Are Intensive Driving Courses Any Good?
When people decide to learn to drive, like a lot of things in life these day’s, they want it (their licence to drive) like, yesterday! There may be good reasons for someone wanting to pass the test promptly; a new job, going abroad, during college/university holidays etc. These are known as Intensive Driving Courses (Crash Courses).
So, what is a driving crash course?
Everyone is different and the number of hours practice required to obtain the required standard for the UK test will vary from person to person. Experience has shown, the number of hours necessary for the average candidate varied between 25 to 35. Obviously, some pupils will do this quicker and others may take longer. A lot depends on any previous road experience (had driving lessons previously, driven a motorbike), their level of spatial awareness (the ability to judge distance, speed and angles) and any personal practice in their own car they take. Some people take to driving like a duck to water, others do not!
Intensive driving courses are simply having that number of hours of driving lessons in a quicker period. That could be over a few day’s a few weeks or longer. “Great! My driving licence in a week!” – not necessarily so. If you try and get say, forty hours of driving lessons done in 7 day’s, the 7 day’s will be very intense and possibly stressful for you. Now, some people can cope with this and others not. If you are someone that might struggle with that pace of learning and stress, then you may not be ready for the driving test at the end of that week.
Most people adopt a ‘middle of the road’ approach and have say, 10 hours in a week (two hours per day). That way, as the training is spread over 1 month, they have more time to take in and digest the new information and driving skills they are learning. Still, one month is better than 1 lesson per week over 40 weeks!
What Driving crash courses are not
They are not a ‘magic pill’ to gaining a driving licence. There is no such thing as a guaranteed driving test pass – who could guarantee that! At the end of the day, it is yourself and you only that will be taking the test. Mistakes do happen and nerves may play a part in that. If you see driving schools claiming this, investigate. Their guarantee could just be that if you fail your test, the driving school will provide another driving test at their cost.
If you do need to pass your test quickly, it is best advice to enquire of a number of driver training schools to see what deals they offer and how they relate to you during your first conversation. Also, before booking and paying for your intensive driving course up-front (most driving schools will require this to confirm such a courses) you should plan to have a lesson or two from your shortlist to see how you actually get on with them and that their teaching practices tie in with your style of learning.
The Driving Schools Directory offers an Driving Crash Courses Pupils Enquiry Service that, after you have completed a few basic details, they will make contact with the driving schools in the area that you require to take your course in and those driving instructors will make contact with you. This removes much of the trawling around for you and makes the process of organising your intensive driving course far easier.
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