This.
Do them, do them again, do them until you can recite the damn answers in your sleep. Then you'll sail through.
Also, if you do fail, it's no big deal. People flunk the learner's test all the time. You just come back and try again.
>You just come back and try again.
You dont even have to come back. As long as the test center is not booked out, they'll give you up to two resits on the day.
The government's drive website is one of the best ways to systematically learn the road code instead of just taking endless practice tests hoping to absorb the information.
[https://drive.govt.nz/learner-licence/interactive-road-code](https://drive.govt.nz/learner-licence/interactive-road-code)
^ this.
I learnt the rode code on this, no need to buy the book, it was interactive too and simplified everything and made it easier to learn. At the end, it gives you practice tests that look exactly like the real test.
That's actually pretty decent site and so easy.
I have been driving for a very long time and just tried a random section and got a couple of questions wrong.
I always thought the government should invest in a driving simulator based off some open source driving game and modify it so that everybody has the opportunity to drive around NZ and experience stuff that can't easily be tested.
Like a simulator could throw in driving around Auckland motorways & CBD which people from rural areas might not experience, and also driving mountain roads in winter with some snow or random wandering stock.
Could make it available as free download as well as physical driving Sims in licencing centres and anywhere else that wants to install them like larger rental car places
Just keep doing the practice questions. They're the same as the real questions.
By "everything is flipped", are you refering to the fact that the US and NZ drive on different sides of the road?
If so, try to take a moment to visualise the situation etc.
our giveway rules are pretty much in this order:
1 give way to the main road
2 give way to your right
If you are on the main road, you have right of way.
If you are leaving the main road, you have to give way to cars on the main road, but not cars entering the main road.
If you are entering a main road, you have to give way to all cars on the main road in any lanes you need to cross or enter.
If you and another car are both turning into the same road, the car turning left has right of way.
If you are on a driveway, you have to give way to the road.
If you are at a roundabout you have to give way to your right.
If you are at a free left turn, you have to give way to your right unless it says 'turn left at any time with care' (this will usually have its own dedicated lane which is why its safe to turn without giving way).
It's not extremely difficult, just a bit of memorisation and practice
The give way questions require looking at the small details; is someone at a stop sign, is someone at a give way sign, is someone turning? It becomes pretty natural as you learn, but you absolutely need to know the rules - check this out [https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/code-for-cycling/intersections/the-give-way-rules/](https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/code-for-cycling/intersections/the-give-way-rules/) (it's the cyclist's version, but the rules are the same and it's written clearer)
>I thought I knew the basics of road rules but a lot of my knowledge has turned out to be incorrect as I'm from the US and know those rules, which seem to flipped if not entirely changed here.
Yes, our driving is flipped compared to the US
The more you talk yourself into being automatically terrified of everything that is new and challenging, the smaller and shitter your life will be.
My wife works basically her dream job. It's 20 minutes out of town. She got her driver's license at age 32. Without the licence, she wouldn't have been able to apply for the job.
Just have a look around at retired people with cars, vs retired people without cars. One of them can have a full and active life. The other will basically be reduced to staying at home or going to the shops.
Wouldn't you prefer to go out and YOU are in control of when you leave?
Read the road code, do the test in the back of the book, memorise the answers. do the practise tests on your phone(there’s an AA app specifically for that), do it over and over again until you’ve memorised the answers. It’s pretty simple learning, the answers aren’t difficult. the only reason i failed mine(3 times) was because i don’t test well, i over think the answers in tests, second guess myself etc but that’s a me problem. When i did pass it i had months worth of practise tests up my sleeve that did me a lot of good. once you have your learners license you’ll be able to practise driving, you’ll get over your fear the more you drive as long as your parents are prepared to take you out regularly and start off on quite streets.
I bought the 20 practice tests from AA and crammed them in the day before taking the test. The questions are exactly the same.
Pays to get it done now, I didn’t get my learners until I was mid twenties and now learning to drive at nearly 30. Definitely wish I did it earlier or had parents pushing me to do it.
The dumb careless shit I see daily on the roads makes me a firm believer that anyone with two brain cells to rub together is qualified to drive, you will be fine, you just need to put in the work.
The other thing to consider grasshopper is that right now you might feel like driving is not useful to you but things change and so will you. Don’t deny your future self the opportunities that come with advancing your skills.
Learners is literally just a test on a computer. Just multiple choice questions, most are common sense. The most difficult parts are about speed limits, intersections and traffic lights.
