Now now, John, don't make assumptions. Manitas is a bloke and he failed his test first time round. I'm not a bloke and I passed first time. Proporionately, more men have accidents due to bad driving than women. When Manitas parks, either we have to get a bus to the kerb or he scrapes the wheel covers on it, and I've lost count of the times I've had to crawl out over the drivers side because he's too close to a wall or other obstruction. He rarely indicates on roundabouts and when following him in my car, I've had near misses because of this.

It is a question of confidence. Knowing you can do something because you've done it before is a great deal different from thinking you know how to do something.

Practise as much as you can, get the feel of the car, learn its little habits (such as stalling if you try roundabouts in 2nd or popping the boot instead of handbrake!). Sit in your car in a carpark, and learn where the bite point is on the clutch/accelorator. Once you've sussed that out, hill starts and pulling out at junctions are a lot easier.

One thing I found was that the examiner was a lot more lenient when I took my time to do something carefully, rather than trying to impress by doing it first time. You are trying to show the examiner that you can control your vehicle, you take care on the roads, and that you have respect for other users, both vehicular and pedestrian.

One thing I wish they had taught me before I took my test, was how to start a cold car- I was always picked up in a nice warm car that started first time. I flooded Manitas' car so often in those first few weeks by pumping the gas pedal too much!

Good luck with it and try and stay calm. I found chewing gum helped my concentration, but keep off the caffeine, that just hypes you up and makes you more jittery than necessary.

Of course, taking your test on a day when there is little or no traffic is an advantage - school holidays are perfect!

LTS