Tips For Preparing For Your HGV Practical Test

Examinations and tests are guaranteed to make anyone nervous. Even if you have been doing everything right before the exam, just the thought that you are being judged on your performance at one point can make the best of people get an attack of the nerves.

Haulage vehicles require a lot more knowledge to operate than a regular car, which is why the test for becoming an HGV driver is much more complicated and strict. When you are giving your HGV test, keep the following, important tips in mind:

Brakes: Since you are driving a heavier vehicle, you will need longer to come to a complete stop after you press the brakes. Make sure you give yourself enough distance whenever you need to stop. As the loads you will carry will also increase your lorry's weight, make sure you adjust the distance to reflect that.

Turns: Since you have a trailer behind you, your turns need to be wider to avoid clipping the curb.

Acceleration: Since your acceleration is much slower than in a car, you need to be extra careful when switching lanes as you won't be able to speed up to pull away from the traffic behind you.

Indicators: You are driving an extremely heavy vehicle that is going to be slow to respond so make sure you indicate your intentions to turn to other motorists long before you actually need to turn so that they don't end up pull over on your inside.

Height and Weight: It is necessary for you to know how tall your vehicle is and how much it weighs since you will need to go through bridges and over bridges which will have limitations.

These few tips should help you make sure you do well in your test. Besides driving, these are the basics that you will be tested on.

Sometimes the nerves that you have before an exam have nothing to do with knowledge and more to do with being anxious. Here are some ways to reduce your stress levels before the exam:

Music: Listening to your favourite music on an MP3 player can calm you down. Try music that makes you feel confident.

Sleep: Make sure you sleep well the night before your test. Being nervous is normal, but staying up all night will only slow your reflexes for the test. Try taking a hot bath, drinking green tea and reading if you find it difficult to sleep.

Caffeine: If you are a coffee addict, make sure you don't overdo it or you might get caffeine jitters during the test. Too much caffeine can make you jittery and that's the last thing you want during a test.

Revision: If there are any reading materials, make sure you review them once the morning of the test, but don't overdo it or you might psyche yourself out.

Relax: This is by far the most important thing to do. If you can relax and just view the test as another day of you driving, you will be able to sail through without any problems.