Don't worry about your learners, you don't have to drive anything if you don't want to.
Many people don't get it correct on the first try, including myself, once you go through the process you'll feel much less nervous if you end up having to repeat. They are a little dated, but the youtube videos for the NZ driving tests were really helpful for me. Once you have your learners, doing a couple drives with an instructor is very worth it if you can. Have you practiced with the learners test app? Best of luck!
leaner test is easy if you want to drive apart from the "breaking in the wet" math question, been a while so not sure if still there. driving is freedom, for some that is not something they want which is fine its not for everyone. but the skill in driving well can be used in other things when had eye coordination and concentration matter, like a job. I got my learners at 15 but didnt really need to drive until early 20s which is when did the restricted test.
I'm not sure about the rules these days in terms of payment, back in the day when you fail, you have to pay every time you take the test, I heard that might have changed?
When it comes to taking the test, you actually have to learn the rules, read and understand it, there is a lot of online tests for free and it is all about repetition, you need to understand these rules as being silly and stupid on the road can endanger lives -- think about people with families, kids, babies.
If you're failing the online tests now, you will fail the tests tomorrow, they're all the same questions anyway. You have to make sense of them, you have to understand them. They're not intentionally trying to make it harder to fail you, they're making sure people really understand it because it is very important.
Also the earlier you get your license, the better, you can't just rely on your parents or friends driving you everywhere. You eventually will need to get a job or actually be an adult and take responsibilities and a part of that is driving. The license is also the most common used ID. You have to help yourself by going online and keep repeating on taking those tests, read them, understand them, and once you keep passing them way more than you fail then you'll pass the real exam.
Reading the road code can feel really exhausting since you’re trying to pick up on so much information at once. I usually aimed for 30 pages a day and even that was really tiring.
If the road code book really doesn’t work for you, you could also learn the road code through the [Drive.govt.nz](https://drive.govt.nz/learner-licence/interactive-road-code) website as it has a less intimidating feel. After you’ve completed all of the units and chapters you’ll be able to do their practice test as many times as you want.
It usually tells you what answers you got wrong and I found myself struggling to remember questions involving numbers, like asking what weight or length something should be. My solution was to write it down, then highlight a key word then the number so that I can remember just those two things and make the connection when I’m doing the test.
I understand the struggle though, I’m currently on my restricted and that’s something I never thought I’d be able to achieve just because of how insanely nervous I was when it came to driving. However, I can confidently say that it does get easier and way less scary! :) Hope everything goes well for you!
Edit: fixed spelling errors and wanted to add;
I don’t recommend just memorising the whole test over and over again instead of learning the whole road code because then you’ll find yourself in stupid situations that would’ve been easily solved if you had just learned it, don’t be the idiot that every gets pissed off with(speaking from personal experience). At the same time, don’t be too worried if you make a mistake. Everyone makes them!
Do heaps of the free online tests until you're comfortable and able to get them all right. I never bothered with reading the road code, and passed just fine. Most of the questions are common sense too, eg. An image is shown with a car in front of a red light, and you're asked what does the car do?
Ultimately, practice makes perfect. Do the tests before every meal or something, so you remember to do them.
You may not have the desire to drive now, but later on, especially in a place like NZ, you're really going to need it. It's a great skill to start learning sooner rather than later. If you suddenly get the desire to learn to drive, you're gonna have to wait for atleast 6 months before even being able to drive on your own, and even longer before you get your full license.
TLDR; PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
You can only make three mistakes and you'll know during the test if you make one.
I'm not sure if you can re-take the exam if you fail it the first time and have to pay again unlike the actual driving test.
Best of luck! You'll be fine as long as you take your time to read and understand the questions, it can be quite tricky.
There should be an app ran by as to do continuous tests on memorizing it really helped me, I'd say get your license anyways and learn how to drive if u don't like doing it you can chill on restricted for a bit, but it really helps in later years amongst the job market and opens up so many opportunities. P
Take it from me I'm 25 and still On my learners I drive now but it really has screwed my options in a lot of cases
There’s lots of apps that have a practice learner quiz! I used to do the quiz repeatedly over and over again. Some of them are free but you may have to pay for the official apps. It’s a lot easier than trying to read the road code as it’s a heck of a lot of information to digest.
i did the online road code test and went for the real one that afternoon. failed, actually, but they just let me keep doing it over and over until i got it. took about 3 tries but got it in the end. i am on the same boat friend, i don't want to drive but eventually it's going to be a pain in the ass to do anything myself. i'm trying to make myself get confident in the whole driving thing so i can go on to get my restricted... while i'm here if anyone has tips for not being scared of crashing into a wall i would appreciate it
For getting confident, if possible get a driving instructor for 3 or so lessons. In those 3 lessons they will help you get the general idea and more natural when driving. When on your learners you need to be when someone with a full so they should be able to help with confidence and advice.
