SSDC: Review + tips for getting driver’s license in Singapore

It has been almost one year since I got my driver’s license and I have decided to write a post on this because I remember having to search up on a lot of information regarding learning driving in Singapore when I was registering to learn driving and when I was learning driving. Learning driving was a pretty arduous journey to me but it also signifies an important milestone in my life so I hope that my writeup on my journey and experience will be able to help many others who are trying to get their driver’s license!

Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric on Pexels.com

Why Learn Driving?

My mom lowkey forced me to sign up for driving lessons immediately after A Levels because she believe that it is important for me to learn driving so that I can become a strong and independent womenXD Initially, I did not see the point of learning driving because the cost of car ownership is so high in Singapore, so why bother learning driving when you can just take public transport or Grab everywhere? Well, I came to learn that driving is an important life skill, even if you might not own a car in the future, you never know when you need to drive e.g. during a road trip/when your father is too tired to drive so you have to take his place/driving private hire cars to supplement your earnings etc. So I decided to learning driving and I am really glad that I did it during my 8-months post A Levels break!!! The waiting time for the tests and lessons can be quite long due to limited slots and I took almost 8 months (partly due to Circuit Breaker) from the time I signed up to finally obtain my license!!! I doubt I would have been able to cope if I had to learn driving while studying in university, especially since I stay in hall, so travelling back and forth between Pulau NTU and the driving centre would have taken so long! Of course, you can still learn driving after you enter the workforce, but I believe most would only have time to do so after they end work around the evening, or on weekends. These timings are mostly considered peak periods and will be charged peak hour rates for practical driving lessons. As of the time I am writing this blog, the cost difference between peak period and non-peak period lessons is nearly $10! This may not seem like a lot to some, but if you think of it over the span of 18-25 lessons, it can amount to quite a sum!! So do think carefully when is the most appropriate time for you to learn driving!

Signing Up for Lessons and Tests

When it comes to learning driving, one can choose to learn with driving schools or private instructors. I chose to go with driving schools because I believe that driving schools can provide a more structured learning, since they have the curriculum all planned out for us and the learning objectives all defined properly for each lesson. This is just my personal thought and it might not be true, but I believed the driving instructors in driving schools will be more up to date with the syllabus and have greater insights into what testers look out for in the practical driving test. In SSDC, I got to learn driving from different instructors since I did not choose to fix with one instructor. This actually allowed me to learn difference tips and tricks from different instructors and also receive different feedback from different instructors. Some instructors may be more chill while some are more strict, some may overlook some areas and other instructors will point it out to me. So I was able to consolidate all their feedback and advice and ultimately decide what is best for my learning and driving style. I also do not know of any good private instructors to approach and I do not want to risk getting an instructor that is not as experienced or professional, since having to retake the driving test will just mean more time and money blown. Lastly, it is said that the passing rate is higher in driving schools as compared to private instructors. Me not being confident in my ability to learn driving, went for the safer option of learning with driving schools of course. In terms of lesson rates, the rates charged by driving schools can be significantly more expensive than private instructors. So it is really up to you which route of learning you prefer.

Learning With Driving Schools (Pros)

• More structured curriculum
• Higher passing rate
• Ability to get feedback from a variety of experienced instructors

Learning With Driving Schools (Cons)

• Lesson timing is less flexible (you can only choose from the lesson slots given by the driving school and these slots are often limited and you might have to end up waiting up to months for the next driving lesson, which can delay your progress)
• Lessons are more expensive

Deciding Between the Driving Schools

There are three driving schools in Singapore – Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC), Singapore Safety Driving Centre (SSDC), and ComfortDelGro Driving Centre (CDC).

BBDC, as the name suggests, is located in Bukit Batok. SSDC has its main branch located in Woodlands and a second branch in Ang Mo Kio. From what I know, the second branch does not have the circuits, so you still need to come to Woodlands when it is time for you to practice the circuits. CDC has a branch in Ubi, one in Kovan, and a pick-up point at Tampines.

