The Road in Getting a Driving License Part 2: Practical Lessons

This is the second part of the road in getting my driving license. Previously, I have completed my theory course on 23 November 2013 and it already cost me a bomb. Not exactly a bomb but I believe no one can spend more than what I've spent. Current record holder here!

After I graduated from my theory course, I went to register again for Class 3 Course. Initially, I wanted to take Class 3A but I chose to take the other one. The reason? I'm a Civil Engineering student. Imagine if I'm working in a company and they give me a company car, they may give me a pick-up, lorry or even a manual car (to save costs?). That came to my mind so I decided to take Class 3 instead. No further explanation needed as everyone knows if you are qualified to drive manual, you can drive automatic too. You know how to drive with clutch in manual means you also know how to drive without clutch in auto. However, it requires a lot of work in manual as compared to auto.

I officially registered myself at Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC) on 6 December 2013. Just because I took Theory and Practical separately, I got myself another set of Basic Theory and Final Theory handbooks. On top of that, I also received a Motorcar Practical Training handbook, which is green in colour. Green = Manual while Blue = Auto. Registration fee? $96.10! (!!)

Now, to the first practical lesson. My first practical lesson began on 16 December 2013 at 11.30am. By the way, different charges apply with different timings. As for my first practical lesson, $74.90 was charged because 11.30am is considered Peak. There are 8 sessions in total in a weekday. 4 sessions are Peak while the other 4 are Off-Peak. By the way, $66.34 is charged for Off-Peak.  Each session is 1 hour and 40 minutes. Before you start your lesson, you will have to go to the red-coloured kiosk and print out a slip by scanning your identification card. The slip looks like this.

In this slip, you'll see your car number. Don't know where's your car? The Area can help you to see where your car is parked. Most of the cars are parked on the right after you go out to the circuit area. Area I is one of the areas you'll see you a lot of cars there. Still don't know where's your car? Every car will have a number podium which is placed above for easier identification. And you still don't know where's your car? Maybe you can ask the instructor for help or maybe the driving instructor has driven your car around the circuit and you hear the horn. That's what happened during one of the lessons.

In my first practical lesson, there's not much driving involved as I need to know the functions inside a car and the blind spots. After all that theories, I could get to drive. As I've zero knowledge in operating a car, I've a lot of difficulties in driving a manual car. After driving successfully for a short distance, my engine stalled because of my clutch. The number of times my engine stalled gradually decreased after I got to know how to coordinate. After that, all the other practical lessons were either normal or dangerous. I can't write all the practical lessons in detail because it will be a lengthy story.

However, it was not an easy journey for my practical lessons because if you didn't do well in a particular stage, the instructor cannot pass you and you can't move on to further subjects in that particular stage. I failed twice, one in Stage 1.04 and the other one in Stage 3.04. Coincidentally enough, 4 was a curse to me. More coincidentally enough, I've failed not once but twice in those two subjects in two different stages.

Here's the breakdown of how many lessons I took for each stage.

Stage 1 (Circuit + Road) - 12 lessons (2 extra lessons due to failure in Stage 1.04)
Started: 16 December 2013
Ended: 21 February 2014

Driving Simulator - 1 lesson
Started/Ended: 28 February 2014

Stage 2 (Road) - 9 lessons
Started: 21 February 2014
Ended: 12 March 2014

Stage 3 (Circuit, Road may also apply in some lessons) - 7 lessons (2 extra lessons due to failure in Stage 3.04)
Started: 13 March 2014
Ended: 16 May 2014

Stage 4 (Test Routes) - 4 lessons
Started: 24 May 2014
Ended: 13 June 2014

Automatic Driving Lesson - 1 lesson (Compulsory for Class 3 so that you can drive both Manual and Auto)
Started/Ended: 16 June 2014

Stage 5 (Final Evaluation) - 1 lesson
Started/Ended: 17 June 2014

Revision Lessons (Only applicable when you pass Stage 5) - 7 lessons (I took too many lessons because I felt that I needed more practice to drive)
Started: 18 June 2014
Ended: 9 July 2014 (2 days before the actual Practical Test)

When there's term breaks, I would go for lessons for almost every day but that's not the case all the time because as you can see, each stage, especially Stage 3, took a long time to complete. After 13 March, my practical lessons were totally disrupted by my internship. Initially, I thought of continuing it after I completed it in June but it will pose a very serious problem and that is driving skills. Hence, I booked Saturday morning lessons (that's where I've failed Stage 3.04 twice there after a long break) and Friday night lessons. During the internship period, I've booked 5 Saturday lessons and 2 Friday lessons. There's supposed to be 1 more Friday lesson but I didn't turn up due to sickness. As such, I forgot to cancel it and didn't get my refund. Bad luck!

Apart from that, I also had to renew my Provisional Driving License (PDL) which allows you to drive with a instructor beside you. That only lasts 6 months and because my first one expired in June, I had to spent another $25 for renewal. Sigh!

Now it's the time I reveal my total training fees! You'll be surprised at the amount I've paid in total and I have a feeling that it's a record for a student to spend such an amount. Remember, I've passed my Practical Test on my first try which I will be talking in detail in my next post so it's a high possibility that I spend a huge amount of money for practical.

If you're ready, I will be revealing the full amount.

Altogether, I've taken 42 lessons (Might be a record). Those lessons include a driving simulator which is a compulsory lesson before you can book the Practical Test, an Automatic driving lesson and a lesson that I didn't attend.

35 Peak lessons and 7 Off-Peak lessons. Also, I've joined the fixed group instructor scheme which costs $3.21/session plus fixed instructor scheme which costs $5.35/session.

Plus the actual Practical Test fees.

So, the final total? $3,553.70 (BOMB!)

The actual final total for both Theory and Practical is $3,734.34 (BOMB! BOMB! BOMB!).

That's a lot of money I've spent in the year of 2013/2014! At least, I've learnt a lot from driving theories to actual driving and I've passed the Practical Test means I do not spend any more money on there anymore. Wait! I forgot to calculate my driving license application, probation plate and 2 PDLs. So...

The actual finalised total is...$3,847.34! I've officially burned a big hole in my pocket!

In my next post, I will tell you how on earth did I get 16 points in my actual Practical Test and that will mark the end of my 3-part Driving License journey.

- To Be Continued -