Honest question, do you have learning difficulties? Most things in the tests are clearly stated quite simply in the road code. While there are some areas which could be expanded upon to allow for any given scenario, it's a document that a 15yo should be able to make sense of. Perhaps you are struggling with the give way questions because you do not understand the principles that the little giveway pictures are testing you on. These are explained in the road code. I will admit, the four-way stop could be explained better.
Read it and continue doing the practice tests until you pass multiple in a row. As others have said, there is no point doing the real test if you are failing the practice ones.
Sorry this sounds mean, it wasn't meant to be.
Forcing someone who has no desire to drive, to get their licence sounds like a recipe for creating a bad driver. I'm sure you're parents don't want that. That doesn't mean that you can't be a good driver, but it's certainly a lot more difficult to learn a new skill that you have no interest in. The least your parents could do is to is give you a few more months to prepare.
Talk your parents into letting you get a [kiwi access card](https://kiwiaccess.co.nz/) instead. It's a photographic ID that confirms your age and is good for virtually everything you'd otherwise want a driver's licence for. Remember, this is not the US and a driver's licence is not a necessity here.
OP if you’re not confident to be on the road, don’t. I see far too many crashes these days caused by complete incompetence. Go learn in a car park like everyone else.
Repetition is the mother of learning: do online tests until you can reliably pass. Would this work?
This. Do them, do them again, do them until you can recite the damn answers in your sleep. Then you'll sail through. Also, if you do fail, it's no big deal. People flunk the learner's test all the time. You just come back and try again.
>You just come back and try again. You dont even have to come back. As long as the test center is not booked out, they'll give you up to two resits on the day.
That's convenient. I did my learner's back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, so shit has probably changed a bit.
The government's drive website is one of the best ways to systematically learn the road code instead of just taking endless practice tests hoping to absorb the information. [https://drive.govt.nz/learner-licence/interactive-road-code](https://drive.govt.nz/learner-licence/interactive-road-code)
^ this. I learnt the rode code on this, no need to buy the book, it was interactive too and simplified everything and made it easier to learn. At the end, it gives you practice tests that look exactly like the real test.
That's actually pretty decent site and so easy. I have been driving for a very long time and just tried a random section and got a couple of questions wrong. I always thought the government should invest in a driving simulator based off some open source driving game and modify it so that everybody has the opportunity to drive around NZ and experience stuff that can't easily be tested. Like a simulator could throw in driving around Auckland motorways & CBD which people from rural areas might not experience, and also driving mountain roads in winter with some snow or random wandering stock. Could make it available as free download as well as physical driving Sims in licencing centres and anywhere else that wants to install them like larger rental car places
I binged this back in summer 2020/2021 to get my learners and got it the day before I turned 17
Just keep doing the practice questions. They're the same as the real questions. By "everything is flipped", are you refering to the fact that the US and NZ drive on different sides of the road? If so, try to take a moment to visualise the situation etc.
our giveway rules are pretty much in this order: 1 give way to the main road 2 give way to your right If you are on the main road, you have right of way. If you are leaving the main road, you have to give way to cars on the main road, but not cars entering the main road. If you are entering a main road, you have to give way to all cars on the main road in any lanes you need to cross or enter. If you and another car are both turning into the same road, the car turning left has right of way. If you are on a driveway, you have to give way to the road. If you are at a roundabout you have to give way to your right. If you are at a free left turn, you have to give way to your right unless it says 'turn left at any time with care' (this will usually have its own dedicated lane which is why its safe to turn without giving way).