The following is a breakdown of their fees for class 3/3A as of 20 June 2021:

Item	BBDC	SSDC	CDC
Enrolment & Theory Fee	$173.02	$174.09	$206.19
Traffic Police Basic Theory Test	$6.50	$6.50	$6.50
Traffic Police Final Theory Test	$6.50	$6.50	$6.50
Practical Lesson (Off-Peak)	$68.48 (100 mins)	$77.04 (120 mins)	$68.48 (100 mins)
Practical Lesson (Peak)	$77.04 (100 mins)	$85.60 (120 mins)	$77.04 (100 mins)
Simulator Lesson	$23.06	$23.94	$26.54
Risk Forecast Training Lesson	$22.47 (100 mins)	n.a.	n.a.
Fixed Instructor Fees	n.a.	$8.56	$9.63 per lesson (same car, max 6 instructors) $12.84 per lesson (same car, max 4 instructors)
Traffic Police Practical Test	$33.00	$33.00	$33.00
Theory Trial Test	$5.35	$5.35	$7.49
Test Vehicle and Warm Up Fees	$252.52	$231.12	$289.97
Course Extension	$8.13 (per month)	$58.85 (6 months)	$64.20 (6 months)
Training Vehicle Conversion Fee	n.a.	$42.80	n.a.

Comparison of fees between the 3 schools, based on information from their websites. I apologise in advance if there are any mistakes or oversights.

In my opinion, the price difference is not that huge, so I ultimately went with SSDC since it is much nearer to my house. SSDC also provides regular shuttle bus from Admiralty MRT station, which made it much easier for me to get there.

Enrolment

I had to make a trip down to SSDC to physically enrol since we had to pass the eyesight and colour blindness test in order to enrol successfully. They also helped me take a digital photo on the same day I was enrolled. This will be the photo printed on your driver’s license when you pass your driving test (too bad I look so bad in the photo I don’t even want to show anyone HAHAHA).

Theory Lessons

After enrolling, you may start learning the basic theories to prepare for the Basic Theory Test (BTT). The enrolment for SSDC included the fee for four theory lessons (which can be taken online or physically) as well as the price of the BTT and Final Theory Test (FTT) guide books. I chose to take the theory lessons online, which consisted of animated recordings talking mainly about road safety. You have to finish watching the recordings for all four lessons to be marked as having completed the theory lessons. After completing the theory lessons, you may sign up to take the BTT trial test. For SSDC, you are required to pass the trial test before you can take the actual test. You may also opt for extra practice sessions priced at $5.35 for 45 minutes, in which you can just spam practice questions and the system will provide you with the correct answer after you do each question. I will advice you to book your trial test and actual test ASAP as I had to wait about one month for my test.

The BTT was rather easy and most people pass on the first try. You need to get 46/50 and above to pass the trial test, and 45/50 and above to pass the actual test. After passing, you can then apply for Provisional Driving License (PDL) via the Singapore Traffic Police website, which will allow you to drive during your practical lessons. After you have successfully registered for your PDL, you can then start booking your practical driving lessons! I will advise you to take the FTT later on, as it will test you on some practical driving skills, which you might only learn after you get started on some practical driving lessons.

Practical Driving Lessons

I remember when I got my PDL, I immediately logged into the SSDC website to book my driving lessons, only to be horrified that there was no slots left >< One trick that I learnt is to camp at the website and refresh the page regularly, if you are lucky, you can snag slots that people have decided to sell. I managed to snag about two slots that are a week after I got my PDL. Of course, not everyone has the luxury of time to camp at the website regularly. I heard some people paid for bots that can automatically help them to snag slots once they are available, but these bots are not cheap in my opinion. My friend paid about $55 a month for the bot and it helped her to book around 3-4 lessons. SSDC will also release new slots for the next month/half a month at random timings, so it will be good to check the website regularly for available slots. Luckily for me, I was learning driving at SSDC with a few of my friends, so we often update each other when we see new slots being released, or sell our slots to each other.

