This is part two of my casual driving experiences with Bukit Batok Driving Center (BBDC). If you have not read part one, check out the link HERE to find out the entire timeline from booking to getting my license and so on.
This entry focuses on the actual and most dreaded component among learners: the Traffic Police Practical Test (TPPT). One attempt costs a half-day leave and $300++ and I guess that’s why I was such an emotional wreck after failing it the first time. I will share more about how the test is conducted, what are the things to note and what to do if you fail your first or subsequent tests.
About TPPT…
For those who are unaware, the TPPT consists of circuit stations and a test route and you can only proceed to the road if you did not fail in the circuit. Some testers are more strict while some more lenient; some are absolutely rude and some are quite friendly. It really is a luck game and you have no idea what tester you would get and what route you would be driving until the tester gives you the instruction.
For those learning at BBDC, hearing the “go straight” will and is the best thing you would ever hear once you exit BBDC. Why? Because the Brickland route is way easier and has much lighter traffic than Teck Whye and Bukit Gombak. Weather plays an important role too. A sunny day always beats a rainy day. Unfortunately all these are beyond our control, the only thing we can control is that damn car.
The entire TPPT is much shorter than I expect. I clocked the duration and it was about 35 mins at max? And that includes the briefing by the tester. Nobody knows what number the tester would test at or the order, it’s really up to the tester’s mood but normally the test starts with an emergency brake. If you fail that, then lol I guess that’s it.
After completing all the circuit stations, the tester would tell you to change lane and exit the school. At this juncture, you still would not know where you are headed; the tester would only hint to you your test route after you exit BBDC. Throughout the test, the tester would have a laptop that shows the test route and circuit map. That is where they take down notes if you incur any demerit or immediate failure.
My first attempt…
I was pretty confident I could pass. My instructors have never pointed out major problems and one even told me my road driving was smooth. I never faced any major problems in the circuit and both my parallel parking and vertical parking were always good. Never had to do any corrections for either of them. Same goes for directional course. I went for 5 revision lessons after completing Stage 5 before my TPPT. Nothing major happened in these lessons and I was pretty certain I would do well.
I was so wrong.
On the day of my test, my warmup by a BBDC instructor started late. I wasn’t sure why but almost everyone else had gone for their warmup and I was still waiting for 10-15 mins till an instructor came and pick me up. Circuit went well and somehow, the test route the instructor took me out felt very short. When I went back to BBDC level 2 to wait for my tester, I barely had any minutes to spare after I left the toilet before my tester came to pick me up.
Mr G was definitely not a patient and friendly person. A rather old-looking, serious and impatient tester, I actually got shouted/scolded by him multiple times during the test. Not a good experience. Scratch that. It was absolutely traumatic I literally almost teared up and apologised many times. Anyways obviously from the header you would obviously have guessed that I failed my first attempt. My circuit was almost perfect except for that two points. Till today I am not sure where this jerky braking happened.
Then, the test route.
I was given a very easy test route, the Brickland one and I was so sure I could pass. But boy was I wrong, very very wrong.
My mistakes started few seconds after leaving BBDC. As I was changing to the right lane, I might have missed a motorcycle OR a motorcycle might have entered my lane even after I did all my safety checks and the motorcyclist freaking honked at me. I panicked and the tester shouted at me “Why didn’t you check the motorcyclist?! He was so near you know!? He HONKED at you you know?!” and a terribly loud sigh. That’s just less than 5 minutes on the road and I clocked in I got 4 + 2 + 8. I was already so close to failing. What the actual heck.
Frantically panicking and trying not to cry, I made another mistake of changing lane at sharp bend and by this time I obviously failed. I didn’t made any mental calculations in my head but looking back, the tester was decent enough to let me complete a U-turn, drive a bit further before I regrettably made more mistakes at traffic light and making my way back to BBDC.
All these NEVER ever happened when I was learning. Never.
But it all had to on my TPPT.
What a joke.
