This post is intended for Kitchener inhabitants.
If you need to go for your G driving test, and can avoid the Kitchener Driving Test Centre, please do so. You will be doing yourself a big favour. At some point during your test, you’ll have to merge on the highway, but the ramp is so short, that it’s very hard to reach 90 km/h before merging while checking your mirrors, and blind spot at the same time.
I passed my G test today, but because I could get my car speed up to only 85 km/h, it was written down as a point against me.
One more thing, if you can do your test in a car equipped with an automatic transmission, do so. I did my test in my car, which is equipped with a standard transmission, and there were times when I was judged to have taken too long to put my hand back on the steering wheel after having shifted gears.
To sum up, I was judged to have made 30 errors, which is the limit for passing. I don’t think that some of the errors attributed to me were justified. But, I don’t care anymore. I passed the test. It does not matter if a team wins 10-0 or 1-0: winning is winning.
Patrick Ng - Mon Blog 
Weird thing, this driving test. I had a go at the driving licence 3 weeks ago and missed it because of a stop. Too bad, nothing else went wrong but the guy intervened and here I am as a cyclist, commuter and walker for another 6 months to 1 year. It takes quite a long time to get a licence here in France!
On the bright side, winter is not too bad in France. Here, it was -6º this morning, and we’re not in Winter yet :(. And you are saving a lot of money, and keeping yourself in a good shape, which I’m not doing 🙂
I know this is an old post, but any KW specific tips? My test is Friday. I’d say I’m a really good driver but I’m 22 and have 4 years of bad habits. The only concerns I have are if any tiny bit of speeding, such as 55 in a 50 is a fail, and what flexibility there is to mess up on parallel parking. I do fine about 4/5ths of the time.
It’s probably all over-hyping. It’s also way too easy to end up going 100 in a 90 in a G35.
First, make sure that you get to 50 km/h once you leave the parking lot as the speed limit will be 50 km/h. But, when you get in the residential areas close to school make sure you drive accordingly. Always move your head around like a maniac. When going on the highway, make sure you get to 90 km/h before you merge. This should not be a problem if you are in a G35 🙂
As far as parallel parking is concerned, it’s way way easier than where I come from. They are not allowed to make you park in space less than the equivalent of 3 cars, plus you are allowed to adjust. In Mauritius, you have one car space, that’s it; and you are not allowed to adjust.
I don’t think they will fail you if you go up to 55 km/h, as long as you don’t stay at 55 km/h.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot! Just thought I’d post and say I passed with flying colours.
Thanks again for replying to a very old post. =)
Have a good one.
Congratulations! I did not want to put too much pressure in telling you that the person I had was a bad bad one. I just told you what you needed to hear 🙂
Hi there:
Is it possible for you to describe the route that you took for your G-test? (If you still remember). I’ll really appreciate it. The more specific the better. I live in Waterloo, but taking my test in Kitchener. I’m not familiar with the streets at all (i’m like in school 24/7), so it’d be nice to go prepared.
hello there. thank you for great article. have a great day everyone!
When you get out of the parking lot, you will probably turn left on Ottawa to go to the express way. Make sure you speed up to 50 km/h. You may be nervous and forget that the speed limit. You’ll get on the express way and head to the Victoria exist, turn right, then right again on Frederick. Then you’ll take the ramp to get on the express way again. This is the short ramp. Also make sure you follow the speed limit in the residential areas. Good Luck!
Patrick, I will be following your above route for my upcoming G test in kitchener. Are there any other routes? Are there any more details? I’m fairly experience but I’ve picked up some terrible habits. Your help will save me!
Eddie
I’m not aware of other routes. As far as highway driving is concerned, that’s probably the only option they have since they want to be as close to the test centre as possible. For city driving, things can change depending on road construction I guess. It’s true that being experience can cause some problems as one tends to pick up bad driving habits. Keep moving your head around like a maniac. Better over do it than under do it. Remember to speed up to the speed limit when you get out of the parking lot. It’s very easy to forget this because of stress. Take it easy. The worst thing that can happen is you have to take the test again. It’s not like you fail a universtiy course and this stays on your transcript. And make sure you get lots of sleep the night before. It can be difficult to sleep but try. The more sleep you have, the more relax you’ll be and the more sharp you’ll be. Good Luck!
