It comes to you at some point during the initial training. You have been a driver long. Thousands of miles. Then some one sits down next to you and has a clipboard and you find yourself unable to remember what lane you are in. It does not quite fit in humbling. That is the Chilled that is beckoning you into its sphere.

There are three sections between you and qualification. They all test something different and none of them are indulgent of preparation shortcuts.

The theory exam comes in the first place. Any comparison with the learner test is out of the question, this test is on a different plane altogether. Road law, analysis of fault, learning theory, risk psychology. It rewards those candidates who take it seriously and rewards those who do not. There is a group of people who study months. Others get to know that lesson is the costly way.

Part two is an exam to be practical in driving but with a twist. It is not pretty good that is the standard required. It is legally defined as exemplary – which is to set the pace of most people who want to do things but hardly ever do. Perfect signals. Correct positioning. Proper pace at any time. Any habit of laziness you have acquired since you took your first test, must be found out and corrected before the examiner can even see it. The process is more time-consuming than most candidates would anticipate and hurts the ego far too often during the process.

The course becomes really interesting in part three.

An examiner is assumed to be a learner driver and he has certain flaws and nervousness. To teach is your business. In real traffic. Without a script. When anything is wrong–and it will be–you must be able to diagnose it, make it plain and right without making your “pupil” feel like a lost cause. One of the instructors referred to the experience as juggling and somebody requests you to tell them how to juggle. That’s about right.

It is typical to have several tries in the three sections. Very common. That is no cause to get discouraged, this is evidence that the qualification does have a meaning.

The choice, as to training provider, comes at a price. Skills cease being theory and begin to become instinct when under mentored hours on the road, teaching actual learners, under supervision. Those packages which are light in this are likely to be more expensive in the long term in resits and confidence lost.

The teachers who truly are passionate about this task have one thing in common. The minor successes are very important to them. A student eventually nailing a round-about. A motorway, with a formerly frightened driver merging onto it.

Such satisfaction is a reality. And the course is constructed in a way that it makes people who are able to construct it.