BBDC Experience - in review

This entry was typed on a whim right after I got my licence! :D I will always remember the joy I felt when I passed. Especially since I didn't expect myself to!

WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG AND INCOHERENT ENTRY AHEAD. we're at the tail-end of my bbdc review service.

in every effort to change my luck for driving i took a bus to bbdc yesterday. for the previous i cabbed. this time i took the usual 174-187/985 route and discovered that the last four songs on yoga's sophomore album totally rule. i suppose experience plays a part in the way you feel about certain events like exams and driving tests because i arrived at bbdc a lot calmer than the last time. i was surprised to see people mugging for driving test whilst in the waiting room (with the nature dvd playing).

warm-up was awful. i mounted a kerb during s-course (whats new!) and got sandwiched between traffic from two sides while making a right turn. also failed to confirm safety during parallel parking and a lot of other random, safety-related, expensive-in-terms-of-points stuff. the instructor asked me if i was nervous, and i said no, because i know ill fail. after what mr chan said about his class4 test and after what my dad said about not fearing failure i decided that i shall just go in and drive like it was an evaluation and not a test.

still i think i subconsciously believed i could pass because still in an effort to change my luck i stopped listening to music earlier while in the waiting room (which is damn annoying cos the testers talk DAMN LOUDLY to compete with each other during debriefing). all that i could think of just before my name was called was really what route ill get because i think ill be damned if i got route 3 again. in the end i got route 1 -__- which is horribly, like 70%, similar to route 3. both are at teck whye.

and the best thing is i had a tester who couldnt stop talking prior to the test. he made me check my details like twice on his tablet pc and gave a lot of advice when we got into the car. like "remember what you've learnt, do it slowly, and just do your best. dont think too much, the route doesnt matter i will give you instructions." etc. my previous tester merely said "so i call you rosel ah? ok move off." big diff.

(im going into details here just to document the experience)

i admit after my first test i decided it was a bad idea for bbdc instructors to give way to test cars because during driving lesson nobody gives way to you and nobody's going to give way to you on the roads outside either. still i really appreciate the TWO instructors who gave way to me yesterday because there were just far too many test cars yesterday (shouldnt they limit the number of people taking test at the same time seriously). one of them was mr chan. i was entering #4 (s-course) at the start of my test through a right turn and he stopped his (student's) car right before the s-course entrance so i could go. mr chan is that kinda instructor he'll go all out to help the test cars. and he said other instructors do the same but evidently something has changed because the only other instructor who bothered to give way was this class 2 one who held up traffic so i could turn out to the roads at #50.

anyway my confidence went up a lot after s-course because i DIDNT STRIKE/MOUNT KERB!!!! as i was exiting i was silently telling myself "omg i am going to pass". :) after that was vertical parking which was fine too. parallel parking was beautiful, probably my best attempt ever. my car was very far away from pole A and this is only thanks to shi fu who taught me how to keep my car away from the pole i knocked down during the first test.

the strange thing is that hau kw made it so clear to me that once the tester brakes for you or takes over steering basically you're dead BUT my tester was controlling the brake when we made an illegal right turn in the circuit. -jawdrop-

everything was ok until the ramp, which was disappointing cos i braked too late and the wheels kinda slammed onto the ramp. besides, my car wasnt straight, which is what ive been practicing since forever. i probably let hau kw down on this one, sorry. but i didnt lose any points here surprisingly!

as with my last test i didnt have to do the slope. i honestly think they should just remove the slope from the 3A test criteria and save it for manual cars only. there is no need anyway because the auto car is not supposed to roll back, ever.

i cannot believe he started the test with an e-brake really. that was so surprising because very, very few testers make candidates do e-brake.

then came the road test which was horrible. i really thought i was going to fail because i had to lane change SO MANY TIMES and all the cars just werent giving way to me. again i know i cannot expect it but does it really take a lot for people to give way to a test car. i mean how many test cars do you see man! i promise to give way to all the test cars i see in future because of this experience. the worst part was there were so many other test cars (and test cars dont ever give way to other test cars for obvious reasons).

nearer the end of the test route there was a stupid bicycle in front of me. i HATE bicycles because my first instinct is to slow down thinking they'll make a turn and get out of my way but they dont ever. overtaking is supposed to be easy but i hate overtaking near bends/traffic light junctions because you're not supposed to within a certain distance (and i always cannot gauge that distance). ended up getting 6 points for road hogging. bloody bicycle. i wish cyclists would limit their habits to only parks and take public transport whenever else.

anyway when we got back he just told me to wait for him outside and i felt good about how i performed BUT i still wasnt sure if i could pass particularly since he kept taking out his tablet pc. everyone else in the waiting room looked awfully gloom, like this guy next to me. when his tester came he said something like "today you drove very badly ah." sad, sad. i hope he passes the next time!

when my tester came though the first thing he said was "so how do you think you drove today?"

me: urm, it was ok?

tester: ok ah. why you stop behind the bicycle!

me: oops.

tester: you overtake already must come back quickly otherwise count as road-hogging.