I cried for hours after the test ended. Tester even said my road driving was bad. LOUDLY. In front of everyone else in that tester’s room. Goodness, why don’t I help you and give you a microphone as well
I was demoralised for almost a week or two too. It all happened because of the motorcyclist else I would have passed on my first attempt. I tried consoling myself that at least I got my money’s worth, in terms of duration, but it didn’t really help.
A fail was a fail. And for many days I wondered if I should continue booking another test slot or just give up. It wasn’t the driving that irked me but the horrible long wait and camping required to get JUST ONE PRACTICAL LESSON that frustrates the crap out of me. Imagine working a full-time job and having to camp for a practical slot? no way that can happen. The most the school could do is book a revision slot for you and you don’t get to choose what day and time it is. Also, you don’t get to book more slots from the school. If you want more, camp yourself.
Worse still. My account was suspended for 48 hours after I tried to refresh for new TPPT slots. Another sickening part is nobody knows when TPPT slots are released so one can only camp for it. That 48hours suspension only meant the earlier test and good slots that I want would be gone by the time the suspension was lifted. And everyone, please save yourself the trouble and book session 4 (test at 1100 and warmup at 0955). I will explain below.
What happened between my first and second attempt
Well I only had 3 more revision lessons before my second attempt. These two lessons were lessons I originally have and BBDC managed to book one for me after I failed my first one. I was quite sick of driving when I first returned to BBDC. Embarrassed to some extent too actually but no choice, I have already booked the test so I have to show up. Decided to just go for the lessons, brushed up on changing lanes in the lessons and was actually more confident of doing so.
By the time I got to my final revision lesson, I was so sick and bored of driving in circuit. In fact, I was so sick of doing the same old things I couldn’t be bothered whether I passed or failed. I just wanted to get this done and over with.
How I went from 30 to 6 points
I think mindset helped a lot. In my first attempt, I so desperately wanted to pass not just because of the license, but I wanted to pass on my first attempt. That is something to be proud of and I want to be that lucky few. The pressure to keep passing and passing well got into my head and hence, when I made my mistake, I ended up panicking and made more mistakes which led to a 30. This time round, I prioritised on doing my best and staying calm. In fact I was so calm that for a moment I forgot I was with the tester.
I also forced myself to mentally countdown 3 seconds at stop lines and before changing lanes. So after signalling, I count to 3 before I proceed to change lane. Same for stop lines. In fact I think I actually counted out audibly enough for the tester to hear. Then again I didn’t really care.
Lastly, don’t beat yourself up for your failed tests. It is very hard and I know it. I was absolutely devastated the day I failed and so embarrassed. Money was gone, my full day leave was wasted just like that. I don’t know what works for you but take a good time to recover emotionally, learn from the mistakes, accept those mistakes and move on.
On the day of my second attempt, my tester was very patient or at least she looked patient. She explained what she is looking out for, reminded me of checking mirrors and safety etc and briefed me on the test mechanism. Even re-routed me multiple times when there were obstacles so I didn’t had to change lanes unnecessarily. A far cry from Mr G. My circuit was perfect? Zero points.
The 6 demerit points were from a sharp U-turn which I was very confident I did made some errors. Went slightly too fast after U-turning and bang, 6 points. But overall, the test went super smooth. There was no motorcyclist that came out of nowhere, no dashing pedestrians or delivery riders, traffic light didn’t turn amber suddenly and weather was good. Praise be to God.
Some tips I have
- NEVER NEVER NEVER sell your practical lessons until you have passed your driving test. You never know when you would need them and getting them is same or harder than snatching Taytay tickets. At least Taytay’s concerts have a CAT10 lol
- Book a revision lesson the week before your test, preferably at the same or similar timing as your test. I did so many night lessons I was not sure how morning traffic was. My revision lessons for my first attempt were also at night and I think that might explain why I wasn’t used to seeing motorcyclists in the day.
- Adjust your seat and mirrors when the tester is briefing you or putting the camera. The test begins as soon as you sit in the car so be your upmost best in there.
- You are there because your instructors believe you have the skills. It may be stressful to drive next to a stranger that is testing you but try your best to ignore them and focus on the drive. Treat the experience as if you are bringing them around town.
