BBDC Experience | Part 3

Hey guys! This is the final part of my BBDC experience! If you have not check out part one and part two, be sure to check it out first!

So the final part of my BBDC experience will be on the TP test and my thoughts after attaining my driving licence.

TP Test 

To say I was nervous for my TP test would be an understatement. I was totally freaking out on that day. I went for school in the morning for my lessons and then I proceeded straight to BBDC in the afternoon for my warm up and TP test.

I'm not sure if I was late, but once I arrived and took my queue ticket for the warm up, I was immediately called by the instructor. I hurried over and then we proceeded for warm up! 

Warm up wasn't exactly smooth since I was a little panicky and made a few mistakes here and there. After the warm up, I remembered the instructor telling me that my turning was not good and that I shouldn't have any high expectations that I was going to pass my driving test. (Who says that to a person going for a test in less than an hour!!!) 

I then followed him to level 2 to wait for the actual TP test. There were already a few people sitting down, waiting for their names to be called. After around 15 minutes, my name was called and I proceeded with the tester for the real deal.

The TP test car is the same car which you have used for your warm up thus there is no need for any adjustments if all of them had been made during the warm up session. 

Most of the time, the tester would complete the circuit test first before proceeding to the road. This is because if you fail your circuit test, you will not even have the chance to go out on the main road, and there flies your money. 💸💸💸

After the circuit, you will then proceed to the main road. For me, my test timing was 2pm, on a Thursday, thus there were not many cars on the road (thankfully). 

Honestly, I thought I would not be able to pass my TP test after the remark made by the warm up instructor and the fact that I was really nervous, but I was really glad I manage to scrap through it as I did not want to go through the entire TP test process again and I do not want to pay another round of test fee.

As for the test fee, here's the break down of it for each attempt:

Practical Test: $33.00

Vehicle Rental: $171.20

Warm-up Session: $38.52

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Total fee for each attempt: $242.72

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So yes, each attempt is expensive. 

From what I've heard, private candidates pay more for their practical test, but their lessons are way cheaper than school's lessons. Some of my friends who took the private route mention that they will be able to book for their practical test once their instructor deem them to be ready for their TP test as they do not have a fixed structure like the school does. However, they also mention that they struggle more in the circuit course as private candidates do not have the luxury of using the circuit as much as the school candidates does. So, I guess it solely depends on what is your preference.

Here's my Class 3A Driving Test Assessment Checklist:

- Moving/Reversing up the ramp: Incorrect technique: 4 points

- Moving/Reversing up the ramp: Incorrect positioning: 2 points

- Forward driving: Fail to slow down when approaching road hazards: 6 points

- Junction: Improper turning: (a) Wide turn: 2 points

- Safety Check: Fail to check blind spot: 4 - 4 - 4 points

- Safety Check: Fail to check mirror before (b) slowing down: 2 points 

- Safety Check: Fail to look out for traffic: (a) side road: 2 points 

*The strikeouts indicates that the points are not tabulated*

Number of Immediate Failures: 0

Number of Demerit Points: 18 points

Result: PASSED

The final tabulation

Looking at this list, I think I am pretty dangerous, lol, but owell, I barely scraped pass a passed score and I am really glad about it.

Post TP Test

After passing your TP test, you will need to watch a graduation video and then the staff will ask you to fill up a feedback form. You will then be able to apply for your licence online via Singpass after a few hours. I did mine on the next day instead. The licence fee is $50 and it will be mailed to your house address. Congrats if you passed if not, don't worry, you'll be sure to pass the next time round!

A Few Months In...

After a few months of getting my licence, I would say, I am still a pretty bad driver, HAHA. I do not drive often, and for each time I drove, I had my dad beside me just to ensure that I was driving safely. Honestly, I just feel safer with someone experienced beside me and I dare not venture out on my own.

From my experiences, driving out on the main road is far different from when you are having driving lessons. There are many times the traffic rules do not exactly apply and you will just have to gauge the situation for yourself. 

Parking is a whole lot different from parking in the circuit. The lessons that the instructors thought in BBDC does not apply out here in the real world. I remember them telling me to turn whenever the tyres of the car touches the line marked in the circuit. Outside, the line does not exist, lol. It is very much different from what you learn in school and I believe that it will take one some time to get used to driving around on his or her own.

These are just some food for thought and experiences vary for each individual. 

Till next time!!!

BBDC Experience | Part 2

Hey guys! This is part 2 of my BBDC experience! Do read part one before you start reading this blog post. :)

After applying for your PDL, it usually takes awhile before you can officially start your driving lessons. Why so? This is because the slots are always full! It is thus recommended for y'all to start going for FTT practice sessions and evaluation in this timeframe. As for me, I didn't complete my FTT during this period, but instead, I took a break from driving all together haha. This is because I wanted to complete my FTT while going for practical lessons so that I would only need to go to the centre once (killing two birds with one stone, lol)

FTT

For FTT, the process is basically the same as BTT. There are theory lessons, practice sessions, evaluation sessions and finally the actual FTT test. The price for FTT lessons are the same as per BTT, $17.12 for each theory lesson (FTL 1.01 and FTL 1.02) , $3.21 for each theory practice session and $5.35 for each evaluation session. For FTT, BBDC provided more practice booklets (A total of 11 booklets) for their students to practice. I strongly believe that you should attend the practice sessions as FTT is indeed more difficult than BTT, If you want more practice, you can always go back to the website I recommended in part 1, "basictheorytestsg.com" for more questions to practice on.

