Since I'm learning now, I'd like to share some tips with newbies. Before I start to learn, I have a lot of doubt and hesitation, such as which license shall I take auto or manual, where shall I learn from school or private, is it possible to learn more modules in less lessons and how to save budget. General Q&A won't answer these "up to you" questions. There are no right or wrong answers, nevertheless, getting advises from seniors will get you a better general picture to make a suitable final decision.
1. What's the procedure to obtain a driving licence in Singapore?
This chart is from gov website. It's official and detailed, but I hate it. Can you just give me a simple idea or focus.
Cool, this is what I want. Just pass 2 theory tests and 1 practical test then will get the class 3 driving license.
2. How to select driving schools.
There are three driving schools in Singapore. SSDC (Singapore Safety Driving Centre @ Woodlands), CDC (ComfortDelGro Driving Centre @ Ubi) and BBDC (Bukit Batok Driving Centre). Guess most people may choose most convenient one in terms of distance, but there may be other factors such as passing rate and pricing taken into consideration.
2.1 What's the driving school passing rate?
These tables include the statistics of both private driving instructors and schools. In primary or secondary schools, students who score 60-70 out of 100 are not top students. However, in social schools it becomes very good ranking. What a regress...
2.1.1 What's the private instructor passing rate?
Let's take CDC for example. In fact, I've contacted one instructor listed in CDC before I took BTT, however, he never replied my message. Choosing private instructor really takes a lot of time as you may need to compare with different figures and comments. Even recommended by friends may not guarantee a responsible instructor, say nothing of teaching you enough skills to pass practical test at the first time.
I was hesitating to choose to learn from school or private. This made me make a mistake when doing enrolment. Because when you register theory test in school counter, the reception will ask you if you plan to learn practice lessons with school or private. You decision will cause different enrolment fees which I will share at the end of session 2.
2.2 How much are driving school fees?
Class 3 Course Fees from BBDC
Items
|
Fees
(S$)
|
Fees with GST
(S$)
|
Enrolment (valid for 1 year, payable during enrolment)
|
*90.00
|
96.30
|
Theoretical Lesson (100 min per lesson)
|
16.00
|
17.12
|
Theory Practice Session (45 min per session)
|
3.00
|
3.21
|
Theory Evaluation Session (45 min per session)
|
5.00
|
5.35
|
Manual/Auto Practical Lesson (100 min per session)
| ||
Off-peak-hour LessonPeak Hour Lesson
|
64.0072.00
|
68.4877.04
|
Simulator Lesson (50 min per session)
|
13.00
|
13.91
|
Membership Renewal (per month)
|
7.50
|
8.03
|
*Payment is non-refundable or transferable.
Test fee (per attempt)
Items
|
Fees
(S$)
|
Fees with GST
(S$)
|
Basic Theory Test
|
6.50
|
6.50
|
Final Theory Test
|
6.50
|
6.50
|
Practical Test
|
33.00
|
33.00
|
Vehicle Rental
|
160.00
|
171.20
|
50 mins Warm-up (Mon - Sat)
|
36.00
|
38.52
|
2.3 Learn from which driving school got higher change to pass at the first time?
See how genius seniors share experience of different schools.
I chose CDC because it's near my house although people say it is most difficult one. Just think about the opportunity cost if taking passing rate as priority.
3. Can I do enrolment online?
No. You must go down to school counter to register. And do remember to double check if reception give you a student card after you make the payment.
I didn't know there was a student card issued until I saw other students have this card in mock test. Then I went down to reception to request one, they said you need to pay $5 for replacement. I didn't get it at the first place, where comes replacement. They said anyway the card doesn't function much, you can always use your IC.... what irresponsible service, at least I can get a souvenir...
CDC website enrolment is funny. It doesn't allow online enrolment yet it provides a detailed form for users to fill in. Then after you filled in all the info, you found there was no submit button... I thought it was my browser problem, then I click refresh, and then...
I'm not sure what CDC did, it was just blocked by starhub and it happened often. Until this year 2016 CDC updated their website, it becomes normal. Anyway, if you doesn't allow certain function then just declare, do not waste users' passion!
Now CDC website has better user interface with simple flash. What a big progress...
4. Shall I get driving license from a driving school or a private driving instructor. - big question.
This is the first question that reception will ask you when you do enrolment as your answer may result in different payment amount.
I was struggling with this question at the counter because I was not sure how fast I can learn from school. I heard by following private instructor, learners will have better time control and cheaper lesson fee. However, private instructors also need to follow school schedule to book circuits. Moreover, learners must spend more time to source for high passing rate private instructors and do some comparison.
Then the reception suggest just take basic theory package (2 theory tests with 6 mock tests each) which is $119 and decide later if following school or private after passing basic theory test.
After consulting from a lot of seniors especially first time passing friends, what can be conclude is 90% of them are school learners, 70% of first time passing learners from school learned auto. Anyway, this is not official statistics. It's just my impression. This makes me make up my mind to take practical lessons from school and paid extra $69 for the top up fees.
