I Took an Intensive Driving Course

When Kelly 25, struggled to get to grips with driving, she opted for an intensive driving course - also known as a one week pass course - in a bid to pass her driving test.

Making The Choice

After failing her driving test, Kelly realised that taking a single driving lesson each week wasn't the right set-up for her. Instead, she chose an Intensive Driving Course, which she felt better suited her. She says, "Taking only one driving lesson each week meant that I was quite rusty in between driving lessons. I thought about increasing my quota of driving lessons to two or three per week, but I couldn't spare enough time as I was already juggling work and studying. I liked the idea of an intensive driving course as I could brush up on my driving skills and take my practical driving test all in the space of one week".

Cost-effectiveness

Cost was also a factor in Kelly's decision: "I was spending £25 per driving lesson, which had added up considerably. Before taking my driving test, I had taken the recommended 40 hours of lessons and had spent around £1000 with nothing much to show for it. On this basis, I decided that paying for an intensive driving course was probably a better option than paying for more driving lessons with no guarantee that I would be successful this time around. That isn't to say that an intensive driving course is cheap as it certainly isn't – I paid over £600 for a five day course which involved around 30 hours over this period but this price did include test fees and accommodation at a hotel relatively close to the venue of the course".

What Is Involved

As Kelly had already taken plenty of driving lessons and already had over 20 hours of prior driving experience, she opted for a five day course which concentrated predominantly on preparation for the Practical Driving Test and included the fees for the test. Kelly's intensive driving course involved four hours of tuition and practice on each day so that she was fully up to speed with both the basic and more complicated manoeuvres that she could be called on to perform in the practical driving test.

Hard work

Kelly feels that taking an intensive driving course was key to helping her pass her driving test second time around, but she is keen to warn others that it isn't necessarily as easy as you might assume: "As an intensive driving course packs a lot into a week, it is a very draining experience and is definitely not an easy way out as far as passing your driving test goes. You have to be prepared to put a lot of hard work in to make sure that you get the pass at the end of the course. Because of this, intensive driving courses aren't the best idea if you feel that you won't be able to maintain your concentration for long periods as this is a crucial part of succeeding on the course".