SometimesSansEngine

I posted my mod 2 experiences in the other thread, so let's do mod 1.

War and peace again like my mod 2 story but I hope it helps, especially if things aren't immediately going well for you in your training!

My initial experiences with a big bike were OK but not great. I'd been riding a 125 for a few months after doing my CBT and whilst I was fine riding it generally, for slow speed manoeuvres I really struggled with the extra weight. My biggest issue was not letting the clutch out a touch more if I felt the bike was falling.... all the way to pulling it in mid figure of 8 with the then inevitable bike drop (the first time I'd dropped any motorbike, grah)

Weirdly my u-turn was always spot on and my instructor said usually *that's* the one people have issues with. But figure of 8 (which was just two u-turns really)... I couldn't quite nail. But by the end of my training day I'd sorted it all out.

Until the day of my first mod 1 - I rode like a bag of spanners most of the day. I rode to the bike school on my 125 and I think that was a mistake, as I then spent a chunk of time getting used to the sudden change in weight. This threw me and made me really tense on the bike, and I couldn't shake the tension in my body. I was so stiff and knew I was, I had a different instructor to my training day and he was fantastic and trying to talk me through but I was fighting the bike through all my inputs, creating a vicious circle where the bike didn't feel settled so I'd tense up more.

If the test could have been cancelled without losing the test fee I genuinely think my instructor for the day would have suggested I didn't do the test (he didn't say this, but to me it was obvious), but off we went to do it anyway.

I had to wait around for two other people to do their mod 1s, including the other guy I was out with that day. Onto mine, and on the slalom I was way too rigid and sure enough put a foot down. Swore inside my helmet, spotted the examiner very politely finding something really interesting on his top to pick at rather than staring at me duck walked back slightly and carried on. Of course, I knew I'd failed so now had a "meh, whatever" attitude and loosened up, so the rest of the test was fine.

Back into the test centre for the examiner to say "well, I think we both know the result of that one don't we". Not in a horrible way, just in a matter of fact way. He pointed out that the only fault I got was the slalom. (Side note, also ended up being the same guy who did my mod 2)

Off we went home, and at this point my instructor could have just gone home. But instead he suggested me and him head out to a car park and in his words "just dick about, no cones, no drills. We're just going to play".

And that's what we did, he built up my confidence in the bike, to let the bike fall and let the bars rotate, doing tighter and tighter turns, turning with one hand (he did it no hands but I didn't quite get that confident), playing silly slow speed manoeuvre games that he made up on the spot. Even doing u-turns with my eyes shut, because he wanted to prove that the "look where you want to go" at slow speeds worked because it forces your body into the position it needs to be to accomplish the task, not because it's some magic technique.

We did that for about an hour and a half and it did wonders for my riding, I can never thank him enough... especially when he could have just sacked it off for the night and gone home. I left with the mantras in my head... "let the bars rotate", "grip the tank with your knees if you ever get tense", "if you spot yourself not breathing change that right away".

So on to retake day which unfortunately was a couple of weeks later due to the bike school being busy, but it probably only took me a few minutes to get back comfortable with the weight again. I felt so much more at ease and ready. As it was a couple of weeks since I'd practised the slow speed stuff on a big bike I asked my instructor (the same guy who took me for my initial training this time) if we could do a little bit of that before hitting the test centre which also helped - remember to not be afraid to ask to practice what you feel you need to practice - you're the customer.

I had to wait for the other guy to do his mod 1 first, which wasn't great as I could feel the nerves coming in again so I made sure for my mod 2 I asked in advance if I was able to do that first. If you don't want to wait around, make the request and see if it's possible. I know for me it was better to get going and get it done.

Different examiner this time, very friendly and we had some friendly jokey chat between the exercises, like when he said that after the emergency stop that I needed to bring the bike to rest between the blue cones. "Just the bike? Do I have to be on it?" etc.

All went swimmingly and just the avoidance exercise to do. Around the curve, throttle open avoid. Felt a touch slow but you never know.... nope. A few mph under so I was asked to go around again.

I didn't want to fail at this final hurdle so of course I properly pinned it.... pushed right, pushed left, braked hard to a stop. Jeez, that felt close to the cone as I was going so fast. Looked in my mirror.... one blue cone on the floor.

"F***! F*** sake!" in my helmet. Examiner walks over, says if I could pull up to the gate and wait for him to open it. Almost can't be bothered to check over my shoulders before pulling off. I'm so annoyed at myself. Pull into the bay, still kicking myself internally. Examiner walks over.

"OK, that's the end of the test and I'm pleased to tell you that you've passed"

......................