Hence, if you are not very confident on driving or have no experience, just choose to learn from school. If you are confident that no matter how rubbish the instructors teach, you will pass the test at the first time for sure, then learn from private instructors. Just make life easier, 100% sure then yes, if not then no. Hesitation or tanglement will only waste your time but not to solve the problem.
Just think about the opportunity cost of spending less lesson fees and fail the test many times. One of my friends learned from private instructor at the beginning. After 2-3 lessons, she changed to school. She said her private instructor only told her to turn left, turn right, and stop at where. She said she doesn't need that kind of instruction, what she needs was what she should do before a turn.
Learning driving is like learning basic primary mathematics. You do not need different fancy methods to solve one problem like Mathematical Olympiad. You just need to follow what instructors teach you like 1+1=2. My friend's hands-on skill is not good. She said she could not feel the difference of driving in different countries such as Singapore or US. She is not able to ride bicycle. Yet she passed the auto practical test at the first time by just following exactly what instructors teach within 25 lessons in BBDC.
A taxi driver told me driving a car is much easier than riding a bicycle because you do not need to control your body balance. No matter how you dance in your seat, you won't fall out of the car. Driving needs practice, once your get the feelings towards distance and speed, you will gain confidence.
5. What is the Passing Mark of Basic Theory Test?
The Basic theory test contains 50 multiple choice questions (MCQ) and 50 minutes. Passing score is 90%, meaning you should get at least 45 out of the total 50 to be correct in order to pass. I'll discuss the tips of passing theory test in next chapter.
6. What are the requirements to open an account for driving learning?
a. 18 years old
b. physically and mentally healthy
c. no color blindness (will be tested when you apply PDL)
7. Will my BTT/FTT test result expire?
BTT no.
FTT yes. You will be required to pass the practical driving test within 2 years (from the date of successfully passed the test), otherwise you will have to retake and pass it again before another road test attempt.
8. Will my PDL(Provisional Driving Licence) expire?
Yes. PDL is valid for 6 months only, so if you couldn't finish practical lessons and pass practical test within half a year, you will renew it for sure. One of my stupid cousins renewed PDL 4 times since 2014, he is still taking practical test now...
9. Will my school membership expire?
Yes. you'll never know that until you found you couldn't finish both theory and practical test within half a year. And when you renew it, your chances of canceling practice lessons will drop from 18 times to 9 times. So the fastest way is to get PDL and register for practice lesson once pass basic theory test. Anyway, it's not easy to finish all within half a year as you may need to wait for both theory tests date for 2-3 months in CDC.
Moreover, this ridiculous CDC just published this news that all class 3/3A learners enrolled at Ubi (except for one team / AD-vios) are only allowed to book a maximum of 12 practical lessons per month. See how they miss their learners.
10. Can I finish all tests within a year.
Yes you can if you concentrate. If you happen to go overseas to travel and miss a test date then you may need to wait for a few months to get a new date which will delay your learning.
11. Will I get refund if I cancel the theory/practical test date.
No. You will only offer the slot to other people.
12. How many practical lessons do I need for practical test.
Depends on how well and how fast you could pick up new skills. Minimum 24 lessons for auto and 27 lessons for manual that was told by CDC reception. However, when I talked to those instructors, they totally disagreed. One instructor from common pool said, if she can predict how many lessons a student can pass the test then ask her for toto numbers.
See how disdainful he is... I bet my left toe this instructor is not good at maths! As a student, what we want to know is general statistics, not every single learner's result. There must be some statistics show the minimum or average figures. This reception girl is frankly and straightforward. What she implied was if you do not pay at least $1643.52 ($68.48/lesson off peak) for practical lessons fee, we won't let you book the practical test.
More detailed questions will be shared on following blogs.
How to pass theory tests driving license class 3/3A in Singapore
See how genius seniors share experience of different schools.
I chose CDC because it's near my house although people say it is most difficult one. Just think about the opportunity cost if taking passing rate as priority.
3. Can I do enrolment online?
No. You must go down to school counter to register. And do remember to double check if reception give you a student card after you make the payment.
I didn't know there was a student card issued until I saw other students have this card in mock test. Then I went down to reception to request one, they said you need to pay $5 for replacement. I didn't get it at the first place, where comes replacement. They said anyway the card doesn't function much, you can always use your IC.... what irresponsible service, at least I can get a souvenir...
CDC website enrolment is funny. It doesn't allow online enrolment yet it provides a detailed form for users to fill in. Then after you filled in all the info, you found there was no submit button... I thought it was my browser problem, then I click refresh, and then...
I'm not sure what CDC did, it was just blocked by starhub and it happened often. Until this year 2016 CDC updated their website, it becomes normal. Anyway, if you doesn't allow certain function then just declare, do not waste users' passion!
