His recent test failure was a pupil he was confident he could bet his house on passing. Week after week, with near-faultless drives, they were both confident the test would be a breeze.

So what went wrong?

Well, as it turned out, much to Andy’s surprise, the reason his latest pupil failed is not that uncommon. So I thought I would share it here for others who also may not have given it a thought. The problem was simply the lessons that his pupil was taking, or rather, the day and time. Two hours a week, never a lesson missed, but unfortunately always a Sunday morning at 8.30. Roads were near-deserted for much of the lesson; it was no wonder his pupil struggled with a midday test in a busy town bustling with traffic.

Identifying the cause it cleared up a comment Andy’s pupil had made after the test ” Never having dealt with a couple of the roundabouts before” even though she had on many occasions during normal driving lessons. With all that extra traffic, the environment must have seemed quite alien to her and quite a distraction.

I stated above that this result was not uncommon, simply because not everyone can take lessons during normal test times, but there are things that Andy and others can do. Nearer the test, the pupil is encouraged to change their time slots in the diary. Perhaps they can take a couple of days of work leading up to the test or maybe the odd lesson during a lunch break?

Making the pupil aware of this potential problem in the early days can help put plans in place. It turned out that some of his other test failures could also have been a result of lesson times. Many of his lessons are on Sundays and in the evenings after rush hour, which he has always avoided until now.

I’m pleased to say that his pupil took some extra lessons during the week and passed at her next attempt, and Andy has now made changes to his diary and time slots. Having done so, he has since told me how shocked he was at how many of his pupils suddenly struggled to cope, but happily no more!

A common problem, but perhaps one which is easily fixed!