for so long and the way the DMV wants you to drive for the course is not necessarily the way people would drive in real life. (The situation is not too dissimilar between standardized testing in schools and actually learning/applying the subject matter in day to day circumstances. I understand the need for testing, but it's frustrating sometimes how the testing doesn't really correspond with competence or readiness. It's possible to pass or fail a test without it being an accurate measure of skill/ knowledge.) I actually don't feel that insecure about parallel parking (though I've also never tried doing it downtown, closer to Washington DC, where the roads are narrower and traffic direction/ volume require it more and make it more of a refined skill). The last time I attempted the road test I had to laugh (after the initial disappointment of failing again) because I realized that I had been mentally preparing for a different situation. I wasn't failing because of the length of the space so much as the width. I didn't realize I could pull up a lot closer to the cones- and in fact needed to do so- in order to pull far enough into the space that I would actually be within the requisite 12" of the curb. On neighborhood streets it is much easier for me to parallel park because I can see the spaces are narrower than they were at the DMV. 
09 Jan 14 by member: MrsTofu
Congrats 
09 Jan 14 by member: classykaren

     
 

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