As I mentioned, the road test is a 40-minute drive around town with a proctor. You are allowed up to 15 minor mistakes, but if you even have 1 serious mistake, you fail. Unfortunately, I failed. I was so darn nervous having this strange man in my car writing on his clipboard that I wasn't driving normally. I only had 8 minors, but I had a major that ruined the test. I was trying to merge onto the highway from the inside merge lane, and I was so afraid of revving my engine that I didn't get up to speed fast enough and he said I created a hazard. This happened about 2/3 of the way through my test, but I didn't know I had failed because of it until the very end.
I went back for my retest on Friday and was a little disheartened when I saw I had the same proctor. He was very condescending - I stopped behind a bus and told him I didn't want to go around because I couldn't see well enough, but when a person behind me chose to go around both of us, he commented "That person didn't seem to have any trouble." And then he commented after my test that his biggest pet peeve is how Americans merge onto highways. I was actually kind of offended.
Long story short though, this time I PASSED (see my certificate below for proof)! I had 13 minors, so I had to listen to a whole long lecture about how "lucky" I was and how he "reservations" about my driving, but I do have a license now. This was a HUGE relief because our foreign licenses expire next month. It's also a relief because I didn't want to pay for more of these tests! It cost me about $50 for each of the written tests and $90 for each of the road tests. *sigh* Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement!
An update on Brian's driving story - he passed his written test on his FIRST TRY (I'd like to think it's because I told him what to expect and helped him study!) =) His road test is this week. Wish him luck! We really don't have the time or money for him to fail! =)
Big congrats to both of you!
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