Mod 1 bad experience

I'm completely new to biking – I've been a car driver for 35 years. I did my CBT then took a direct access course, all of which led to my Mod 1 Test on Monday. The Saturday before I had a session at the test centre, culminating in a mock test, which I passed.

I was nervous on Monday - far more so than I expected to be. It reminded me of taking my car test all those years ago. But I told myself all I needed to do was the same as I'd done on Saturday and I'd be fine. Everything went to plan, and I was very confident I'd passed. We walked back to the test centre building and the examiner took me and my instructor into a little room, where we sat down. He fiddled with a form for a while and his pen hovered over a box while he hesitated, before putting a mark in it then telling me I'd failed. I was genuinely shocked and asked him why. He said I'd "gone too wide on the figure of eight exercise." I said I'd been told there was no outer limit to it and to use all the available space, so I did - just as I had during the mock test. "No," he said, "you went too wide."

The guy who runs the training school had watched my test and was speechless when he found out I'd failed (he was there with another trainee). My own instructor said she "couldn't watch," so hadn't seen what happened. This in itself makes me angry as it means she can't tell whether I should have been awarded a pass or not.

Everything I've seen online, and all the instruction I've had from my riding school is that there is no need to keep the figure of eight to any particular size - just do it without putting a foot down or touching the cones. Does anyone know differently?

That sucks!

I've been told while they can't fail you specifically on size if excessively big they can fail you on control.

How wide were they? I've had 2 attempts and both attempts with nerves couldn't keep it within last yellow cone so went just outside, one gave me a minor for it the other didn't even give me that.

I went quite wide on mine and he mentioned it might have got a minor. I was told they couldn't fail you for going wide but seems it's not the case. Tough break I'd say but very little comeback so brace yourself for round 2 and nail it.

That sucks!

I've been told while they can't fail you specifically on size if excessively big they can fail you on control.

How wide were they? I've had 2 attempts and both attempts with nerves couldn't keep it within last yellow cone so went just outside, one gave me a minor for it the other didn't even give me that.

I got stopped after doing 3 8’s and told by the examiner that they were too wide and i needed to make them smaller to pass.

So i did them smaller. I was taking the piss and doing it quite wide for safety..

Don't dwell. It sucks but nothings going to change it.

That's bad luck - and bad advice from the instructor, it seems.

When I did Mod1, I was told to use up all the space, which I did, and no problems. But that was some years ago and I guess they've changed the criteria since then.

I don't imagine there's much you can do to change the outcome: just book up a retest and press on.

You can make a complaint about your test here

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-standards-agency/about/complaints-procedure

The best outcome you will achieve is a free retest.

And the examiner will report back that you were displaying poor control and riding iraticaly while performing fig 8, seriously its not worth extending the grief.

When I eventually passed my mod 1 I did about 5 of the fig 8, I thought I had been given some extra just to make sure, nope he said he was just ticking boxes and lost count, you will never know what's going on in there heads lol.

I lost track on my figure-8s and thought the examiner was calling me over, turned towards him but he shook his head, so went back but ended up doing them in the opposite direction. Apparently that is fine, not even a minor.

Although you can use as much space as you need, it still has to be within reason. We were told you can go around one the slalom cones (I cannot remember which), but more than that would be too wide. Go too wide you are not demonstrating a figure-8 but straight(-ish) lines and corners.

Although the DVSA guidance says nothing about how tight they should be, it also says nothing about using as much space as you want. But is says the purpose of the slalom and figure-8 is "to demonstrate their ability to ride the machine slowly and under control whilst turning in a restricted area, they should maintain balance throughout the exercise."

It does also specifically mention that you can go around one of the slalom cones: "Candidates sometimes ride around the yellow cone (which forms the last of the slalom exercise) as they carry out the figure of eight. This in itself is not a fault unless it is a result of poor control."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-driving-examiners-carrying-out-driving-tests-dt1/02-the-motorcycle-test

None of us can say whether Willholmania went too wide without seeing, but if an instructor from the school thought it was okay then that should be all that matters. But it also sounds like the examiner was not sure what to do either so it was probably borderline. And instructors will always favour the side of their student and examiners the side of the law.

But given all the mod 1 videos on YouTube you can obviously record them, so maybe people should just do that to preserve the right to appeal?

Just to be clear, I didn't go around any of the yellow cones in the figure of eight. I stuck to the two blue ones. So I can only imagine he was talking about me going too wide in the other direction. However, I can't have gone that wide or I'd have run him over!

I've heard of people failing for this once or twice. It seems quite vague and up to examiner judgement.

In Northern Ireland it's more defined (and slightly tighter). You have 4m from last slalom cone to first figure 8 cone, 6m to the next figure 8 cone then 3m to an 'end' cone. Also have cones 4m either side of the figure of eight and you have to stay within that defined area.

I guess there's not a lot you can do about the result, probably not worth contesting it. Good luck for next time.

Find out where the examiner lives and do a poo on their doorstep. In a wide figure of 8. That'll learn em.

Why the hell didn't the examiner say "can you do them tighter?" what's the matter with people these days. Jeez!

He's a jobsworth!

I know. I've of others being asked to do them tighter - which I could easily have done. But he clearly liked the idea of just failing me.

They walk among us.