I failed my first evaluation, I think i got the score of around 37/50 (?), it was pretty bad, but it is okay cause i passed the second evaluation! After passing your FTT evaluation, you will be able to book your FTT test. My wait for the booking was around 3 weeks if I recall correctly. It was quicker than the wait for the BTT test.

Once again, the actual test will be held at level 2, directly in front of the staircase. Remember to being your NRIC. The same process that happened for BTT will occur again, and you will be given a piece of paper with your name and password for the FTT. Just keep calm and complete the test and you will be fine!

 Here's how you will be able to login to your account to take your BTT/FTT test!

After you passed your FTT, you are done with the theory part of driving lessons! Congratulations!! 

Practical lessons

You'll be able to attend practical lessons once you've attain your PDL. However, as mentioned above, it is really difficult to book lessons as the slots seem to be always full. For the charges, there are 2 different types: Off-peak Hour Lesson & Peak Hour Lesson. Each Lesson is about 100 minutes (1 hour and 40 minutes). For Off-peak Hour Lesson, it costs $68.48, while for Peak Hour Lesson, it costs $77.04 (A difference of $8.56!) 

Peak Hour Lessons are technically all the lessons that are carried out during the weekends. Since I was not able to make it on weekdays for my lessons, my lessons are usually on the weekends and thus more expensive. 

BBDC advises their students to block book their practical lessons (around 25 lessons) so that it would be more conducive for their learning, with minimal breaks in between, but I did not do that lol. I booked a total of 15 lessons at one shot and the rest of the lessons I book progressively. I have to check the BBDC website regularly so as to check if there are any of the students who "sell" his/her lessons. If there are any, I would quickly grab the slot if I could make it for that timing. However, this does not work all the time, because I do not have the luxury of time to camp in front of the BBDC website and refreshing it every minute, there is more in life than that! So yes, block booking lessons are pretty important if you want to finish up your driving lessons asap!

Initially, I wanted to complete my driving lessons before uni starts (in Aug), but procrastination got the best of me and I couldn't finish it on time, but it is okay, I managed to cope with school, my part time job and driving lessons all together, so it is all good last year!

Practical Lesson - Stages 1 & 2

 For the first lesson of practical, the instructor will give you a brief introduction of the vehicle you are driving and then he will show you the different parts of the car. After the introduction, he will let you drive around the circuit and he will teach you the basics of driving. I recall only going out to the main road on the third lesson. Just follow the instructions given by the instructor and I'm sure you will do fine!

For most of the lessons, it will usually be carried out near Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang and Teck Whye area and the routes taken are usually around the same. Just follow the instructions given by the instructor and I'm sure you will do fine!

Driving Simulator (DS)

After completing stage 1 of the driving lesson, the instructor will pass you a coloured paper, telling you that you'll be eligible for the driving simulator lesson. In order to book for this lesson, go under Practical Training and to the page you usually book driving practical lessons. There will be box which indicates that you'll be able to book a DS lesson. I recommend booking this lesson after you had attend another one of your practical lesson so that you would not need to waste an extra trip down to BBDC for a 50 minute lesson. The DS lesson is basically like a racing game in the arcade (haha)

Practical Lesson - Stage 3

For stage 3, it is full of circuit practices. You'll be in the circuit all day, err day. Most people used around 6-8 lessons to clear stage 3, but for me, I sucked, so the driving instructors that cleared me very slowly at this stage, and I used almost 10 lessons for this stage. At this stage, you will go through all the circuit courses: S-course, Crank Course, Ramps, Parallel Parking, Vertical Parking and Slopes.

Stage 3 was the worst for me and honestly I felt depressed at times when I couldn't do what was instructed and the instructors would look so done with me, lol. It was not a smooth journey.

BBDC Circuit in the early morning 

Risk Forecast Training 

Basically, this is a required lesson which you have to attend before you can book your TP test. It is rather boring actually, all you have to do is sit in the classroom and listen to the instructor for 100 minutes and it costs $22.47. 😐

Practical Lesson - Stages 4 & 5

For these last 2 stages, they are basically recap sessions for you to practice your driving skills and it acts as a simulation of the actual TP test. At these final stages, the instructors tend to be stricter and will point out all the tiny little mistakes you made as they wanna make sure you will be ready on the actual day. 

For lesson 5.01, it is basically an evaluation test for the instructor to gauge whether you are ready for the actual test. You can actually book extra practices before your actual test date so as to feel more prepared for the test as well.

In the next post, I will be sharing about the actual traffic police test and my thoughts after the TP test. Stay tuned!