My First Lesson

I remember feeling super super nervous on the day of my first driving lesson. So many things were running through my head ‘What if I crash the car into the wall?’, ‘What if I step on the wrong pedal?’. So many ‘what ifs’, but of course I still had to complete the lesson or I will be wasting my money and I will never get my license. When you arrive at SSDC for your practical lesson, you can just head to level 3. There is a waiting area near the counters where people will stand around, and there are two tv screens showing your name and the car number you are allocated to. When it is near the start of your lesson, everyone will start streaming through the glass door into the car park to find their allocated car. I always had trouble finding my allocated car because there were just TOO MANY cars HAHA but the instructors there were super friendly and would always help me to find my allocated car. I remember the first lesson, I got a friendly uncle, who went through the operations of the basics car components with me, like the different pedals, the steering wheel, the different gears etc. Soon, it was my turn to take over the wheel, I was pretty nervous yet excited at the same time because it was my FIRST TIME steering the car by myself!!! We practiced within the practice area of SSDC, just stepping on the accelerator pedal to move forward and backwards, stepping on the brake pedal to stop. After a while, we started driving around in the circuits in SSDC, just driving the car in circles and familiarising myself with navigating the gradual curved bends. I remember everything felt so surreal, I could not believe that I was actually driving an actual car by myself. My spatial sense was pretty bad and my car was often not centralised on the lane. The trick is to look straight and far ahead, rather than focusing on the lane right in front of you. I figured that this helped me to visualise the space around my car better and prevented my car from edging too much to the sides. This was pretty much what happened for my first lesson, I knew I had a lot to learn, but I was contented that everything went pretty smoothly and the uncle was really friendly and patient with me.

Subsequent Driving Lessons

For the first few lessons, I remember getting different instructors for almost every lesson. I spent the first 3 lessons driving in the circuits of SSDC and finally on the 4th lesson, I was ready to hit the road!! This was yet another milestone for me in my driving journey and I was very nervous as usual, because it was time to drive on the actual road!!! Which means I cannot screw up, because it is ACTUAL LIFE AND DEATH D: During the first lesson on the road, I learnt to navigate filter lanes, and my instructor could tell that I was very nervous because I was steering the wheel so rigidly LMAO!! He tried to chat with me to make me calm down and after navigating a few filter lanes, we went back to the school circuit since lesson was ending soon. The subsequent lessons were a mix of learning to navigate SSDC circuits (directional change, slope, parking etc.) and navigating the actual road (right turns, U-turns, changing lanes, reading traffic signals). Every time I enter SSDC and search for my name on the TV screen, it was always a nerve wrecking experience as I see which car number I got (normally each instructor is fixed to one car number), so I could tell which instructor I got (whether it was someone I already encountered or a new instructor). I would sigh in relief when I get instructors that are friendlier, and start panicking when I see a new car number, or get instructors that are stricter. Some instructors tend to be stricter, especially when they are having a bad day, and I teared up one time in the middle of the lesson after one instructor chided me (her comments all stem from good intentions though, I guess I was just having a rough day too and feeling extra vulnerable, so I could not hold back my tears) >< I am lucky enough that most of the instructors I encountered are really nice and would often chat with me to lighten the mood. Each of them provided me with valuable advice and feedback, which I noted down diligently after each lesson, because knowing me, I will just forget everything if I don’t note them down. I highly advise you guys to consolidate your learning at the end of each lesson too, since each person takes around 20-25 lessons before they are ready for the practical test, you might forget some important things that you have learnt at the start after taking 20+ lessons. It is important to consolidate your learning so that you may review everything right before your practical test. I took about 1-2 driving lessons each week, until Circuit Breaker happened and the centre closed down for about two months 😦 This affected my progress slightly as I had to refresh on a few things when I finally went back for lessons after SSDC reopened. There were also many people waiting for their practical test slots since their slots were cancelled due to Circuit Breaker. So I had to wait about 1-2 months for a practical test slot too. While waiting, I decided to go for one lesson every 1-2 week in case I forgot some stuff during the practical test after not driving for so long. Honestly quite heart pain because $77.04 fly away each lesson 😦 but the practical test is so expensive I better not risk it.

