Module 1 - members test experiences

[millie01]

As you say, its a case of trying to relax! Then its easy!

[jamesrb90]

Ok so I have my mod 1 tomorow any tips on nerves haha.

[toniinw2]

I passed MOD1 today at Burgess Hill. It was flooded out so they were on the verge of cancelling. I had a minor for stalling as I started the slow ride (I sneezed!) and a quick dab as I stopped after the U turn. 52kph and 60kph for speed tests. Such a relief MOD2 ASAP

[toniinw2]

Ok so I have my mod 1 tomorow any tips on nerves haha.

. Suck Rescue Remedy pastilles, breathe, take each item one at a time and try to forget it's a test as you've done it all with the school

[jamesrb90]

Passed without any minors. Friday 17th mod 2 wooo

[toniinw2]

Passed without any minors. Friday 17th mod 2 wooo

. Excellent. Congratulations. Almost there now

[jamesrb90]

Passed without any minors. Friday 17th mod 2 wooo

. Excellent. Congratulations. Almost there now

Thanks mate

[R08zy]

My Mod 1 experience.

Test day

Was I ready? Would I pass? If I fail how bad would it be? Would I lock the wheels up on the high speed runs and come off? After having several dreams or nightmares of telling my loved ones that I failed these were the only thoughts going through my head. My test was booked for 8.30 so I had an early start, after a coffee and a light breakfast I packed all my gear into the car and headed off to the training centre.

When I arrived I found Chris (my learner buddy and competition) was sitting talking with the instructor, we sat and talked for a few minutes getting a final run through of what to expect and then we got on the bikes for some mod 1 warm ups on the training area, I put my foot down on one of the U-Turns but apart from that it was incident free. This had done wonders for my confidence and I now felt ready for the test, we had a short ride over to the test centre followed by an agonising wait to be called out, Chris went for his test first so I got to look out of the window and see him begin his test, shortly after he started my name was called and I made my way into the torture room (paperwork room). I signed the forms and the examiner told me roughly what to expect. I geared up and headed out to the bike.

Once on the bike I made the slow ride into the test area and stopped, turning off the engine to hear the examiners instructions. I'm sure most of you are aware of the list of manoeuvres you have to complete and what order they are done in so I won't run through them all. Luckily the nerves had pretty much completely gone by the time I had finished the manual handling. After I was sitting on the bike with the engine running the rest of the test seemed to fly by, and before I knew it I was back at the gate waiting to hear how I had got on, it felt good and I wasn't aware that I had done anything wrong but was convinced the examiner had seen something that I had done wrong.

Like all good TV competitions there was a long wait between finishing the test and getting into the room to hear the result... the examiners mouth opened and the words "I'm pleased to tell you have passed" came out... I asked how many minors I got and he said "none" I could have hugged him right then I was so pleased with myself. I immediately text my girlfriend and some other people who knew I was testing that day.

Next step now is a few more mod 2 training sessions followed by the mod 2 test

[Sizey1980]

Right! Booked my DAS now, starting on the 22nd November for mod 1 training! Quite nervous about manoeuvres, road I think ill be ok on! Eeeek!

[toniinw2]

As you say, its a case of trying to relax! Then its easy!

. Have you done your MOD2 yet? It's so much easier than MOD1

[Guest]

First attempt at Mod 1 was called off due to poor weather. My second attempt was much nicer, a little colder but a lot less wind.

I turned up at the test centre with my instructor about 15mins early, sat had a chat and waited for the examiner.

I felt pretty nervous this time round, in a way I think it helped.

Ok, outside with the examiner, he fills in some paper work. I turn the bike on whilst he's doing this just to let the engine heat up a bit. Jump onto the bike, kick up the side stand, give her a few revs just to make sure she's playing ball and being nice and responsive. (Kawasaki ZR-7 for the test) Examiner has gone over to the gate and instructs me to go through and stop. Into gear, check, check, and pull away. Stopping inside the gate. Into neutral.

Informs me to drive on then come back into either bay (between green cones). Into neutral, bike off, side-stand down and I stepped off the bike. Get a grip of the bike, once happy kick the stand up. Check, check and then face the way I want to go. Manual handling, look where I'm going and the occasional rearward check. Done.

Hop back onto the bike, bike-on, side-stand up. Slalom the cones, steady and controlled and into the figure of 8. Nice and easy. Into gear, check, check, pull-away. I've gotten the hang of the slow speed clutch control. Teasing the engine with a little throttle just to keep her warm and ticking over nicely. Done

Drive round to the examiner. Stop, neutral, and he gives me the instructions for the slow ride. Not too slow mind you, as I understand a brisk walk is within reason. Keeping in mind you're keeping 100kgs+ of bike upright. Into gear, check, check, and move away. Stop front tire in the box, into neutral and have a breather.

U-turn.... HEAD UP!!! When practicing I had a terrible habit of looking down at the line rather than ahead at where I wanted to go. Into gear, check, check, move forward 3/4 ft check, check and positive head up looking into the direction of where I want to end up.

And stop, into neutral.

Cornering, down the pad, through the blue and red cones and back up stopping between the blue cones. Into neutral, check, check, move away. Round to the examiner.

Next up was the emergency stop. It was an icey morning and I needed to make sure I could control the bike and wasn't going to get any nasty surprises. I shifted into gear, headed down the pad, up to 2nd, then up to 3rd before reaching the corner. (I found 3rd gear far more comfortable for this exercise than 2nd) First attempt at the emergency stop, nice and steady, I didn't hit speed. Came through at 45kph. Nice and easy, no nasty surprises. Instructed to head back down and try again. Now I'd had a feel and felt comfortable this time I gave plenty of gas coming onto the straight. Clocked 54kph (ease off the throttle once you know you're through the speed trap) Applied the front brake and went a little heavy on the rear and felt the bike start to slide a little at the rear. Instinctively came off the rear brake enough to avert the slide.

