I have a test to get my driver's license tomorrow. I already kind of have one, I think in America it's called a driver's permit because I can drive as long as I'm under supervision right now. But this is the test to get my actual license. To get the permit, I only had to take a written test but this time, I have to drive with a supervisor. The test itself is only like twenty minutes but I'm so sure that I'm going to fail. I'm just way too nervous and I have zero confidence. My parents said I'm ready and they think I'll pass but I majorly doubt that. And when I'm nervous, I always make stupid mistakes. I don't know what to do, my chest feels so tight right now. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight...what do I do? I really think I'm going to fail and the test is $108 so I'm wasting my parents' money too and that's even more pressure to pass :\
Hey Spot, Most often what you are referring to is a learner's permit. Why are you so sure that you'll fail? The rules of the road are normally straightforward and the teaching materials for these exams are usually very thorough. It's not like they can throw in complicated trick questions on the exam. (The most they usually do to make sure the test taker is paying attention to the test is to word some questions in a specific way to imply one type of answer, but, if you truly read the questions all the way through, it should be obvious that the opposite answer is the correct one.) If you know the material, is your main concern test anxiety?
Yes, I think so. I must've driven nearly a hundred times, if not more by now and I've done fine (with a few mistakes here and there when I was starting out) but I feel like the instructor will make me nervous and so I'll mess up or they'll ask me something I haven't been taught yet. I think I know everything for the test but I worry that because I'm so anxious already, I'm going to forget or panic.
The main thing is to just stay calm. You'll do fine. The instructor is there to check out your competency, not to try to force you to fail. Sometimes, just doing some deep breathing exercises before a test can help calm you. If you make a mistake, so what? If you realize that you made a mistake, correct it if you can. If not, just try to put it behind you - since you can't change the past - and focus on the next question or task. The first time I rode with a driving instructor, I was super nervous. When we pulled out of the parking lot the instructor told me to turn left, but I had already decided in my mind to turn right. So I did. The instructor got mad and made me pull into the next subdivision, then pull the car over to the side of the road. He used a pen to write a big "L" on the back of my left hand and a big "R" on the back of my right hand. That was very embarrassing - especially since there were two of my driving school classmates in the back seat. However, after that my nervousness actually went away because I was more pissed off at the instructor for embarrassing me like that than I was worried or concerned about making driving mistakes.
