You will be nervous - this is perfectly normal. For some people the practical test can be a nightmare where nerves can affect them far more than normal.

Performance related stress is the name for the stress that pupils experience before and during a practical driving test. The result of the practical driving test is extremely important to you because in many personal, as well as financial ways you have invested a lot in learning to drive. Some pupils have the added pressure of a job offer depending upon the result.

There are things that you can do to help yourself through this time. Realising why you are feeling this way is a start. If you are reading this article before you have reached test standard then you are at an advantage because you have more time to come to terms with this.

You have the opportunity to understand the problem and make the most of the knowledge here to help you reduce or at least manage the problem. If on the other hand you have looked up this page because your test is imminent then rest assured, once you understand that the situation is manageable you will feel more in control.

Your driving instructor is your greatest ally in the battle against the nerve gremlin. Make no mistake about it; we know exactly what you are going through because we have not only seen it many times before, we have been there ourselves.

There are a number of factors in your favour when you attend your practical test appointment with an instructor.

Sit back and look at this from a wider viewpoint. Part of the problem is that you are too close to it. You are turning it into something that it is not.

Passing your driving test is important to you, I can understand that. It is not the be all and end all of your life. Everything carries on exactly the same afterwards if you fail the test, all is as it was before; you simply take another one and pass the next time.

Another thing that does not help is the fear of the unknown. Read the page about the practical driving test. The more familiar you are with the forthcoming test the better prepared for it you will be.

You will be aware that your practical driving test is near and for some that in itself can induce pressure. Your best ally on the run up to your test is your instructor. They will reassure you that you are up to the job and run you through a few things before you get to the test centre.

The easiest way to get through this period of time is to concentrate on the matter at hand and perform the best drive that you can. Maintain the accuracy and observation to the levels that you have been taught and you will feel more reassured when you do get to the test centre.

You are on your own now but the examiners are not ogres. Really, they aren't. Your examiner will introduce themselves and they are trained to be customer friendly. They will realise that you are nervous, most people are.

The best way to cope with the test is to work one hundred percent on the procedures that you have been taught from the very beginning through to the very end. Right from the time that you are asked to start the engine through to when the examiner asks you to pull up in front of the test centre again and turn it off.

This might seem too obvious for words when you first read it but with the benefit of experience I can tell you that people have in the past relaxed part way through the test because they thought that they had done something wrong. This was not the case and they failed because of errors that they made after they stopped working one hundred percent.

There are a few tips for the day of the practical driving test which help you to cope physically. There is no point in making things harder for yourself than they have to be.

Psychologically the work is just as much common sense when you think about it.

You will spend some time before your test with your instructor and that they will work with you to fine tune your performance on the day. They know that your state of mind is as important as your general driving standards.

Your instructor has come to know you and knows how you will be on the day, they can take a pretty good guess even before you come out of the house. They have seen you in stressful situations before. Do you remember the first time that you pointed the front of the car at a major roundabout looking for a suitable gap?

In the trade we usually expect that test nerves will reduce the effectiveness of our pupils by up to twenty percent. We balance this by aiming higher than the minimum acceptable standard before we put you in for it. Everything possible has been taken into consideration without you having to do a thing.