Instructor Training – Part 3 Assessment

The part 3 instructor test is a nerve-racking experience for all hopeful participants.
By the time you get to this stage you would have been through a lot already and probably have a lot riding on your successful passage to you green badge.

A new career awaits and possibly some well needed income if you haven’t been on a pink badge or working whilst training. If you have been teaching then you’ll have the worry that with failure all your work and income could suddenly be taken away from you.

You have 3 attempts at passing this assessment, which relives only a tiny bit of the stress if you’re on your first attempt. This builds for your second and could be huge if you’re taken to your third and final attempt. If you were to fail on each of these 3 occasions you would be required to begin the application process all over again so the pressure is on.

The pass rate is not high. You need to be committed to the decision you have made – to train to become an instructor. Too many people approach the instructor training process with the wrong attitude, thinking it will be easy, not taking it seriously, failing, and so losing a lot of money. The reality is the pass rate for the Part 3 test is ONLY 24%.

It is my opinion though, if approached with the correct attitude, you have won half the battle.

As your test approaches, you would have had plenty of practice as you have to be ‘signed off’ as having completed a certain number of training hours. Listen to what you have learnt and try your very best to implement it. I failed my first attempt, as many do. But I used this failure in the correct manner – as a learning curve. I looked at what I had done wrong, poorly, or not at all and went about putting that right.

I believe my training didn’t really prepare me well for the test at all and it was only my self-analysis after my first attempt and self-improvements that eventually got me through. Try not to have the attitude that whoever is training you will get you through. The responsibility needs to be solely on your shoulders.

I decided to look upon the test as a ‘game’. When thinking about what my assessor had said in our debrief I realised that amongst all the other things you will be taught, the most important thing to remember are fault identification – fault analysis – fault remedy.

These are of course the basics when teaching people to drive and the most essential to cover in your Part 3. There will seem like there’s so much to remember to include you’re drowning in information. I basically I remembered to include a good explanation at the start to describe the lesson plan, to identify, analyse and remedy every single fault, and a good de-brief at the end. My de-brief was awful as I completely drew a blank at the time but luckily I still passed. I decided to look upon the test as a game to try and disperse some of the tension. A game to find the faults, analyse and remedy. Most people I’m told (myself included on my first attempt) forget the analysis – the ‘why’ the fault is happening.

You’re allowed notes in your test which is a great help, so be sure to form a simple ease-to-read lesson structure and make sure you cover each.

The test consists of 2 scenarios, both lasting 30 minutes. One will be directed towards a learner driver, and the other towards a competent driver with an obvious fault to find which you will need to identify, analyse and remedy to a satisfactory conclusion.

During the ‘lessons’ other faults may arise and it is important not to ignore them and to deal with them as you would in a normal lesson. The 30 minutes will fly by if you throw yourself into it and completely immerse yourself in the scenario. I hate role-play but luckily had previous experience of it with past jobs, but it can feel strange.

Once the test is over you have an agonising wait in the waiting room whilst the examiner writes up your report. Time ticks by so slowly and when they emerge I hope you have the result you’ve been waiting for.

Remember – Identify and analyse, and remedy.

Jason Vines