Being prepared means being proactive and taking steps to ensure you’re ready for whatever may be thrown your way.
This is especially important for your Part 3 which is essentially your job interview, and your Standards Check which is your assessment to ensure you can keep your job!
I hear people say ‘but I don’t prepare for every lesson like I am my P3/SC’. I hear what you’re saying, and I am certainly not expressing that we should plan every finite detail of your P3/SC (we wouldn’t be very client centred if that was the case). However, you absolutely should be prepared for the situation on the day! And there are practical steps you can take to feel prepared and ready.
Prepare by gaining more knowledge, understanding and skills:
There is a classic saying: ‘forewarned is forearmed’. Having prior knowledge of possible obstacles or problems that you’re hearing can give you logical, practical solutions to deal with them.
What do you struggle with in your lessons?
Questioning techniques, adapting the lesson, managing the risk?
What steps can you take to help you with this so you’re more knowledgeable and more prepared?
Talk to your trainer about what you’d like to work on.
Prepare by being more proactive:
If you know you’re struggling with a particular area of delivering a lesson, get on top of your weaknesses and find ways to improve.
We hear a lot from learner drivers, ‘I want to do my test so I can just have a go’.
Don’t have a go at the P3/SC and then find out what you’re struggling with. Invest in more training, read more, watch more, ask people you value the opinion of.
Prepare by knowing your area:
It’s really important to know your training areas.
This sounds obvious, right?
You might be thinking, ‘my pupil needs to work on speed on approach to roundabouts today, I know where the roundabouts are so I’m fine I’ve got this’.
But as your pupil leaves the test centre, they stall. As they get to the first junction, they stall.
You now need to adapt the lesson, and you need to know where you’re going to go.
You aren’t going to know in advance every singular mistake your pupil may or may not make, but you can be familiar with your area to prepare you for every eventuality.
Prepare by paying attention to yourself:
It’s normal and natural to start feeling nervous as you head towards a test.
But are you prepared for the test day itself, and if your nerves are going to take over?
Have you got a way of knowing how it might affect you?
Invest in yourself as well as your knowledge of the test. If you feel that you might be the biggest barrier to your own success, reach out.
Becky Seaton