Waited.... nope he's not kicked me off the pad. Phew. The stop was still controlled and safe. Even though I had that little moment where the rear started to slide I still regained/maintained control of the bike. Coming to a safe stop.

Now onto the avoidance. down and back up, avoid the cone. Perfect, 50kph. Same as with the e-stop, once you're through the speed trap, come off the throttle. And that's it. Examiner asks me to drive over to the gate and he approaches, opens the gate and then informs me to drive forwards into any bay.

Things to remember:

Check, Check, CHECK!

Head-up for U-turn.

Take your time. Breathe between each maneuver and think about what you've got to do. Don't worry about what comes after, just one at a time.

If you need to, SHAKE OUT! He/She won't tell you off

If you think you've failed, don't. Keep going and do your best. I've heard of several things where people think they've failed and give up. If they'd carried on correctly they'd have passed with a minor.

Anyway I think above all, the one thing I've been told is to have fun. Enjoy it and relax.

[millie01]

I hope anyone who is at all nervous about Mod 1 reads these posts as everyone is so helpful!

[Cole Pfeiffer]

I have my Mod 1 booked for next week. Not feeling 100% about it at the moment, but hoping to get one good lesson in this weekend, before the test. Hopefully will have the same result as most on here!

[Cole Pfeiffer]

Well I passed! 2 minors for being below speed on the hazard avoidance and the emergency stop.

Emergency stop - 1st 46kph / 2nd 54kph

Hazard avoidance - 1st 47kph / 2nd 55kph

Pretty bad start, with me not being able to find the key, but after that I felt comfortable with every exercise and made sure that I didn't rush. The examiner was helpful and explained everything well, apart from keeping me waiting at the end! On to the next one....

[NeilM]

Congratulations. Onwards and upwards.

[runningman]

Well done.

[Cole Pfeiffer]

Thanks very much!

[rice-pudding]

Passed mod 1 today in Aberdeen, 1 minor (to slow through avoidance). Nailed it on second attempt. Mod 2 on Wednesday

[Guest]

I too have also passed my mod 1 (and mod 2) today

I guess any tips maybe useful to someone who's coming up to doing theres, so i guess here are somethings that helped me massively:

I am the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to confidence, in fact i have very little and get nervous about very small things!

Mod 1:

- I found that trying to talk to the examiner both before the test and during, helped me calm my nerves, as well as a 2 second breather before doing the next manoeuvre

- When i started to tense up a little bit, i tried thinking of something that really took me mind off of it (eg my son pulling hilarious faces), and that really helped

- Using the back brake during the u-turn and figure of 8 helped a lot with managing me balance and speed!

- As everyone else has mentioned, ask for your speed of the first high speed manoeuvre

[Nic]

Took my Mod 1 test today - and failed on the serve. Had a clean sheet all the way then that pesky yellow cone got in the way!

I turned too quickly and caught the tip of the yellow cone and sent it flying. So very frustrated with myself. Weather was awful today, wind and rain, I was shaking like a leaf and thought I was going to vomit at any time. All I had to do was miss the cone...

Oh well, pretty annoyed with myself but have booked another test. I will get there with this biking malarkey

[Tango]

Bad luck Nic........hopefully you'll nail it next time.......

[igingeee]

Serious fault on the emergency stop resulting in a instant fail.

Strong crosswinds at roughly 20mph (estimated 40-60mph winds) throughout the day, bad timing in terms of weather.. blown of course on the approach to the bend and also opened the throttle to early on the exit of the bend and entry to the speed trap resulting in being 5mph to slow, most importantly failed on breaking more in a "casual way" than an "emergency", not sure if it was how I applied the brakes or the distance I stopped in.

Already re-booked another attempt ready to get that pass.

For a first ever attempt without any training I'd say a small mistake to make, costly.. lesson learnt.

[stephen9069]

I havent really posted in a long time as life has got in the way i have been trying to get ready for a comp after a year out with injury and also been busy with work but i had a week free last week and managed to get my lessons and tests booked for my direct access.

I thought id be a bit brave and i booked the mod 1 and mod 2 both in the same day lol (brave or stupid i still cant decide lol)

I got to the test center about 20 minutes to spare there was three of us on mod 1 that morning from the same training center i was up first out of all of us.

I hadnt ridden for about 4 days so i was a little nervous getting on to the bike and as i was called on to the training area i stalled it, after i restarted the bike and got onto the grounds i took a few deep breaths and composed myself.

Once i had settled into the task at hand i felt quite comfortable i got through all the manouveres without to much difficulty i did have to redo the avoidance a 2nd time as i was slightly to slow going through the speed gate i think i registered a speed of 47 on the second go i was at 51 this was the one i was dreading the most as i had a habit of knocking the cone over.

overall i got 4 minors but it was such a relief to get through this part.

ill post the 2nd part in the Mod 2 section

[mpl]

Had my Mod 1 this morning- was feeling a little nervous but knew I could do all of the manoeuvres but unfortunately I totally cocked up the slalom, had to put my foot down and never managed to recover it. I continued the test and flew through everything with a couple of minor faults. I knew after the slalom that I had failed so I just used it has a practice session.

Try again in two weeks.

I think I was too over confident with regards to the slalom and figure eight because during the practice session at the weekend I had no problems doing it and maybe wasn't concentrating enough.

Bottom line- I cocked up on the day!

[runningman]

Failed my 1st Mod 1 on the slalom too. Pure nerves. Never had a problem with it until on the test. Nailed it 2nd time around though. Good luck for 2 weeks time.