hanno wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 12:52 pm

khmerhamster wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 12:47 pm

hanno wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 9:48 am I am about to go for my first practice session. I have also been practicing on the app for a couple of weeks but still do not understand some of the questions and answers, e.g. the frequent reference to "coating lights" and or "how long do healthy drivers need?". Wish me luck.

For sure there are some questions which don't make sense on English, they are translated word by word but are nonsense. However if you speak Khmer you can kind of reverse engineer the question and work out what the question might be in Khmer.
I was able to guess a few answers to questions that didn't make sense In English, but when I thought about it in Khmer I was able to make a guess at the answer.
Does that make sense?

Not really going to help me as I do not speak Khmer. After today's practice, I am not looking forward to the test. As someone else mentioned, mirrors did not work. The parking is super difficult; I wonder why the Khmer are so bad at parking when they can pass the test. I consider myself a pretty good driver, but having to park when the margin of error is 5 centimeters on each side is a challenge.

The onky thing you can do is memorise the answer to the nonsense questions. The other questions you can logic the answer with a little bit of knowledge. But for the nonsense questions the only option is to memorise the answers.

my partners sister paid $300 for driving school:
she can NOT read /write khmer an had never driven a car ( only motorbike)
still got her license>

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:11 pm my partners sister paid $300 for driving school:
she can NOT read /write khmer an had never driven a car ( only motorbike)
still got her license>

When was that? Apparently, they really tightened the screws 2 years ago.

hanno wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:07 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:11 pm my partners sister paid $300 for driving school:
she can NOT read /write khmer an had never driven a car ( only motorbike)
still got her license>

When was that? Apparently, they really tightened the screws 2 years ago.

late 2021

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:34 pm

hanno wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:07 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:11 pm my partners sister paid $300 for driving school:
she can NOT read /write khmer an had never driven a car ( only motorbike)
still got her license>

When was that? Apparently, they really tightened the screws 2 years ago.

late 2021

Just in time; things got tougher in 2022.

I went for both theoretical and practical tests this morning. The place is a good 20 kilometers north of town. I was told to be there at 07:30 so I could practice. When I got there, a good 50 people were waiting; I'd say more than half were Chinese, a few were foreigners like me, and a smattering of Khmer.

I had half an hour in the car. I opted for manual as passing the test lets you drive both manual and automatic cars; if you do the test in an automatic car, you cannot legally drive a manual.

Parking the car was the big challenge again, there is very little room for error. Khmer must be the best parkers in the world, contrary to the daily evidence on the streets of Phnom Penh.

Motorbike was easier, as there is no parking involved. However, the clutch was shot, making riding it a bit of a challenge.

Practice done, it was time to head for the theoretical exam. Students get called up one by one, ID is checked (do NOT forget your passport!!!), and you need a thumbprint. I had to do two: one with 40 questions for the car license, one with 35 questions for the motorbike license. More than 5 mistakes and it is game over. There is an app with all the questions and I had been practicing, so I was not too worried. The time limit per test is 60 minutes. I thought this was more than generous, I finished both in 25 minutes total. Quite a few people did take the entire hour though. No matter how long you have been driving, you do need to study for the test as some of the questions and answers are incomprehensible and you just need to know the correct answer. A foreign gentleman thought he could wing it and finished up with only 27 correct answers.

After that, it was time for the actual driving test. Again, we got called up one by one, fingerprint was taken, and off we went. The examiners do not actually sit in the car with you, they just stand around the course. Nobody checks if you adjust mirrors or not, but they do check if you put on the seatbelt. What they really pay attention to is the stop signs. Don't stop for the required 5 seconds, and it is game over. A French gentleman was almost done with his motorbike test but did not stop at the final stop sign. He gut pulled immediately and was told to come back some other time.

I thought I had failed the parallel parking (of all things) but the examiner gave me a thumbs-up. Most people that failed, did so at the parking. The reverse parking has to be done in three steps and no correction is allowed. The parallel parking is also three steps but you are allowed one correction move. This is where practicing comes in: they do give you hints like "turn when the 3rd pole is in the middle of the rearview mirror". That helps immensely.

The motorbike test was fairly easy as it does not involve parking. You do need to slalom around some cones and do a circle within a set diameter. You are allowed to touch the ground with your feet twice; third time and you are out.

The whole thing took me just over 2 hours. I used Mittatheap driving school, and they were excellent. You are not required to go through a driving school and can do all the documents yourself. Me, I couldn't be arsed running from department to department. And again, I think without practicing, passing the test will be very, very hard.