I'm taking my helmet off at this point, probably a good thing. I guess my face is looking a bit confused. If I wasn't mid-helmet removal I probably would have said "are you f****** with me?"

I follow him back into the test centre, trying to work out if I misheard him. Maybe he meant "and you were so close to getting your pass!" or something. My instructor gives me a forlorn look as we walk in (he'd seen it all) and I tried to shoot him a "I'm really confused" look. Sit down in the debrief room where the chap starts writing my pass certificate and making small talk. I'm waiting for someone to burst into the room and demand to know what he's doing.

Walk out of the room and my instructor has his eyes wide and mouths "did you pass??", I mouth back "yes" and we all walk outside, out of earshot and me saying "I have no idea what happened, but could we get out of here before someone changes their mind".

Rode home counting my lucky stars. Maybe he didn't see it, but someone else who knows the criteria better than me has suggested that if they are really, really, really sure that you didn't touch the cone and it was just the turbulence of you passing it closely they will give a bit of leeway. I dunno, all I know is that it's the only time in any of my training that a cone fell over in the line of duty, and in another life I'm a very regular road bike rider covering around 6000 mile a year and have put the skills in avoidance to use several times so know that in an emergency I can flick out of the way if I need to - hence why I was so annoyed that I thought it was that I failed on.

Oh, and even when you know you failed, just go along with it and all the checks. In my first test I recomposed myself and figured I'd paid the test fee and just as well experience the rest of the test. The second time I nearly couldn't be bothered and heck imagine failing for not doing observations to move back to the gate at the end if you could have passed...

All in all I have a love hate relationship with the mod 1. I think any fool can get on a bike and ride fast, but riding slow is a skill. I genuinely think the exercises are useful to becoming a good biker, but I couldn't stand the black and white criteria of it compared to the mod 2 which I feel is more of an overall assessment. I pick my bike up today and believe me, I'll be repeating many of the mod 1 exercises in an empty car park to get them nailed on this particular bike.

Remember: practice, and ask to practice what you're not comfortable with. Breath, take your time between each exercise. If waiting around and hearing others go around the pad isn't good for you, ask if you can be booked in first. Let the clutch out a little if you believe the bike is falling. Grip the tank with your knees and pivot your hips to counterweight, and keep those arms loose. The bike needs to fall and the bars need to rotate in order to do the slow turns. Trust in the bike and physics And finally, never give up until you're back in the parking bay and off the bike!

All CGI now and very clear. Nothing like even the ones that the DVSA have on their learning zone that you can subscribe to.

I did my hazard perception in June and at the end voluntarily did some of the ones they are considering using the future (I had nothing else to do that day and I was feeling nosey....), I'd say the next match are even more realistic.

If you're already a driver then it might be worth clicking when you see the developing hazard, then clicking again a second or two later. This isn't enough to fail for too many clicks/clicking in a pattern, but I always had issues when practising with apparently spotting the hazard too early and not scoring. Better safe than sorry!

Hi all,

First post but felt compelled to sign up as I found reading this thread really useful in the run up to my Mod 2, so felt it was only fair to contribute in the hope that I could help others too.

I did my Mod 2 in Bristol last week. I hope the below isn't too much war and peace but I found the stories of people's tests on here really helpful! (TLDR version: many people say Mod 2 is the easier of the two and I have to agree)

Throughout I felt the examiner was doing his best to make it a pleasant experience, starting with a bit of small talk whilst we did the paperwork before leaving. It had rained heavily that morning and he even took the time to say to this specs wearer "if your glasses start to fog up simply pull over safely at any time to sort them out".

Show me tell me was simple enough, then off we went. Typically just as we went to leave a learner car pulled in and then sat there blocking the exit to the car park with their boot. I think the examiner instantly spotted me in two minds about whether to go around the back of the car (which would have involved going onto the opposite side of the road really close to the entrance/exit into the test centre) and before I knew it said over the radio "yeah, we're fine just to slowly nip around the back of this car". Nice reassurance at just the right time, cheers (I didn't want to be one of those people that manage to fail before they even leave the car park... and of course, on any normal day I would have nipped around the car when it became clear that they weren't moving, but this is your test and it's easy to start to second guess)

Out onto the road and the route took us straight to the Bristol Ring Road (dual carriageway). I'd been advised by my instructors that they'd always be looking for good, safe progress and not to sit below the speed limit on the ring road so as soon as I realised the car in front of me was going to sit at around 10mph below the speed limit I moved to the outside lane. I'd been told they look for confidence in the rider they're assessing, and if they think you lack that they'll start to spot other flaws in your riding.

