The Road in Getting a Driving License Part 1: Theory Course

On 11 July 2014 (so-called 7-11 day as the convenience store held a promotion to celebrate that day), I finally got my driving license! Hooray! In my opinion, it was a tough journey in getting a driving license. I'm not joking but it took me a year and a half to complete the whole course! Yes, a year and a half! Here's what happened during that 18 months of learning.

[I have a lot of stories during that 18 months so instead of posting one whole entry, I have divided into 3 parts - Theory, Practical and Practical Test. Believe it or not, I enrolled into Theory Course first and then to the Practical Course after passing my Theory Tests. That's the reason why I spent a year and a half. By looking back at what I have done, I felt that I could have gotten the license earlier.]

I enrolled myself to Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC) as a school candidate. It may be a tough decision to choose whether you want to be a school candidate or private candidate. In terms of lesson fees, private is cheaper. However, in terms of lessons, school is better. Hence, I've decided to be a school candidate and fully prepared to pay huge amounts of training and test fees.

Now, to the most stupid decision that I've made as I first entered BBDC. I chose to go for the Theory course first instead of the normal Class 3/3A course. On their website, they have Theory course (obviously, only theory is provided) and Class 3/3A course. I don't know what's the purpose of providing those two instead of one. Hence, I ended up going for the theory course and was thinking of clearing all the theoretical parts first before learning to drive. Thinking that I have made the right decision, I was totally an idiot!

I'd never thought of paying enrolment fees twice for signing up both Theory and Practical separately. By doing that, I've gotten 2 Basic Theory Booklets and 2 Final Theory Booklets, along with a Training Handbook while I enrolled for the Practical course. Hence, I got myself into trouble as I have to pay more fees and sacrificed myself to get the license later. So, I would recommend not to follow that method as you would suffer.

I registered myself at BBDC on 20 March 2013 for the Theory course. The Theory course enrolment fee is S$48.15. I had to top-up at the kiosk first by using NETS to pay off the enrolment fee. With sufficient amount in my account, I went to the computer station to start booking my first lesson.

In the Theory course, you have to attend 2 compulsory Basic Theory Lessons (BTL) before you can book for Practice and then the Evaluation and finally, the Test. After passing the Test, you have to continue to attend another 2 compulsory Final Theory Lessons (FTL) and same procedures apply as you have done in BTL after completing FTL. The one disadvantage is as theory is only involved in the course, I cannot apply my Provisional Driving License (PDL) after I passed my Basic Theory Test (BTT) and it will be a waste of money because it only valid for 6 months.

I cleared BTL in 2 weeks and took 3 Practices before taking the Evaluation on 11 April 2013. An Evaluation is compulsory and you have to pass the Evaluation before you can book for the Test. I've passed the Evaluation on my first try and booked my Test on 6 June 2013. As there was a long waiting time between my last Practice and the actual Test, I booked a final two Practices a day before the actual Test. Fortunately, I've passed my Basic Theory Test (BTT) on my first try and proceed further to Final Theory.

In Final Theory, I took 4 Practices before taking the Evaluation on 9 September 2013. Final Theory is more difficult than Basic Theory as it involves a lot of Practical stuffs. As I did not attend the Practical, I was in a big disadvantage hence I have to memorise all the things that were tested in the Final Theory. I've passed the Evaluation on my first try and booked my Test on 25 October 2013. However, I cancelled my Test because it clashed with my lessons on the first week of school. Hence I changed it to 23 November 2013 instead. Remember there will be no refund made if you cancel the Test, regardless of whether it is a Theory or Practical Test.

Similar to what I have done before my BTT, I booked an additional 2 more lessons before the actual Test. And I've passed my Final Theory Test (FTT) on my first try and I graduated from the Theory course.

Timeline:

2013

20 March - Registered into Theory Course

26 March & 2 April - Basic Theory Lessons

4 - 5 April & 8 April - Basic Theory Practices

11 April - Basic Theory Evaluation

5 June - Basic Theory Practice

6 June - Basic Theory Test

26 July & 23 August - Final Theory Lessons

4 - 5 September - Final Theory Practice

9 September - Final Theory Evaluation

15 November & 22 November - Final Theory Practices

23 November - Final Theory Test (Graduated)

Total Costs:

Enrolment Fee - S$48.15

4 Theory Lessons (2 BTL & 2 FTL) @ S$17.12 each - S$68.48

11 Theory Practices (5 BTP & 6 FTP) @ S$3.21 each - S$35.31

2 Evaluations (1 BTE & 1 FTE) @ S$5.35 each - S$10.70

3 Theory Tests (1 BTT, 1 Cancelled FTT & 1 FTT) @ S$6.00 each - S$18.00

Total: S$180.64 (!!)

After passing both Theory Tests, the journey continued as I registered myself again into practising my driving to get a Class 3 license.

- To Be Continued -