I passed my driving test on 14 July 2011, manual license under SSDC- Woodlands. I was a school student. I went to register on my birthday 28 Dec 2010 and had to wait till Feb for my BTT. They will book your preferred BTT test date when you register but school student must pass BTT trial test before the test date to be eligible to sit for the test.
And... to sit for the trial test, you must do 3 BTT practices before you can sit for 1 trial test. If you fail the trial test, you have to do another 3 more practices before you are able to take another trial test. The cycle goes on... Yup! But for school students, theory is considered free. You have to pay first and then attend the trial test/ practices and the money will be refunded back into your account. If you did not attend, your money will be forfeited.
Upon passing your BTT, you are able to get your PDL- Provisional Driving license. Only after you have your PDL then you are able to go for driving lesson. PDL needs to be shown to the instructor every lesson. PDL is only valid for 6 months at the cost of $25.
You will need to pass FTT before you book your TP test date. So, while you are learning drive, you should get your FTT as well so that you will not waste time. Same time for school students, 3 practices and 1 trial test. This time, you must pass your trial test before you can book your FTT test date. Same thing, you pay, attend the trial test/ practices then money will be refunded back into your account.
Okay, back to PDL. Book your driving lesson after you pass your BTT. First driving lesson will be boring. They will talk to you able theory, demonstrate to you, you do forward backwards and right turn. If you are fast then left turn. First few lessons don't even think of going on the road especially if you are learning at woodlands. Don't be discouraged. As long as they feel that you are stable, they might bring you out for awhile. Every lesson max can sign for 2 subjects unless internal assessment/ stated. If you are fast they will teach you more but won't be reflected in the booklet because need minimum number of lessons to book TP. If fail subject, got to repeat next lesson till pass before going on.
Manual lessons got 33 subjects, 4/5 stages (Can't remember). At the end of each stage got to do a internal assessment. To sum up and see if you can produce what you have learned. Fail, repeat till pass to move on. Must complete all stages and subjects + 1 complusory auto car lesson otherwise cannot book TP.
Good luck to you driving!
Although most cars are auto, manual cars will be good if...
1. You have coordination
2. Able to multitask
3. Family's car/van is manual
4. You want to go on to get class 4 license
5. You want to Drive overseas
And
6. Rental of cars normally cheap for manual cars
7. Learning experience
8. Enjoy changing gears
9. Safer
I learned manual transmission before i wanted to prove that girls can drive manual cars too!
Manual can drive both auto and manual cars.
At SSDC manual only got 3 more lessons than auto lessons.
I cracked my brain to write private vs school driving lessons. Might miss out some things here and there but the important points are there! Take a look! :)
Private VS School
Private- Advantages
Cheap
More flexible timings/ Able to do last minute booking/ Re-schedule lessons with no forfeit
More road training
Fixed instructor
Usually able to park in public carparks as compared to school students
More confident on road
Private- Disadvantages
Instructors normally...
1. Come late
2. Go toilet
3. Bring you to petrol station and use your time to pump oil
4. Dislike slow/weak/poor students. They might even refund you the deposit and ask you to look for other instructors
5. Fall asleep in the car
6. Forget about your lesson
No insurance
No emergency brake pedal at instructors side (Depends if they installed a brake pedal at their side)
Car usually poorly maintained
Might be rude
Some can be quite bian tai (Girls please be careful, heard many stories already)
They choose their students
Well, i also heard that the testers do not like private students
TP bookings are prioritised for school students so private students might have to wait longer.
School- Advantages
Trusted booking system
Free BTT and FTT trial test- unlimited
Instructors will not "abandon" you if they feel that you are weak
Cars well maintained
Internal Assessment conducted at every stage
Compulsory Circuit and road every lesson- Familiar with circuit & test roads
Comes with insurance
All cars have extra emergency brake pedals at instructors side
School- Disadvantages
More expensive as compared to Private
Needs to have minimum number of lessons before booking TP
Every lesson is scheduled with allocated subject by sequence- If fail, repeat till subject is cleared before moving on
No fixed instructor unless pay more to have fixed instructor
No fixed car
Last minute changes only can try-sell and hope someone buys your slot so that money can be refunded into your acc. If try-sell unsuccessful, money forfeited.
I hope this helps all of you out there that are confused. I wrote about my driving experience and the whole process and lastly ended off with private vs school lessons. I know about the private lessons because my bf is learning under a private instructor and he met a badass instructor before so he changed to another one. Don't stick with your instructor if you think he can't teach or drive in a car you are not comfortable in. CHANGE!
If you guys are planning to take TP in woodlands and finding a private instructor, I'll recommend to you
Mr Leong
Manual
SSDC
Pick up point: Yck mrt
Hp: 96893963
Fees: Enrollment-$50, $28/hr- No difference for peak and non-peak
Available for night lessons also!
All the best for people who are learning/ going to learn! Qualified drivers, please stay safe on the road and drive safely. Think for people around you. Don't be selfish.
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