me: i thought it was near the traffic light junction.

tester: yeah but the bicycle so small just come out go back in already.

me: (quickly remembers what shi fu said about agreeing with the tester no matter what) oh. ok i see i will do so in future.

tester: so how many times?

me: two.

tester: two ah. how, wanna come back?

me: dont want! haha.

tester: dont want ah. (hands me the result slip) well done. you go down watch video then come back up.

me: oh come back up?

tester: dont want license ah.

actually the whole time we were talking i was just peering to see what was written on the paper. imagine my (silent) joy when i saw the "dear sir/madam" part was different from the previous test. "we would like to extend a warm welcome to you to the motoring society" indeed. motoring society?! society?! like, secret society-society?!
i took a really long time to realise i passed, because i was so prepared to fail i even booked a lesson with hau kw in march. but i was very happy to see that shi fu was happy for me when he walked past the briefing room while i was watching the stupid ix shen drink-driving video. its gory as hell and i hated every bit of it. besides, they should get christopher lee to do that video instead. but i digress.

there were several, to use driving terminology, turning points over the course of my journey in becoming a qualified 3A driver. i remember when i first started out it was like damn fun and everything, until i started having lessons with sim kh, ng hl and shi fu. at that time i hated shi fu because i thought he was damn freaking unreasonable. more on that later.

the first turning point came when i had this manual instructor (lu lb) for one lesson. yes, the one who told me "现在所有的车都是auto所以你学auto是个明确的选择!" he was the one who taught me braking techniques even though alex tan was supposed to have taught me that the previous lesson. that same entry tells you why i hated shi fu. mr lu's damn funny and he kept laughing at me for not getting 3 As for my alevels.

the second came when i found out mr chan hy was in g8001, which was my group at that time. before that i hated every lesson with g8001 and was on the verge of changing group although i didnt know to what group. after i found out mr chan was in g8001 i stopped complaining so much and it was around the same time that somehow i stopped hating ronald siew, aka shi fu. i am not sure if i would have hated g8001 less if i had hau kw earlier but basically i stayed in the group because of mr chan.

the third turning point came when i had my last stage 4 lesson with hau kw. prior to this i was having almost every lesson with shi fu & mr chan and i was driving fine with them. it was here that i realised you cannot just have one or two instructors because it is not enough to be able to drive well with some people. you have to drive well with anyone in the car, whether you are familiar with them or not. every instructor has their strengths and weaknesses and i would say you should have about two to three instructors who are familiar with YOUR strengths and weaknesses who each make up for the other's weaknesses. which is why i dont believe in private! as i said in this entry there are instructors who care more about skill, those who care more about safety and those who care about both. i cannot emphasize how strict hau kw is with safety which is why i wanted him for my last lesson. to digress, my advice is to not waste time with instructors who dont care at all. ie alex tan. fix the good instructors as soon as you find them. you pay more but less in the long run (each driving test costs $150+, fixing an instructor costs $8 per lesson - you do the math).

i just cannot thank the four instructors mentioned above enough, really. particularly mr chan for his patience (he has never lost this, not even once, with me). there was a time not too long ago where i really couldnt parallel park AT ALL and it was mr chan who changed everything about it. i dont think theres any part of circuit and road that he didnt help me improve on. it was because he was nice but at the same time genuinely interested in helping his students improve that i felt i could really trust him to make me a safe and competent driver. i mean you could be a really good instructor but if you're unapproachable and fierce like sim kh im not ever going to be able to ask you anything, so no point! the irony is that mr chan looks really fierce. but hes really the nicest instructor around. he remembers all my strengths and weaknesses despite having seeing so many students everyday. its really amazing. shi fu is really nice too but he doesnt bother talking much apart from driving technique. maybe hes not very sociable - he only became nicer to me when he talked to me about booking test date.

i think if shi fu finds out that i had one improper (sharp) turning yesterday during my test hes going to be quite disappointed because he taught me all my turnings. learning to do left and right turns in itself was a turning point because arguably it is the hardest part of learning driving. circuit and all are really tough too but they all require turning and you only learn how to gauge how much you need to turn after some time of driving. learning left and right turns gave me that experience. also, thanks to the same person who gave me long talks on how to find a good test timing. i am most impressed with his ability to remember every detail of my past driving lessons with him. heres to you, shi fu!

and the last person deserves the least thanks among everybody hahahaha. only because i only had four lessons with him. he did change my whole safety-check regime and i lost very few points for safety so i cannot not thank him. also he was the one who made me finally able to tell whether my car is straight or not during directional change and vertical parking. i suppose i will never ever find out if he was really falling asleep when i was parallel parking during my last lesson with him but thank you mr hau. (calling him mr hau is just weird cos hes damn young.) im sure you'll make an awesome instructor once you grow out of your childish nonsense. (im not joking.)

it has been a good 2 months since my first test and i couldnt get my confidence back on track right through yesterday. if i failed yesterday ill still be complaining about not being able to get back to the form i was at for my first test. yes i still think i shouldn't have lost that psychological battle with myself during the first test but i only passed yesterday thanks to the above-mentioned and more...