Another one of the worries I had in the run up to my test was being in the outside lane if suddenly I needed to go left (there's a lot of roundabouts on the ring road). I'd pretty much resolved to just stick to the lane I was in and go the wrong way if I felt I wouldn't move back across without cutting someone up. But as it happened, as I was in the outside lane the examiner said "Just so you know at the next roundabout we'll be going left". This was a good 500 metres before the roundabout and gave me plenty of time to assess and move across - most welcome.

The route then took us out to Bridgeyate via Warmley. The road here was easy enough to just cruise down so I can only assume they chose this bit because it ends in having to turn right at a double roundabout that I'm sure can catch a few people if they aren't assessing the road properly and then cut across it https://goo.gl/maps/EiE6vY5G3mB2

Then a bit further down the road into a 20, of which there are a lot in this area. A mix of speed cushions, busy business units and then into a residential area. A good mix for assessing people's anticipation really.

Before the test I'd asked my instructor on the 'rules' for pulling over in a safe place. Were they fine with double yellows etc as you weren't parking? His reply was "if they ask you pull over, they'll know for sure there's somewhere safe in the next hundred metres or so, so just look out for it when they ask". And he was right. Every time I was asked to pull over there was a perfect pulling up spot ahead.

As for the angled start, I was asked to pull up before a blue car in the distance. The examiner then explained that we were going to do an angled start, and to pull up about a cars length from the blue car. Stop and then whenever I was ready pull away safely again. As I approached the car he said "yep,that's perfect from there"..... well, compared to the slow speed manoeuvres you do in mod 1 this was simple (my overthinking brain had them making me go up to the rear bumper of the car and moving off at a 45 degree angle )

Waiting to emerge from a t-junction with queuing traffic on the main road, a car "helpfully" flashed me out (I'd be happy any other time than on my test!). So as advised by my instructor I didn't just go, I made sure it was clear that I reassessed the road, checked the car was still ceding priority then confidently pulled out before they changed their mind.

The independent riding was simple enough, nothing to report there.

After being asked to pull over for about the fourth time, the examiner then said "OK, and for the final time then pull off when you're ready", so I knew we were homeward bound. Deep breath, I think I've done well so far, but don't screw it up by being complacent. Back towards the ring road via Longwell Green, using the multi lane roundabouts where you need to be really sure you get in the correct lane, then follow the spirals around correctly so you don't end up in the wrong lane and cutting people up. Ring road, roundabout, ring road, roundabout, overtake safely where I can but mainly people were doing the speed limit so I had a good excuse to stay in the left hand lane.

Off the ring road, "OK, for the last time then, at this roundabout, second exit, then turn right into the test centre and pop your bike back in the candidate bay and then the test is all done".

Get off the bike. I'm pretty sure I've done OK but you never know about that car you cut up and didn't see etc. Helmet off.

"OK, if you'd like to follow me"

Back into the test centre, give my instructor a look that says "well I think that was OK". The examiner doesn't ask if I want my instructor in for the debrief... hoping that's a good sign....

And sure enough, the magic words "I'm pleased to tell you that you've passed".

The minors I got were for appropriate speed. He felt that there were a couple of times I didn't accelerate sharply enough. "You're on a motorbike, use the acceleration and get going", and that I was moving up through the gears too quickly, eg on the ring road.

"I was getting up to 30 in 1st gear, by then you were already in 3rd. You might have seen a few times I was right up alongside you" (I did, I just hoped at the time he was assessing something ) "and I was thinking 'come on, go for it'"

The other feedback (he must have really been listening to my bike!) was that I had a habit of pulling the clutch all the way in to shift from 2nd to 3rd & 3rd to 4th etc. As he said, no need, just pull the lever in a bit then shift, I'll lose a lot fewer revs that way (and sure enough, on the way home was practising it and he was right).

So all in all good constructive feedback that I took on board. I saw a DVSA examiner on a forum once say "I promise that every candidate leaves my test centre as a pass, and it's only up to them to change that". If you ever feel you had a bad experience then I'm genuinely sorry for you, but in my case I felt that that DVSA examiner was telling the truth from start to finish on my test.

I hope some of the random things I've written here help someone about to take their mod 2, and I only hope that your experience is much the same. Take a couple of deep breaths before you set off, show confidence in your riding (if you think you're tensing up grip that fuel tank with your knees and keep those arms loose!) and scrub an extra few mph than usual off as you approach any junction or hazard so that you give yourself time to properly assess. That extra second or so to assess the road really will make a difference about whether to confidently proceed or slow to a stop - and remember slow in, fast out.

Good luck