<p>She hit curb and had issues parking. We are going to sign her up for lessons. Any other stories or advice? she is SOooooo perturbed!!! To put it mildly! Thanks—</p>
<p>Many, many kids, including both of mine, fail the first time around. It was the parallel parking that got them both, so we set up two trash cans at the curb in front of our house to mimic the cones at the test site, and they practiced, practiced, practiced. On the second try they breezed through the test. How much time has she had behind the wheel?</p>
<p>I know at least 6 people (including myself) who failed the test the first time. </p>
<p>Keep practicing over and over again.</p>
<p>Have her take it as many times as it takes for her to pass. Neither of my kids passed the first time, and neither did I. My D waited four years to get her license. She went to school in NYC and claimed she didn’t need it, but when she came home it was a problem. When she graduated from college she finally got her license and now she drives.</p>
<p>Tell your D no one will ever know how many times she failed unless she tells them.</p>
<p>I would also make sure she isn’t afraid to drive by herself. Sometimes failing the driving test is a sign of that.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My DS2 failed twice! Still refuses to try again.</p>
<p>Around here, most kids fail the first time. I’m not sure it’s a bad thing.</p>
<p>Come to NJ where you barely have to put it in gear to pass…seriously, the most lax driver’s ed and testing I have ever seen</p>
<p>My friend failed her driving test FIVE TIMES before she got it. Lessons aren’t a bad idea if you don’t have time to drive with her, but the best thing is just to get her out on the road with you and drive, drive, DRIVE. After all, she probably didn’t get riding a bike at first either.</p>
<p>Uh, lololol. I failed… four times? Maybe more, I don’t even remember. But now, I’ve had my license for a while now, I drive quite a bit and I like to think I’m a passable driver. Just keep practicing parking A LOT and don’t give up. It’ll happen soon!</p>
<p>Both D and S logged many hours behind the wheel before taking their drive tests. A few years ago, before D received her learners permit, 50 practice hours became the new minimum requirement here, so we had our kids practice about 100 hrs each. As a result, they were very confident going into their test. Of course, that meant that H and I had to invest the time and grey hairs to coach them…</p>
<p>I failed twice back in the day in ny; seemed like everyone failed in my part of LI…anyway, there are orange cones (or garbage cans work too) that you can get; take them to a large parking lot for parallel parking practice…</p>
<p>lje: didn’t realize that Nj was so lenient; we know at least 5 kids who failed the first time in Wayne??</p>
<p>A lot of people fail the first time <em>cough</em>me<em>cough</em></p>
<p>The driving test in MD, at least, isn’t ANYTHING like driving on the actual road. I think that’s why it trips so many people up. You could be driving all day long, but that’s not going to teach you how to navigate a weird course in a parking lot. I had over 120 hrs on the road before going into it.</p>
<p>I remember that at one point during the test, the instructor waved his hand and said, “Go over there” </p>
<p>And I said “Wait, do you want me to turn here?” as I hadn’t understood his directions.</p>
<p>He took points off <em>rolls eyes</em></p>
<p>The instructor should have told D where she lost points…was it parallel parking? Failing to signal? Asking too many questions :P? Set up some cones and practice!</p>
<p>I hit the curb and I still passed.</p>
<p>Also made wrong turn at intersection…</p>
<p>Didn’t check my blind spot, still passed</p>
<p>Gotta love my state, passed on first try :D</p>
<p>Both kids failed the first time. I think you should sign your daughter up for lessons - I actually didn’t realize you could take the road test without taking driver’s ed!! The instructors will tell her exactly what position your car should be in in relation to the other car - it was something about the bumper and the side view mirror.</p>
<p>I failed the first time too. What my wife did for our kids was to find out the course they follow and then we took them out at night and weekends to practice it. They passed it on the first try. The parallel parking course was laid out with cones and I figured out that if they kept one cone in their right side mirror, they would fit perfectly no matter what angle they entered at. They just had to start turning once the front end would clear the front cone.</p>
<p>I failed the first time I took my road test, in 1974 in Manhattan – downtown, in traffic, having to do things like a U-turn in a busy street with cars and trucks whizzing by. In fact, I knew I’d failed about 10 seconds after the test began, when I was pulling out from the curb and hit the car parked in front of me! At that point, I just turned to the guy and asked if I should even bother continuing. He said yes, so I viewed the rest of it as practice for the next time. And the next time, I passed. </p>
<p>My son took his test in NJ, and barely had to do anything – just drive around a little course in a big parking lot.</p>
<p>Make sure she has all her hours. The requirement is 50 hours where I’m from, but many parents don’t have the patience to take their kids out that often, so they just sign off on them without doing all of them. So if she hasn’t practiced, make sure she gets lots of practice in. And if your DMV is in a really weird place, make sure she practices in that area, too. My DMV is a decent way away from where I live, and it’s in a horribly congested area with really weird roads. It’s a horrible, horrible place for a DMV, but we didn’t have a choice. So anyway, my mom took me there to practice, and we looked for places where they might take me to do different parts of the test (for example, parking uphill with a curb). We also tailed an examiner we saw leaving the DMV to see the route he took his driver on, but I think it wound up being a different route than I had to go on. That was OK, though. I had practiced enough in the area in general that it didn’t even matter. So practice is really the only way to go, I think.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>My son failed the first time, passed the second time. He was driving a car he was not used to and was very nervous. All will once again be right with the world (or at least as right as it was before she took the test).</p>
<p>My son passed on the first try but probably should not have as he got the max number of points deducted without failing. He was nervous and made a lot of small mistakes that luckily for him did not totally derail his test.</p>
<p>I would say take whatever driver’s ed and lessons are available. I think these courses offer good advice to new drivers, things we “older” and more experienced drivers take for granted. Also be sure to practice in varied driving conditions (rural, city, highway, residential areas, daytime, nighttime, rush hour, etc.). Try to find out the DMV route ahead of time. Your kid will likely have friends who have already taken the test and can provide this intel :). As far as parallel parking goes, there’s nothing like doing the real thing. My family has 3 cars so we parked two on the street and had our S practice. Yes, it was nerve wracking at first! :)</p>
<p>Wow, don’t most kids take drivers’ ed? It would seem odd to me that you would take driving lessons and the instructor would let you go for your test before you are ready.</p>
<p>In our region, I’ve never heard of someone not passing. But then it’s really quite different with graduated licensing. Here, everyone takes driver’s ed (not required but makes no sense not to do so, I’ve not met someone who did not). All learners have to have to have waited a full 12 months before they can even take a driving test (and then its another 24 months before you can become a full fledged driver after that). I can’t imagine a driving instructor saying ‘you are ready for your test’ if after 12 months you still can’t get the exact details down or make errors.</p>
<p>It’s too bad for your daughter but hopefully where you live, failing is common (like on this thread). In the big scheme of things, it is good they are so tough.</p>