Failed DMV test (1st attempt)

lol. That sounds like the driving instructor I had. He drove us out to an area with less traffic and handed the keys over. No mention of shifting techniques or how to gauge position for turns. Just do what he said. If any of us would mess up he would be all over our ####, yelling and cursing. Nothing like a bit of extra pressure. Lol. He actually ended up being a good source of info on the industry and had great stories from his years on the road, but he was a crusty old son of a #####. I passed and that’s all that counted and there was no denying that those days on the road were interesting.

I was messing up pretty bad on parallel until my last day before exam day. I ended up getting all my turn and reference point notes and combining them into a bullet list and then drilling it until I could not forget under pressure. Reviewing it until I could visualize the correct moves in my mind. That helped me a lot. Of course during my actual test something went wrong and my position was way off. I was sweating it pretty bad but just used two pull ups to get my trailer lined up to the back cones were I needed it. Slow and careful. If something like that happens just slow down and think it through. Don’t go into the box out of position. Get it lined up to your proper angle.

 

Don't be hard on yourself as it sounds like your instructor did you no favors.

We humans can suffer from task saturation when we have too much to do without the time, skills or resources to pull it off. Unfortunately when you are learning to back there is a lot of competing thing to pay attention to. Unfortunately stress and yelling instructors escalate the problem.

The only way to avoid task saturation is to avoid getting task-saturated.

Task saturation is even one of the top 10 causes of plane crashes. Sure pilots have a lot more to do but it sure won't feel like it when you are learning to drive. Pilots have a memory device "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate".

This is a list of priorities that they teach pilots to say to themselves. When we get stressed and overloaded we also tend to suffer from task fixation. Pilots have to remind themselves to fly the plane first before worrying about navigation etc. If you develop a list like that for yourself and stick to it you will be less likely to miss the fact that you are rolling.

While there is a bit of a chicken and the egg problem with building your skills as a driver if you can reduce the amount of "tasks" that require explicit attention it will also help. The toy suggestion provided earlier is great as you really need to learn how the trailer backs up. Another method I found useful myself was to use a hand truck with the center handle similar to this:



I would grab it with both hands in front of me with it as horizontal as possible. I would then imagine the handle as the kingpin and went through various backing maneuvers. I was paying attention to how my hand was pushing against the handle. While reference marks and consistency help with the accuracy you really need to build an intuition on where you need to push that kingpin. While you have to pass the test remember that that licence is really only a licence to learn.

I am just an average driver and it took me longer to get the hang of backing up that some of my friends. But for me, learning to think about how the hitch needs to be pushed let me get out of this mess.

Having owned the below trailer less than 48 hours; I got into a mess on a 15% grade with only a few feet more than my length to turn around. Short trailers, especially those with the same wheelbase as the tow vehicle are a pain to back. I still managed a blindside 3 point 180 turn on my first try.

The only reason this worked is I was focusing on why and not just how.



If you spent some time and practice time with toys, hand trucks, or your actual truck it will be a lot easier. Improving your intuition will provide more bandwidth notice issues rolling down a hill.

If you learned how to back up straight with confidence most of the intuition you need for backing is there. You just spend the time needed to develop your skills some more to avoid task saturation and fixation.

If I can do it you can do it too. Just make sure to spend some time learning what pushing the kingpin really does to the trailer. Focusing exclusively on specific makers, movements and sight guides will distract you from hazards and will be far more stressful.

 

Not at all. The bar to pass the test is very low. The issue here is, schools are sending students in to a test with minimum training. I was sent to test after about 3 hours behind the wheel total (2 parking, 1 driving). I passed on 3rd try.

 

1/3 of my students pass the first time. the other 2/3 fail because of something stupid, which is usually attributed to being nervous during the test.

 

Why do you have to wait so long to retest? My i structure scheduled our tests on Tuesday of week 4 of our 4 week class. He said he did that in case we failed we could retake on Friday since you have to wait for 3 days(atleast in PA).

 

please help i pass my pre trip but fail skills but i got a permit extension do i need to re do the pre trip ???

 

Yes you do