If you’re about to convert your foreign license to a Singaporean one, here are some tips: (we passed our driver's license tests yesterday - whew!)
Study the Rode Code well. But that on its own really isn't enough. Get the book of 250 questions from a Mobil Station and study them really well too. The questions that are asked didn't always make sense to us - and some had more than one correct answer so you need to just remember which is the correct answer according to the book. Here's an example:
When should you change your tyre? The possible answers were:
a) When it is flat
b) When it has less than 1.6mm of tread left
c) When it is bald
I thought there should have been a "D) all of the above" option but there wasn't! The correct answer is B)
We went to the Bukit Batok Driving Center to book in for the test. You should expect to wait about 5 weeks between booking in and actually taking the test. The service there was awesome! I've never had such good service anywhere else in Singapore. Here's my tip: you have to use a machine and put some money into your Driving Center account that they give you. Once you've booked in, make sure you have $6 - $12 extra in that account because then you can use your computer at home to book in for a Practice test. The practice tests were just over $5. These tests can be anytime from 8am to 10pm - excellent choices. You go to the Driving Center to do the practice on the computer. You can go through the set of 50 questions over and over again for 50 minutes. Each time you choose an answer, the computer immediately tells you if you're right or wrong. Apparently there are 8 different sets of 50 questions, but you can only do one set at a time. If you want to practise more, you'll have to make a new booking.
The practice and the actual test are done on touch-screen computers. When you do the actual test, you’re crammed into a large room full of people, all doing the test on about 40 different computers. After you pass the test, you go directly to a window, fill out a form, show your Passport and FIN card, pay your $50 and hand over a passport photo. There’s a passport photo machine downstairs. Get the photo done BEFORE the test because the queue for getting your license made is long and slow. They need to know when you first obtained your foreign license. If it’s not shown on your foreign license they might ask for documentation to prove it. I wrote a date on the form and it was accepted.
That’s it!
OK one last question:
When driving on a slope, you should
A) turn off your headlights
B) dip your headlights
C) flash your headlights
And the answer is……..C)