There is great information in this post. I am in love with your blog so far. I’ve added the feed to my boomarks and will continue reading your work. I did get some errors with how quick this post loaded. Might be an issue to look into.
Thanks. Unfortunately, I don’t have any control on the server running this site. It’s hosted by WordPress and I have little control over what takes place in the background.
8. Actually nice article you have pulled out for the beginner. As applicant, as soon as you go for driving test, just be calm and cool. Do not worry and just carry out your natural driving, like usually you perform with your driving instructor. As new driver i have learnt heaps of things online, which I would like to share link with you http://free-theory-test.addbucket.com. Have safe driving and god bless you. I am sure passing driving test is not too hard if you do not loos your self-belief.
Hi,
My road test for full G license will on July 15th in Kitchener. Although I have been driving for 3 yrs I don’t go to Kitchener that much so not familiar there at all. I know this post started a while back. Did anyone take G-test in Kitchener recently? Pls. let me know your experience. I am pretty confident on my driving overall but I am concern the merging and exiting to the highway. Also the other I am worried is the “rear in” parking and “parallel” parking.
How did it go?! Any tips/route possibilities??
Taking my test tomorrow anything is helpful – nervous!
Sorry Lisa. I did not have access to my e-mail yesterday.
I passed my G test in Kitchener just four days ago. The test lasts about 30 minutes or so. The test includes three areas, residential, business and highway. You will start out in the business area, where the speed limit is 50km. Be careful with the speed limit. Then you will enter highway 7 for your highway portion of the test. The speed limit on the highway is 90KM. Be sure you speed up when you merge onto highway lane. Plus, be sure to merge rightaway, I think for some reason, KW highways don’t always have merge signs. You will be asked to change lanes on highway, after that you will be asked to exit highway and into another business area. In the business area, you will need to turn your head like crazy to let the examiner know you are checking. You really need to do that since examiner can deduct a lot of marks right here. Then you would get onto highway 7 again, perform the lane changing task once more. After exiting highway 7, you will be entering a residentail area soon. Check everything as you did in business area. The examiner will ask you to do a three point turn and a road side pull over for sure. Parallel parking is a maybe depending on the examiner. Once you are done with these. You will be heading back to the test center and examiner can either ask you to do a front in parking or back in.
Overall, the test itself is ok as long as you have a fair examiner. Be sure to avoid examiner number 171 and 172. These two examiners don’t know what they are doing and they are very subjective. Do whatever to avoid them, if you really can’t, then go with 172 rather than 171.
That was exactly what I did. How can you choose your examiner though? You’re right in saying that some of them are not fair and are very subjective.
book test
hi, just finished my g test, here is the route that we took:
exit out of parking lot on to Lackner. left turn on Ottawa and follow to expressway enter onto expressway. he didn’t ask me to change lanes because it was packed @ 8:30 am.
follow xway to Bruce st. exit. right on Bruce and quick left onto Ephraim. 3 point turn on Ephraim, parallel park and emergency stop. continue onto Bruce to Frederick (i was surprised that they took me through the one way with construction) right on edna and then back on the highway to Ottawa exit.
head back on Ottawa to take a right on Old Chickopee and then a left on Holborne for a little residential. right on Shaftsbury and then a left onto Oldfield brings you back to the drive centre.
It was very easy if you are comfortable. just make sure you move your head when you are looking at something. I lost 2 points for “not seeing a hazard through a residential” and i nicked the curb on my parallel. my tester was great, we just chatted the whole way through. I think they get a little bored. I think i put him in a good mood to begin with because i offered to “skip this whole thing and i’ll buy you a coffee at Tims.” this made him laugh a little.