FTT and Simulator Lesson

You will need to pass your FTT and complete all 3 simulator lessons before you can take the practical test. One silly mistake I made was not booking my FTT early enough, so I had to end up waiting for some time before I could take my FTT, and I failed the trial two times because you have to get 46/50 and above to pass, but I got 45/50 T_T So kids, please book your FTT early, but make sure you have studied finish first and is confident of passing the test so you don’t waste your money!! It might be good to book practice sessions for the FTT to familiarise yourself with different questions and answers. Even if you are taking class 3A, the FTT covers some stuff regarding class 3 (like the clutch pedal etc.) (which I did not know and totally skipped/skimped through everything regarding the clutch pedal when reading the FTT guide book), so please take note of this!!! So even though I completed all the practical lessons learning objective, I still could not book the practical test because I have not passed my FTT, so this held me back for some time ><

With effect from 16 December 2019, all class 2,2A,2B,3 or 3A are required to complete the Driving Simulator learning before they can book their practical test. There are 3 simulator lessons for class 3A, each around 20 minutes. You will enter a room with driving simulators (kinda like those driving machines you see in arcades). During the simulation, you will be faced with obstacles and challenges when driving on the road, so as to allow you to learn from your mistakes in a safe environment. There is no minimum passing requirement for the lesson, you just need to complete the simulation. If I am not wrong, the simulator lessons should be available for booking once you have completed Module 3 of your practical lessons (i.e. you have finished learning almost everything and are left with recap or review lessons). Remember to book your simulator lessons ASAP too, to prevent it from holding you back from booking practical tests.

Booking the Practical Test

In the month of June, everyday I anxiously awaited for a test date, so that I could quickly get this done and over with. However, no matter how many times I checked the website, I could not find an an available test date >< Finally in July, I decided to call SSDC to ask. It turned out that the reason why I could not find an available test date is because I still had lessons booked in late July and the system only shows available test dates after your last lesson (UGH I didn’t even know that!!! Initially when I asked them they just told me the long wait could be due to the large number of people who got affected by Circuit Breaker). After knowing this, I immediately cancelled my remaining lessons and LO AND BEHOLD I could finally book a test date!!! There were not many slots left but I was eager to finish this so I just booked the earliest available date which was 29 July 2020, 4.30pm.

The Day of the Test

Finally the day of the test came, and of course I was a nervous wreck >< I wanted to pass the test very badly because:

• Booking the test, vehicle, warm up and everything cost around $200+ in total, so if I failed the test, I would have to pay another $200+ for a retest!!!
• School was starting very soon, so if I have to take a retest it might clash with my school matters, delaying the day I can take my test
• If I fail once, my morale would probably be affected and I would probably start emo-ing for one whole month ><

My test was at 4.30pm but before that there was a 1-hour warm up session at 3.30pm and we were told to report around 15-20 minutes earlier to settle some administrative matters. During the administrative time, they asked me for my NRIC and my Provisional Driving License (so remember to save a screenshot of it, or you may print it out if you want).

During the warm up, I drove a car which was also the car used for my practical test. We briefly went through the whole test procedure, which starts from the carpark on Level 1 where I would start the car and drive out from the parking lot, into the Level 1 circuit. For the SSDC circuit, there is a stop line right before you enter the circuit, so PLEASE REMEMBER TO STOP. During the warm up, I was so nervous I did not manage to stop in time, and my instructor told me if this happened during the test it would have resulted in immediate failure. I started panicking even more after hearing his words >< but well I had to press on and continue on to practise the different circuits and parkings. We also went out to the actual road to practice the filter lanes, right lanes and U-turns. Soon, we returned to SSDC and I was given a short break while waiting for the traffic police to arrive. During the break I was just trying to recall and mentally run through all the steps for parking in my head and soon the traffic police came and it was time to start the test.

Sitting in the car with the traffic police next to me, I was VERY VERY NERVOUS but luckily I could still function and think, so I started the car and drove out of the parking lot, making sure not to hit the cars next to mine, and also making sure to start braking early before I reach the stop line. We went through all the circuits one by one, I did everything slowly but surely, making sure not to rush because I tend to forget things when I rush. As I slowly cleared one station after another, my confidence started building up and much to my relief, I managed to clear all the circuits without any demerit points!! It is usually advised to muster the circuits well and to avoid getting demerit points during the circuit, since the situation out there on the actual roads are less predictable, so it would be good to leave more room for demerit points when driving on the actual road. Sure enough, I ran into some trouble on the actual road.