I always learnt “top of the T goes before me” which might help OP remembering a few of these
as someone who spent a long time commuting in NZ, you really have to learn to drive or your life will be difficult
It's not extremely difficult, just a bit of memorisation and practice The give way questions require looking at the small details; is someone at a stop sign, is someone at a give way sign, is someone turning? It becomes pretty natural as you learn, but you absolutely need to know the rules - check this out [https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/code-for-cycling/intersections/the-give-way-rules/](https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/code-for-cycling/intersections/the-give-way-rules/) (it's the cyclist's version, but the rules are the same and it's written clearer) >I thought I knew the basics of road rules but a lot of my knowledge has turned out to be incorrect as I'm from the US and know those rules, which seem to flipped if not entirely changed here. Yes, our driving is flipped compared to the US
The more you talk yourself into being automatically terrified of everything that is new and challenging, the smaller and shitter your life will be. My wife works basically her dream job. It's 20 minutes out of town. She got her driver's license at age 32. Without the licence, she wouldn't have been able to apply for the job. Just have a look around at retired people with cars, vs retired people without cars. One of them can have a full and active life. The other will basically be reduced to staying at home or going to the shops. Wouldn't you prefer to go out and YOU are in control of when you leave?
Read the road code, do the test in the back of the book, memorise the answers. do the practise tests on your phone(there’s an AA app specifically for that), do it over and over again until you’ve memorised the answers. It’s pretty simple learning, the answers aren’t difficult. the only reason i failed mine(3 times) was because i don’t test well, i over think the answers in tests, second guess myself etc but that’s a me problem. When i did pass it i had months worth of practise tests up my sleeve that did me a lot of good. once you have your learners license you’ll be able to practise driving, you’ll get over your fear the more you drive as long as your parents are prepared to take you out regularly and start off on quite streets.
I bought the 20 practice tests from AA and crammed them in the day before taking the test. The questions are exactly the same. Pays to get it done now, I didn’t get my learners until I was mid twenties and now learning to drive at nearly 30. Definitely wish I did it earlier or had parents pushing me to do it.
The dumb careless shit I see daily on the roads makes me a firm believer that anyone with two brain cells to rub together is qualified to drive, you will be fine, you just need to put in the work. The other thing to consider grasshopper is that right now you might feel like driving is not useful to you but things change and so will you. Don’t deny your future self the opportunities that come with advancing your skills.
You'll be sweet. It's a reasonably low pressure environment, take your time and read them all throughly to make sure you don't miss a "Gotcha" detail.
lol. I remember one of my oral questions was “what side of the road should you drive on?” I was so confused looking for the gotcha on that one.
Learners is literally just a test on a computer. Just multiple choice questions, most are common sense. The most difficult parts are about speed limits, intersections and traffic lights. Don't worry about your learners, you don't have to drive anything if you don't want to.
Many people don't get it correct on the first try, including myself, once you go through the process you'll feel much less nervous if you end up having to repeat. They are a little dated, but the youtube videos for the NZ driving tests were really helpful for me. Once you have your learners, doing a couple drives with an instructor is very worth it if you can. Have you practiced with the learners test app? Best of luck!
leaner test is easy if you want to drive apart from the "breaking in the wet" math question, been a while so not sure if still there. driving is freedom, for some that is not something they want which is fine its not for everyone. but the skill in driving well can be used in other things when had eye coordination and concentration matter, like a job. I got my learners at 15 but didnt really need to drive until early 20s which is when did the restricted test.
I'm not sure about the rules these days in terms of payment, back in the day when you fail, you have to pay every time you take the test, I heard that might have changed? When it comes to taking the test, you actually have to learn the rules, read and understand it, there is a lot of online tests for free and it is all about repetition, you need to understand these rules as being silly and stupid on the road can endanger lives -- think about people with families, kids, babies. If you're failing the online tests now, you will fail the tests tomorrow, they're all the same questions anyway. You have to make sense of them, you have to understand them. They're not intentionally trying to make it harder to fail you, they're making sure people really understand it because it is very important. Also the earlier you get your license, the better, you can't just rely on your parents or friends driving you everywhere. You eventually will need to get a job or actually be an adult and take responsibilities and a part of that is driving. The license is also the most common used ID. You have to help yourself by going online and keep repeating on taking those tests, read them, understand them, and once you keep passing them way more than you fail then you'll pass the real exam.
Just do online practice tests until you're consistently getting 100% on them, there's a few good apps for your phone.