- Drive very slowly in the circuit and stop at all stop lines. Many said this before and this is very useful. Why? It gives you more time to think of where to go next. The stop lines are a helpful excuse to just stop and think ngl. But of course don’t stop for so long.
- Don’t know, just ask. If you are unclear of instructions, just ask. It’s better to ask than risk guessing what the tester wants and end up getting a demerit point or failure. This is especially true for those left-lane that goes left only and center lane that goes straight only (common at ITE and Bukit Gombak). If you are unclear whether to go straight or left, ask.
- Pop a few fresh mints. It helped calm me down. How? dkdc
- Greet your tester. They have seen the circuit and route so many times than you have and they are likely more sick of the whole process than you are. At least greet them and be respectful.
- Don’t focus on your mistakes. You have demerit points to spare. You don’t need a perfect score to pass, you just need to score less than 20 and not incur an immediate failure. This means it is acceptable and in fact normal to make mistake. Just don’t make MANY mistakes and huge mistakes like I did.
- Always always always pay attention to cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Cars aren’t the most important thing since they are pretty visible but these three, nope. Let the motorcyclists overtake you than let it risk getting into your blindspot.
- Read your theory books and handbook the night or day before to recap your memory of traffic rules and sighting points etc.
- Book Session 4 only. Why? So that there won’t be any learner cars in the circuit when you start circuit. You are literally the king of the circuit as everyone including warmup cars will give way to you. All the other BBDC test slots clash with the practical lessons.
General feedback on BBDC
I chose BBDC as it was nearest to my house. No other reason. But I heard that BBDC has better passing rates than SSDC and CDC? The success rates are made transparent HERE on TP’s website. The good thing about BBDC was its theory lessons were online and this saved lots of travelling time to that place.
But BBDC had quite a few components i.e. the whole BTP, BTE, FTP, FTE and DS elements that, though helpful to some extent, were better optional as they were quite unnecessary. Total cost from these added up to $30++ already.
In terms of the quality of instructors, I would say that the ones I met were mostly average to good. Some gave useful tips and I’m so blessed to have met good instructors that taught me well for parallel parking and vertical parking, how to remember my turning points and the sighting points. These were usually the ones that don’t scold me mistakes were made and lessons with them were usually quite chill.
But on the other hand, there were a few that made the lesson an absolute nightmare.
The instructor that taught me S-course, directional course and crank course ended up confusing me a little and my subsequent instructors have to re-teach me. This is not the worst case. A few of them were upright terrible and one even slept on the job for a good 5-10 mins which made me drive multiple laps in the circuit. Some were very sarcastic and only criticised you when you make mistake, saying things like “I have never met a student like you leh. cannot even drive in circuit”, “ah like that. 2 points liao.”, “you turn like that, fail liao.”. , “you live in Singapore? Singapore only got that few peak hours right? Car same as train. If train peak, car also peak right?”, “Just pass and don’t come back ok?”. Terrible. I know my lessons would be a waste if I met those few instructors. On my third ever lesson mind you, THIRD, one instructor shouted at me for going too fast and turning left hastily. Even said stuff like “yall learners always like to go fast la. then end up cannot control the car la.” . Needless to say the entire lesson was quiet thereafter. It was my fault but it was only my third lesson, second time on the road and first time driving at night?? Ngl but not seeing these instructors ever is one of my motivation to pass.
It really is a spectrum there and you can consider going for the fixed group if it helps you.
Would I go back BBDC again? Yes because it is the nearest. Would I consider fixed group? Yes. I think it is worth paying slightly more for an instructor you can vibe with + learn from (that’s very imporant) than risk the anxiety of not knowing who is going to teach or scold you for that next 100 minutes of your life.
Total fees spent…
The total driving experience incurred a total of ~ $3k including the administrative bits and licenses. It was out of my budget as I failed my first TPPT but overall, the cost was still rationale. Note that the cost breakdown was before BBDC raised its DS price from $14.17 to a disgustingly high rate of $70++.
I spent a total of 27 practical lessons (including revision) and $3k over 4 months for a license. The process was painful but it is worth it for a life skill.
Cinematic Frame of Mind 