Firstly, I forgot to adjust my side mirrors back to the original position!! So that resulted in some demerit points. When I drove on the left lane, this group of motorcyclists suddenly stopped, so I had to change lane to proceed. While I was about to do so, this car suddenly came from behind so I decided to let it pass first, however the person in the car honked me instead before passing!!!!! WHAT EVEN?!?! The traffic police noted that this was ‘causing obstruction to other traffic users’ so I ended up getting more demerit points. At this point, I started panicking again, ‘how many demerit points do I get for causing obstruction??’, I was trying to recall. I couldn’t remember but I tried to maintain my composure as the tester continued to give me instructions like U-turning etc., and soon we were back to SSDC. We went back to the parking lot (thankfully we just parked the car at the side of the road, instead of having to vertically park the car between two other cars). The tester told me I passed but also went through some mistakes that I made and told me to look out for these mistakes and stay safe on the road. At that instant in time, I was still trying to process his words. WHAT!!!! I PASSED?!!! OMGOSH I was really SOOO glad and relieved and thankful that everything went well.

After thanking the tester, I proceeded to the level 3 counter to register my test result so that I could later apply for my license online. After the system has registered my test result, I could then go to the traffic police website to fill in some information before they mailed my driving license to me. After 1-2 weeks, I received my license in the mailbox, it’s very pretty!!! (even though I don’t like my photo ><)

My driving license!! 😀

Tips for the test

I thought I will just share some tips for the practical test, which can hopefully help those who are worried for their test too.

• REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR BLINDSPOTS!!! Anytime you are doing something like changing lane or turning, you will need to check your blindspot, and make sure you do it in an obvious manner by turning your head over your shoulders (not for too long of course, and you need to make sure the road ahead of you is clear first). Turn your head over your shoulders briefly so that the tester knows that you are checking your blindspot!
• Turn your whole back to check the rear whenever you reverse. Make it a habit to turn your whole body to check the rear every time you switch the Reverse Gear, so that you are less likely to forget during the test.
• The car mirrors are very very helpful! When driving, make it a habit to check the rear mirror every 5-10 seconds to ensure that you are not driving too slowly. The side mirrors are also very helpful when it comes to parking or navigating spaces that are more cramped.
• Try not to memorise things like when is the perfect position/angle to turn for things like vertical parking, parallel parking, directional change, crank course and S-course. Instead, you should familiarise yourself with the different correctional practices, like what to do when you reverse too early, or too late. During the test, when you might be more nervous than usual, you have a higher chance of screwing up, so it is important to know what correctional practices to take. I have seen people who reverse too late during vertical parking during their practical test, but the person was visibly panicking and when he tried reposition the car, it ended up even nearer to the kerb and ended up hitting the kerb. When the alignment of your car is slightly off, keep calm and run through the correctional method in your mind and execute it!
• For vertical parking, if I reverse too early i.e. the car is very near the left kerb, I will turn the wheel one round to the right and quickly full lock to the left again. If your car is still very near the left kerb, you may repeat the action again until you deem fit.
• Conversely, if I reverse too late i.e. the car is very near the right kerb, I will change to D gear, turn one round to the right while slowly moving the car in front, until I can see the right kerb in my side mirror. Then I switch to R gear and full lock left again.
• It is advised to get a good spatial sense of the car and reduce reliance on markers like which part of the kerb to align with before turning etc. When you are driving in the real world, the cars that you are driving will come in difference sizes and height, so relying on fixed markers to guide you on when to turn etc. might not work well. Having a good spatial sense will let you know roughly how far away your rear wheels or front wheels are from the kerb, or how near the front or back of you car are from the walls etc. Of course, this takes time and practice before you can have a good spatial sense while driving, so be patient with yourself. The key is to not succumb to rote learning. Driving is a skill that requires you to be adaptive, as you will often run into situations that you might not have faced before, so you can’t just rely on a fixed set of rules taught in the guide books or in school.

