Failure!

[ladysprite]

Well, this is humiliating.

I have had my driver's license for 20 years, now. I have never been at-fault in an accident. I have never had any points on my license. I've never had a moving violation - not even a speeding ticket.

So how the hell is it that yesterday I managed to fail the written test for my learner's permit? (Needed in order to get my motorcycle license).

I practiced. I read up online for what to expect. I reviewed stuff. I was told it'd be a review of basic rules of the road. Instead, I wound up getting asked questions like 'What is the minimum suspension period for a Junior Operator with a learner's permit for a second offense on drag racing?" (Does anyone even drag race anymore? I thought that went out when Danny Zuko graduated high school), or 'What is the minimum fee to reinstate a driver's license after suspension for a drug offense?' Not a single question on, say, how to drive....

I feel like an idiot. I have never failed a test in my life. And while I know that the questions are supposedly chosen at random, the cynical part of me can't help but wonder about the fact that the facility where I took the test is located in a rather ethnically diverse, low-income area, and whether the preponderance of questions on drugs, fines, and license suspensions has something to do with the state's perception of demographics....

Now I have... let's see. A week and a half to find a time to take it again and pass before my class next weekend. Time to get memorizing....

Comments

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

If you want to improve the new drivers in your area, you should probably complain to the DMV about that.

[rakasta53.livejournal.com]

I let me license lapse and had to retake the test a few years ago, and failed as well. Don't worry about it. Written test has nothing to do with knowing how to drive. Like you, the first time I took it I ended up with the same sort of learner's permit-specific questions that I had no idea about.

the way the test should work is that there are x number of questions and the computer randomly pulls them. the second time I took the test it was all 'what does this sign mean?' questions.

[gmkieran.livejournal.com]

Hope the scheduling isn't too much of a hassle! You'll do fine. Have fun in class!!! :D

[xuth.livejournal.com]

This is becoming more prevalent in many states. The legislature will pass laws saying things like "at least n% or m questions on the new drivers test must have questions regarding X" for some politically motivated reason (some constituents child was killed by a drunk driver, drag racer, etc. Us bicyclists managed to get a question on the test regarding motorist/cyclist interaction. It goes on from there). Eventually you get to the point where this is the majority of the questions.

[grum]

I also failed my first written exam at the DMV. Thankfully I didn't have to have a permit for any reason. Then I had to take it a third time because I waited more than a year to take my road test and my learners permit expired. Such ignominy!

Good luck and effective studying for the retake. Hope yoi enjoy the class.

[calygrey.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's the permit test. One of my kids got a lot of the Jr. operator questions, the other one didn't. There's a remarkable amount of information that has nothing to do with driving you are expected to learn.

[etherial.livejournal.com]

'What is the minimum suspension period for a Junior Operator with a learner's permit for a second offense on drag racing?"

I would have expected a strong majority of questions to be about suspensions and violations for junior operators involving drug and alcohol abuse. And drag racing is *very* popular in certain spots, such as the Route 9 West/Oak Street intersection in Natick.

[laurion]

Oh yeah. I've been through that intersection a number of times at the quiet hours of the night. Nice straight stretch with stop lights making nice clear start signals and distance delineations. Enough commercial sector on either side that you are less likely to disturb the residentials enough into calling the cops, and a wide road that dies down at night. Recipe for drag racing.

[laurion]

As stated above, the problem is that you are taking a test designed for -new- drivers. Generally those around age 16 or so preparing to drive cars. So many of the questions are designed not to ask about how to drive, or the things you need to know while driving (that's the driving test), but how well aware are you of the laws and the consequences, in a DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU F* THIS DRIVING THING UP? kind of parental way.

And yeah, random selection is all well and good, but if 75% of the pool of questions is only peripherally related to you and what you are trying to do, be prepared to get a lot of crap questions.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Yike. I couldn't answer any of those either, and I've had my license over 25 years now. Hope you get more reasonable questions on the retake. Would it make sense to try another venue?

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

See, now, this is why I shouldn't be allowed to do grown-up things, because in that position I would be hard-pressed to prevent my natural reaction - which would be to answer the questions truthfully and completely, to wit:

1) It doesn't matter to me what it is. The specified conditions don't apply to me in any identifiable way.

2) I can envision no circumstances under which I would need to know this either.

And then I'd not only fail, but probably get thrown out. Boom! How you like me now, Massachusetts RMV?

Seriously, what the crap? That's like sitting down to take the SAT and discovering that all the questions are about the college admissions process. It's all metaknowledge. "How does the bureaucracy of driver licensing work?" That's sort of beside the point, dudes!

Anyway, point is, don't feel stupid. You know how people ask "is it me or is it X"? In this case it's so not you.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I failed my first learner's permit test because I didn't know enough of the hand signals. (This while living outside D.C., where your hand would probably suffer damage if trying to use them on most of the interstates, given the speed people drove at.) Don't feel too bad about it - I'm sure you'll ace it next time.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

I let my driver's license lapse when I moved to Boston, and had to retake the written test when I finally decided to get a car. Only one of the questions had anything to do with driving or the rules of the road. The rest were all about seat belts and substance abuse.

It's my belief that having most of the questions on the written test be about things other than rules of the road or how actually to operate a vehicle has a lot to do with what seems to me to be rampant scofflaw driving. It may be more that the drivers don't know that what they're doing is illegal.

A long time ago in a state far far away, I took the written test. It was 100 questions. There were multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and even a few essay questions. They all were about the rules of the road or how to handle various situations you might encounter while driving. There was one question about how you should position your wheels when parallel parked on a hill, so that if the emergency brake gave out the car wouldn't roll down the hill. This was in a town that was mostly flat as a pancake.

Now, THAT was a test which indicated whether or not you actually knew what you were doing behind the wheel of a car. Unfortunately, it couldn't guarantee that you'd act accordingly.

As for your failing the test, I'd say it sounds more like the test failed you!

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

That's really weird. And unless you were really unlucky, that sounds like a lousy way to test driver prep.

(It *is* possible that the random question asker just sucked that day - so it could be unlucky.)