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Look out Germany. I passed the befuddling theory test and am now a proud owner of a German drivers license. Fo.eh.va. Yeah!!
Unfortunately, I need to prepare for another interview today and don’t have the time to detail my nerve wrecking adventure. But it’s great to check this one off the list of things I need to accomplish here in this ‘Guten Tag’ land.
Cheers to you all!
[update] I received only the Fragebogen (practice exams) in November of last year. The drivers school teacher, who taught Alex, Roland, and Martin to drive, said it would be enough to pass the exam. Upon taking the first few exams, the sinking feeling began to grow as I failed them one by one -my vocabulary and comprehension were mostly to blame. Alex kept saying just memorize all of the questions. Um, I don’t even recognize these German words yet?!
Between collecting all the necessary paperwork to apply for a drivers license at the Straßenverkehrsamt, I needed a Lebensrettende Sofortmaßnahmen class (first-aid course, or specifically Life Saving Emergency Measures at the Accident Site) and an eye-test. A few of my friends said the class was boring but I guess I got lucky and had a pretty active and informative teacher. Of course it helped to have the class split between two days and it was also a little cheaper. I definitely recommend taking the class, whether you drive on the streets here in Germany or not, you may be involved in a serious accident and haven’t a clue what to do. Even if you aren’t required or your last first-aid course was 4 years ago, you should take the class.
It took awhile to get everything organized especially once December rolled around. Everyone was either on vacation or sick. Once I got the approval, it was already the end of January. At the start of February, the theory test was updated. I read that 50 questions would be revised or omitted and replaced. I only received an extra Fragebogen with 30 questions, half covering what to do in a tunnel or emergency lane, which weren’t on the previous exams.
The practice exams weren’t enough for me and left me completely frustrating. I wanted to understand why one of the three choices was right and the other two were wrong. My American version of common sense didn’t see the connection. Alex at times would be helpful and other times I just had to take his word for it. I had to teach Alex what a Rückfahrsperre was. (It is a “backwards break” break – engage it to allow the trailer to roll backwards)
I also wanted the questions in some sort of group ordered in related subjects, like: right of way, street signs, avoiding road rage, and hazards. In the practice exams, the questions are all mixed up. After awhile, the questions worth more (max 5 points) I learned, are repeated on every other exam so it is easy to commit those to memory. My problem was with all the other questions I only saw once or twice out of all the exams and their points added up quickly to 10 in no time. Fail. failing. Failed.
What I recommend for those only taking the German version of the driver license theory exam without classes:
- Go through the practice exams without writing on them and use a dictionary. It should help to learn the vocabulary.English-German driving glossaries are provided here and here although they are not comprehensive.
- To view the questions in groups, look up “fuehrerscheinhilfe” in your favorite search engine for drivers license preparation software. I’m not sure if it has the new questions added after Feb. ‘08, but this program was quite helpful for me.
- If you want specifics, check out Wikipedia.de to find out the ‘why’, (i.e., how to calculate the maximum allowable weight of a trailer over 750 kg) Sometimes there is an English write-up of the same subject but be careful, the material may not apply on German roads. Here are some other
tips and tables. - Days before the test, go over the practice exams again but mark them up. Highlight all the questions you missed. Go over those at the end. At this point, memorize the ones that still don’t make any sense.
The test isn’t all that bad, but you have to know all questions and answers to guarantee success. There just isn’t much wiggle room to guess or know half of the questions.
Thanks to Leigh from Regensburg for the encouraging message of her own experience and a special thanks to Günter Sorg for organizing my drivers license card to be delivered at the test center. I needed the extra pressure.
licence to drive -from florida to germany
what could these signs mean?I don’t even want to drive in Germany. Okay maybe just a little. But with so many rules, so many Fragebogen to get through. Ugh. I want to take the test before the end of this year because I hear that the exam format will change February 2008. I’ve been studying a battery of old exams passed on from Alex’s old Fahrschule teacher, the trusty Wikipedia, and three on-line German-English dictionaries to get me the know-how to pass this thorough exam. Lucky me, my license from Florida has partial reciprocity, where I am exempt from the practical exam.
Everything regarding driving is on this exam: from how to provide first-aid at the scene of an accident, how to recognize problems with the car and what to do, how to be environmentally conscious at the wheel, how to load a vehicle and where, everything to do with towing a trailer.. and this doesn’t include the street signs or the golden rule: right before left. There is plenty of room to screw up. All I remember from the written portion of the Florida driver’s license exam was how bone-dumb easy it was.
I’m just at the border of passing the exam. A total of 10 answers can be wrong but only two worth 5-points (the diagrams) can be wrong. Here’s a sample of the test on paper. But the exam I will take is the computer version. I just got back from the ADAC to pick up my translation of my driver’s license. The no-brainer cost me 49 Euro and I had to listen to the man hustle me for a one-year membership with them for just 10 Euro more. When all this is over, I think I’ll have forked over more than 100 Euro. Still, better than if I had to take the practical exam and so many hours of driving school, that would be some shiny €€€€.
the roads of Munich..
..drive me batty. I had every intention today of taking a boring, 6.5 hour Erste-Hilfe Kurs (first-aid course) at the Ostbahnhof, a place I had never visited above ground.
The streets proved a complicated mess while trying to navigate my bike with my hand-written directions taped to my bike lamp. I was under the gun and thus I probably missed a turn or two in the process. I nearly gave up.
Or lets just say I did give up. It’s a common story with me and this city. Sometimes I’m dead on the money and arrive on time, other times I could just shoot myself. I wasn’t entirely lost. It’s just one of those bouts of knowing where you are but not knowing how it relates to where you want to be.
So after consulting my crusty-but-trusty, city-center map, I set out to find the class without further delays and “if I make it- fine, if I don’t- I’ll know how to get there in the next week.” When I arrived at the train station it was easy to spot the course location. Hopes were rejuvenated. But when I walked in, the room was dark and an exacerbated woman just started blabbering at me.
She said she tried getting an instructor but out of her 35 subs, none were reachable. She blamed it on the Oktoberfest. Ach! Blöd-fest! My love for the O-fest diminishes once everyday life is distrupted. The first impression that flashed through my head was that the instructors were getting wasted at the Wiesn’. Later it occurred to me that these poor guys are most likely working their asses off to save the drunken lives of those who can’t handle their beer in a responsible manner.
You know, my friends? It is truly okay not to get yourself all obliterated in one evening. After the 4th Maß (4 liters) in 2 hours, you can’t even taste that good beer you are downing. How is that any fun?
Cheers to you all during your visit at the Oktoberfest. Please don’t make those first-aid volunteers get medieval on your stomachs. Stay within your tolerance. Oh and welcome to the first signs of Autumn season!