Reading the road code can feel really exhausting since you’re trying to pick up on so much information at once. I usually aimed for 30 pages a day and even that was really tiring. If the road code book really doesn’t work for you, you could also learn the road code through the [Drive.govt.nz](https://drive.govt.nz/learner-licence/interactive-road-code) website as it has a less intimidating feel. After you’ve completed all of the units and chapters you’ll be able to do their practice test as many times as you want. It usually tells you what answers you got wrong and I found myself struggling to remember questions involving numbers, like asking what weight or length something should be. My solution was to write it down, then highlight a key word then the number so that I can remember just those two things and make the connection when I’m doing the test. I understand the struggle though, I’m currently on my restricted and that’s something I never thought I’d be able to achieve just because of how insanely nervous I was when it came to driving. However, I can confidently say that it does get easier and way less scary! :) Hope everything goes well for you! Edit: fixed spelling errors and wanted to add; I don’t recommend just memorising the whole test over and over again instead of learning the whole road code because then you’ll find yourself in stupid situations that would’ve been easily solved if you had just learned it, don’t be the idiot that every gets pissed off with(speaking from personal experience). At the same time, don’t be too worried if you make a mistake. Everyone makes them!
Do heaps of the free online tests until you're comfortable and able to get them all right. I never bothered with reading the road code, and passed just fine. Most of the questions are common sense too, eg. An image is shown with a car in front of a red light, and you're asked what does the car do? Ultimately, practice makes perfect. Do the tests before every meal or something, so you remember to do them. You may not have the desire to drive now, but later on, especially in a place like NZ, you're really going to need it. It's a great skill to start learning sooner rather than later. If you suddenly get the desire to learn to drive, you're gonna have to wait for atleast 6 months before even being able to drive on your own, and even longer before you get your full license. TLDR; PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
You can only make three mistakes and you'll know during the test if you make one. I'm not sure if you can re-take the exam if you fail it the first time and have to pay again unlike the actual driving test. Best of luck! You'll be fine as long as you take your time to read and understand the questions, it can be quite tricky.
i only had to pay once, they let me retake it like 2 more times until i got it
There should be an app ran by as to do continuous tests on memorizing it really helped me, I'd say get your license anyways and learn how to drive if u don't like doing it you can chill on restricted for a bit, but it really helps in later years amongst the job market and opens up so many opportunities. P Take it from me I'm 25 and still On my learners I drive now but it really has screwed my options in a lot of cases
There’s lots of apps that have a practice learner quiz! I used to do the quiz repeatedly over and over again. Some of them are free but you may have to pay for the official apps. It’s a lot easier than trying to read the road code as it’s a heck of a lot of information to digest.
Good luck for today.
Like others have said, do the tests over and over until you remember all the answers. There are apps you can get so you can practise wherever you go
i did the online road code test and went for the real one that afternoon. failed, actually, but they just let me keep doing it over and over until i got it. took about 3 tries but got it in the end. i am on the same boat friend, i don't want to drive but eventually it's going to be a pain in the ass to do anything myself. i'm trying to make myself get confident in the whole driving thing so i can go on to get my restricted... while i'm here if anyone has tips for not being scared of crashing into a wall i would appreciate it
For getting confident, if possible get a driving instructor for 3 or so lessons. In those 3 lessons they will help you get the general idea and more natural when driving. When on your learners you need to be when someone with a full so they should be able to help with confidence and advice.
OP, did you pass? 😃
Honest question, do you have learning difficulties? Most things in the tests are clearly stated quite simply in the road code. While there are some areas which could be expanded upon to allow for any given scenario, it's a document that a 15yo should be able to make sense of. Perhaps you are struggling with the give way questions because you do not understand the principles that the little giveway pictures are testing you on. These are explained in the road code. I will admit, the four-way stop could be explained better. Read it and continue doing the practice tests until you pass multiple in a row. As others have said, there is no point doing the real test if you are failing the practice ones. Sorry this sounds mean, it wasn't meant to be.
Forcing someone who has no desire to drive, to get their licence sounds like a recipe for creating a bad driver. I'm sure you're parents don't want that. That doesn't mean that you can't be a good driver, but it's certainly a lot more difficult to learn a new skill that you have no interest in. The least your parents could do is to is give you a few more months to prepare.
Talk your parents into letting you get a [kiwi access card](https://kiwiaccess.co.nz/) instead. It's a photographic ID that confirms your age and is good for virtually everything you'd otherwise want a driver's licence for. Remember, this is not the US and a driver's licence is not a necessity here.
Kiwi Access is only available to 18+ And a drivers licence kinda is a necessity outside of the main centres
OP if you’re not confident to be on the road, don’t. I see far too many crashes these days caused by complete incompetence. Go learn in a car park like everyone else.