i also want to thank the instructors i hate, because if not for them i wouldnt have the urge to pass as soon as possible so i wont ever run the risk of running into them again. sim kh, ng hl and alex tan. really i think sim kh needs to change his teaching style. young people 吃软不吃硬 nowadays so his army-style teaching doesnt work anymore. ng hl needs to stop wasting lesson time by stopping for toilet break. alex tan SERIOUSLY needs a reality check - his students are only passing cos of the other instructors.

i would also like to wish all students currently under g8033 ALL THE BEST - not that i know any of them. i shant say anything about the original instructors but i am sure with the addition of mr chan, hau kw & shi fu, you guys wouldnt need to fear failing 4 or 5 times.

and final concluding remarks on bbdc...

thank goodness you people decided to do away with the "pay $20 to open a fixed group account" thing. please do something about your system though cos you guys are just losing out on opportunities to earn more money whenever your student doesnt get the instructor she fixes. besides i would have spent this entry complaining if i didnt pass yesterday.

i think bbdc gives you a very good feeling at the start because their service was quite good but for some reason something changed and now all the counter staff all look like they've been deprived of their bonus or something.

i reckon you cannot choose an instructor or a driving school based on their passing rates because the driving test depends on much more than your instructor's teaching although it does matter. its a mental game for most people. every instructor is different but the good thing about going to a school and not a private instructor even though the latter is cheaper is that you can complain about them (alex had loads of problems with her private instructor's attitude), take your pick from so many instructors all with their own teaching style, change cars, warm up before each test and the most important, get to take as long as you want in the circuit.

i find it very sad that private students dont get all the time in the world in the circuit because the circuit is the hardest part. i even had time to try parallel parking without the pole for fun ok?

i have always felt that people should choose driving schools based on distance from their home and not reputation or whatever because that is all that matters. i STILL think that way. so only go to bbdc if you live in or near the west, or like me, sad and central.

and if you're here to find out if bbdc has any yan dao instructors, i am pleased to inform you that there is one. HAHAHAHA. but there are several others who are good and not yan dao and that matters so much more.

and to end off the bbdc review service in numbers (because i know so many people are reading this only because they googled 'bbdc'), i spent $2,707.58, including theory lessons, theory practice sessions, driving practical lessons, test fees and to open a bbdc account. in total i had 39 practical lessons (9 with mr chan, 9 with shi fu), 20 theory training sessions including 1 driving simulator ($11.77) which was awfully unnecessary. an average bbdc student would probably spend much less particularly if they are willing to study harder for the theory tests - i hate mugging so i just spammed theory practice sessions which means i spend time doing typical test questions as practices so by the time i go for my tests i already know the question based on the answers and not the other way round HAHA. i basically memorize answers to questions. i passed both on my first try under 5min both times! each theory practice session costs $2.14 for 45min and as a bbdc student you get more booklets than a private candidate. at bbdc each practical lesson costs $59.92 including gst. if you fix a group, you pay $3 more, and if you fix an instructor, you pay $5 on top of that $3. a practical test costs $156.96 including gst. the only bad thing about being a school candidate is that you need to attend 4 theory lessons (each cost $17.12 but those theory lessons are not totally useless and theres this theory instructor called patrick sum- hes really damn funny). each theory test costs $6.

i also want to thank everyone who has followed my journey to get my driver's license since 24th july 2009. its been a great four months.

milli, who thought i failed because i put "trey i *still* need a ride to your faraway birthday chalet next friday" on facebook. i saw her comment at like 3am when i woke up.

sam, who messaged "wipers on the left headlights on the right" when i complained that it was raining before my test. what good advice! :)

ben who, along with several others, insisted that knocking down the pole during parking is immediate failure. IT IS NOT, ITS TEN POINTS.

my dad who offered to buy a $92000 toyota camry last night.

and everyone else who offered their support and their sincerest congratulations when i passed, including ado and her dairy queen ice cream.

so, i passed!

i know 16 points is very high but this is not olevels and besides i truly dont think he should've faulted me for failing to check safety during directional change (4 points) and steering while vehicle is stationary (2 points). also, darn that stupid bicycle for causing my road hogging (6 points). we should have a lane just for bicycles as they do in china. and if people who are supposedly very smart like quan you (HAHA) get 18 points i dont think my 16 points is that bad. and in every effort not to let my instructors down i will do my very best to be a safe and competent driver. :)

as of today i am going to be completely alcohol free, with the sole exception of those in food/desserts, so i will never ever run the risk of drink-driving. hold me to my word.

let my last word be a big discovery about why i fared so poorly during my last driving lesson.

THE FREAKING SEAT WASN'T RAISED TO THE SAME LEVEL AS IT IS USUALLY so i had problems gauging the turning points and all. not because i was lousy. realised this like yesterday after i finished the circuit test.

gonna buy three thank you cards. actually i dont know what im gonna write in hau kw's.

Original entry here! After this entry I think I started the blog, and the rest is history. XD