Now CDC website has better user interface with simple flash. What a big progress...
4. Shall I get driving license from a driving school or a private driving instructor. - big question.
This is the first question that reception will ask you when you do enrolment as your answer may result in different payment amount.
I was struggling with this question at the counter because I was not sure how fast I can learn from school. I heard by following private instructor, learners will have better time control and cheaper lesson fee. However, private instructors also need to follow school schedule to book circuits. Moreover, learners must spend more time to source for high passing rate private instructors and do some comparison.
Then the reception suggest just take basic theory package (2 theory tests with 6 mock tests each) which is $119 and decide later if following school or private after passing basic theory test.
After consulting from a lot of seniors especially first time passing friends, what can be conclude is 90% of them are school learners, 70% of first time passing learners from school learned auto. Anyway, this is not official statistics. It's just my impression. This makes me make up my mind to take practical lessons from school and paid extra $69 for the top up fees.
Hence, if you are not very confident on driving or have no experience, just choose to learn from school. If you are confident that no matter how rubbish the instructors teach, you will pass the test at the first time for sure, then learn from private instructors. Just make life easier, 100% sure then yes, if not then no. Hesitation or tanglement will only waste your time but not to solve the problem.
Just think about the opportunity cost of spending less lesson fees and fail the test many times. One of my friends learned from private instructor at the beginning. After 2-3 lessons, she changed to school. She said her private instructor only told her to turn left, turn right, and stop at where. She said she doesn't need that kind of instruction, what she needs was what she should do before a turn.
Learning driving is like learning basic primary mathematics. You do not need different fancy methods to solve one problem like Mathematical Olympiad. You just need to follow what instructors teach you like 1+1=2. My friend's hands-on skill is not good. She said she could not feel the difference of driving in different countries such as Singapore or US. She is not able to ride bicycle. Yet she passed the auto practical test at the first time by just following exactly what instructors teach within 25 lessons in BBDC.
A taxi driver told me driving a car is much easier than riding a bicycle because you do not need to control your body balance. No matter how you dance in your seat, you won't fall out of the car. Driving needs practice, once your get the feelings towards distance and speed, you will gain confidence.
5. What is the Passing Mark of Basic Theory Test?
The Basic theory test contains 50 multiple choice questions (MCQ) and 50 minutes. Passing score is 90%, meaning you should get at least 45 out of the total 50 to be correct in order to pass. I'll discuss the tips of passing theory test in next chapter.
6. What are the requirements to open an account for driving learning?
a. 18 years old
b. physically and mentally healthy
c. no color blindness (will be tested when you apply PDL)
7. Will my BTT/FTT test result expire?
BTT no.
FTT yes. You will be required to pass the practical driving test within 2 years (from the date of successfully passed the test), otherwise you will have to retake and pass it again before another road test attempt.
8. Will my PDL(Provisional Driving Licence) expire?
Yes. PDL is valid for 6 months only, so if you couldn't finish practical lessons and pass practical test within half a year, you will renew it for sure. One of my stupid cousins renewed PDL 4 times since 2014, he is still taking practical test now...
9. Will my school membership expire?
Yes. you'll never know that until you found you couldn't finish both theory and practical test within half a year. And when you renew it, your chances of canceling practice lessons will drop from 18 times to 9 times. So the fastest way is to get PDL and register for practice lesson once pass basic theory test. Anyway, it's not easy to finish all within half a year as you may need to wait for both theory tests date for 2-3 months in CDC.
Moreover, this ridiculous CDC just published this news that all class 3/3A learners enrolled at Ubi (except for one team / AD-vios) are only allowed to book a maximum of 12 practical lessons per month. See how they miss their learners.
| School | Course Extension Fee |
| SSDCL – Woodlands | $42.80 (for 6 months) |
| CDC – Ubi | $53.50 (for 6 months) |
| BBDC – Bukit Batok | $8.03 (for 1 month) |
Yes you can if you concentrate. If you happen to go overseas to travel and miss a test date then you may need to wait for a few months to get a new date which will delay your learning.
11. Will I get refund if I cancel the theory/practical test date.
No. You will only offer the slot to other people.
12. How many practical lessons do I need for practical test.
Depends on how well and how fast you could pick up new skills. Minimum 24 lessons for auto and 27 lessons for manual that was told by CDC reception. However, when I talked to those instructors, they totally disagreed. One instructor from common pool said, if she can predict how many lessons a student can pass the test then ask her for toto numbers.
See how disdainful he is... I bet my left toe this instructor is not good at maths! As a student, what we want to know is general statistics, not every single learner's result. There must be some statistics show the minimum or average figures. This reception girl is frankly and straightforward. What she implied was if you do not pay at least $1643.52 ($68.48/lesson off peak) for practical lessons fee, we won't let you book the practical test.
More detailed questions will be shared on following blogs.
How to pass theory tests driving license class 3/3A in Singapore
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