Apparently taking your driving test (3, 4, 5 times) over and over again is not unique to most Ex Pats. While some Ex-Pats can turn in their State Side license, others have to take a written test and pass within 6 months and others have to actually take a driving test and a written test within 6 months. AG has taken the test three times now and not passed every time. Turns out that the test is one part driving knowledge, one part translation and about 8 parts subjective opinion (or at least that what I think).
I sat down and took a practice test and thought I was going to ace it. For a brief moment, I thought to myself -- how crushing will it be if I pass this thing (Not to worry readers, I got clobbered on the exam). I thought that 3 of the questions (two of which I only got partially right) were absolutely mission critical to know in order not to endanger myself or those other drivers around me. However, the other questions, which were multi-choice (not multiple choice, there were some where you had to pick all three answers, some you had to pick two, some you had to pick one and only one, etc). Mind you, the questions are power rated so the three questions that I mentioned above count the most, but those aren’t the ones that trip you up.
Turns out, there is another little wrinkle. They sell you a $130 Euro driving testing kit that has 60 test exams in it (that’s how I knew what it felt like to take, I took one). And even stranger, those 60 tests have all of the questions that you could possibly face when taking the test.
This took me to quite a flash back from college. I took Psych 101 with Bice Psych. This was an actually very interesting class that a lot (athletes in particular) of students took and could be considered one of the rare, but very meaningful gut classes at U.Va. I can’t remember why they were even called Gut classes, but basically, for Bice’s tests, all of the old exams were out there and if you studied the old tests, you were bound to see the same questions and could ensure yourself that you would do pretty well. Now of course, that left little room for error, because if everyone was getting a 100%, a 92% could quickly put you in the bottom of the class and give you a not so stellar grade (B-) that you weren’t taking this class to get, that’s for sure.
Some folks never went. I attended I think nearly all of them. Turned out that the class was really fun, Bice was a legend and I can still remember stuff from his lectures (which is more than I can say for some other classes like Thermodynamics). Stroboscopic Effect – it explains the principles behind why red control tower lights flash. The problem with static light was as you were moving towards them (in a plane for example) a solid light appears to be moving, when it is really not. Make it flash on and off eliminates this behavior.
I sat down and took a practice test and thought I was going to ace it. For a brief moment, I thought to myself -- how crushing will it be if I pass this thing (Not to worry readers, I got clobbered on the exam). I thought that 3 of the questions (two of which I only got partially right) were absolutely mission critical to know in order not to endanger myself or those other drivers around me. However, the other questions, which were multi-choice (not multiple choice, there were some where you had to pick all three answers, some you had to pick two, some you had to pick one and only one, etc). Mind you, the questions are power rated so the three questions that I mentioned above count the most, but those aren’t the ones that trip you up.
Turns out, there is another little wrinkle. They sell you a $130 Euro driving testing kit that has 60 test exams in it (that’s how I knew what it felt like to take, I took one). And even stranger, those 60 tests have all of the questions that you could possibly face when taking the test.
This took me to quite a flash back from college. I took Psych 101 with Bice Psych. This was an actually very interesting class that a lot (athletes in particular) of students took and could be considered one of the rare, but very meaningful gut classes at U.Va. I can’t remember why they were even called Gut classes, but basically, for Bice’s tests, all of the old exams were out there and if you studied the old tests, you were bound to see the same questions and could ensure yourself that you would do pretty well. Now of course, that left little room for error, because if everyone was getting a 100%, a 92% could quickly put you in the bottom of the class and give you a not so stellar grade (B-) that you weren’t taking this class to get, that’s for sure.
Some folks never went. I attended I think nearly all of them. Turned out that the class was really fun, Bice was a legend and I can still remember stuff from his lectures (which is more than I can say for some other classes like Thermodynamics). Stroboscopic Effect – it explains the principles behind why red control tower lights flash. The problem with static light was as you were moving towards them (in a plane for example) a solid light appears to be moving, when it is really not. Make it flash on and off eliminates this behavior.