These are some of the tips I can think of off the top of my head. DISCLAIMER: they might not apply for everyone but I found these tips to be helpful for me, so please do your own due diligence. If you need more technical tips like navigating a certain circuit course or performing parallel/vertical parking, please feel free to leave questions in the comment below and I will try my best to help where I can.

Driving in the Real World

The subheading makes it sound like previously I was driving in some Virtual world instead haha, but oh wells you get the gist! After I got my license, I actually did not start driving immediately. This was partly because school started so I got busy, and also I never got down to buying the probation plate, which needs to be displayed on your vehicle, if you just got your driving license for less than a year. I did not drive for about 5-6 months, which I highly advise against. Even after you get your license, it is important to practice regularly so that you don’t forget and your skills don’t become ‘rusty’. Of course, the longer I drag out driving, the more apprehensive I became, because after not driving for so long I was not sure if I could still drive.

Not wanting to put the money spent on my license to waste, I ordered the probation plate on Carousell (they can be found almost anywhere, in provision shops as well). One day, when my parents came to NTU to have dinner with me, they asked if I want to practice driving them back (um I’m honoured that they are trusting their lives with me, especially after I have not driven for months HAHAH). I knew I had to get started eventually, so I just went with it. My father’s car is slightly bigger and higher than the ones I drove in SSDC, so that took me some time to adjust as well. We decided to start slow, so we took a longer route home instead of the expressway, since the expressway is always very crowded near dinner time when everyone is rushing home. Surprisingly, I could still drive, though my spatial sense was slightly off so my car was not centralised in the lane. Subsequently, I just became the family’s chauffeur, as they wanted me to get more practice. I started driving on the expressway, and doing all the parking. Honestly up till now, driving is still pretty stressful for me, especially when I have to change lane on a super busy road/expressway, navigate small and crowded multi-storey carparks, or when I am doing vertical parking and there are tons of cars waiting for me to finish so they can pass. Some drivers are nice and patient, but there are some who would honk you, so it really takes some ‘thick skin-ness’ to remain on the road. I often get scolded by my father too for making certain mistakes >< I miss the carefree days when I can just sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride HAHAHA

Nonetheless, I must admit I feel very accomplished to have gotten my license and be able to drive on the road. There is still a lot for me to learn, and I still haven’t had much chance to practice my directions (as for now, my father will direct me while I drive). I need to learn to plan the routes before I start driving, so I don’t ending up turning at the wrong junctions or miss certain exits. I will continue to practice driving regularly and I hope that in time to come, driving can become a natural thing to me! 😀

Ending Remarks

I hope that this blogpost has helped you in your driving journey, and please do not hesitate to comment down if you have any other questions. Before I end off, I will include a segment below, documenting my expenditure for my driving journey, in case it is of any help to anyone. All the best in your driving journey and remember to be a safe and responsible road user!

Expenditure

Date	Item	Price
29/12/19	Enrolment (includes eye test, photo-taking, theory lessons, theory guidebooks)	$174.09
January 2019 (I forgot the exact date)	BTT trial + actual test	$5.35 + $6.50
January 2019	Application for PDL	$25.00
05/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
06/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
10/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
11/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
14/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
17/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
19/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
26/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
28/02/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
04/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
05/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
13/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
18/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
20/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
23/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
25/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
25/03/20	Simulator Lesson 1	$23.94
30/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
31/03/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
April 2020 (can’t rmb exact date)	Simulator Lesson 2	$23.94
April 2020	FTT Trial Test	$5.35
01/04/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
03/04/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
06/04/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
06/04/20	Simulator Lesson 3	$23.94
22/06/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
26/06/20	FTT Actual Test	$6.50
29/06/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
09/07/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
27/07/20	Practical Lesson	$77.04
29/07/20	Practical Test	$266.12
30/07/20	Application for Driving License	$50.00

Cost breakdown (based on my memory)

Grand Total: $2536.73

Photo by Nicolas Postiglioni on Pexels.com

That’s all from me now! I hope I have imparted to you some nuggets of knowledge! Till next time! : )