Congratulations! Unfortunately, you cannot put some of the testers in a good mood. They were born this way 🙂
Thank you everyone, especially Patrick who started this blog. Got G at my 2nd attempt. Thanks to Jason and QSDFSF for the route directions. I was also taken through construction zone with Police directing traffic and not the traffic lights. Failed on my first attempt because I did not stop at yellow light and for a little speeding on the expressway over 15 kms while trying to change lanes. Remember you are not bound to change lanes on the expressway, so if you see a lot of traffic or have any doubts about oncoming traffic never change lanes, no points can be deducted on this. Practice a lot on the areas mentioned above and try to maintain speed between 50 and 55 km/hr on the road and 85-90 – 95 ( max) on the expressway. Also, practice road side stop or emergency stop, parallel parking, 3-point turn ( was asked to do all these) and back-parking ( I had backed my car already before the beginning of the test and I was not asked to do this, though during my G2 I was asked to do a back-parking. Yes, move your head like a maniac, like a hen, like the 360 Restaurant at the CN Tower, check left-right-left at stops, at intersections, check mirrors as much as you can and once you are on the short ramp accelerate after the curve as quickly as you can and merge smoothly, this can be done, do not worry if you cannot reach 90, you do not have to but you have to merge safely.
another thing is for the short ramp you have to reach at least 80 aim for 85 and safe merge
You’re welcome.
A lot of things you are asked to do on these tests are subjective. I wish they would allow a third person to act as a witness during the test. You lost a point because you did not stop at a yellow light. Well, on my G2 test, I lost a point because I stopped at a yellow light.
Thank you so much Patrick, your blog – a noble and a great idea will keep helping everyone going for their G. With everyone’s input here, failure and success both, it will help them understand as to what happens actually during the test but yes, definitely a part of it depends on how welcoming / how relaxed the examiner makes you feel, sure the examiner is not your friend but often-times the rudeness can get on your nerves and subjectivity too. A great examiner as strict as he/ she is going to be will at once make you feel very comfortable. I was so depressed the first time because the examiner made me feel that I should not be driving on the roads whereas I have driven thousands and thousands of kms before in North America (to Texas and Florida, two separate trips each time from Waterloo) without any kind of tickets or accidents.
Yes, it’s true that the rudeness of the examiner does not help. The one who removed one point for the yellow light in my case was a female examiner. However, she was very good in making me feel comfortable and giving clear instructions. For example, when she came to my car, and said how I was doing, I replied “nervous.” She then said that it was normal.
The female examiner I got for my G test was a whole different ball game. She was rude and “cold.” She closed the door as if it was a 1960 old truck door. Driving school instructors call her the mean lady. Some of them know that they have a lot of power during this short period of time.
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for this post. It has been a long time since you started it but I would like to share my experience so far. I failed my second attempt to obtain the G licence a couple of weeks ago. I do have more than 18 years of experience driving (both standard and automatic cars). I will not get into the details and I agree that I may have made some mistakes but I know that I did not do that bad so to have me failed twice. The contradictions and inconsistencies with the testing criteria are very frustrating. Both of the examiners were somehow polite but when asked to suggestions to improve the driving the second examiner told me to do exactly the opposite to what the first recommended it (?). I heard that since the company is a contractor one ( they exist to make profit) I was the perfect candidate (mature female immigrant) to fail over and over and then to cover their quota. I would like to believe that’s is not true but I am concerned that I may not pass until they get enough money from my pocket 😦
Hi Ly,
I am sorry to hear that you did not pass the test. My wife got hers on her third attempt. We stopped using the Kitchener test centre after she failed the first time. There is no clear definition of what a particular error is. Everything is subjective. At one time, she was told that the car was far enough that she should have turned. Then later she was assigned a fail grade because she was judged to have turned in front of a car which was too close. My wife said that the distance was about the same on both occasions. Unfortunately, the test centres in Ontario are privately contracted centres. Unless someone proves me wrong, I do believe that they are biased towards getting people to redo the test.
You can try the Aurora centre. The on-ramps on the highway is fairly long so that you can get to the proper speed before merging. However, you’ll need to know the various speed limits surrounding the test centre. They tend to change quite a bit.
Good Luck!!!
Hi All,
I accidently stumbled upon this blog. I passed my G test in Kitchner yesterday in first attempt. I am a landed immigrant and I had G1 license before and went straight for G test instead of G2 as I am a out of country driver and my driving experience in my home country was accepted and I was eligible for full G test.. Luckily I passed. I share my experience here.
I did my driving training with an instructor from Missisauga. I took 8 driving lessons. On the day of test, I was reasonably calm. My examiner was a male. We went on the same route as described by others. I did ok except he gave me a warning that I am driving too slow so I sped up. All in all I made 20 minor mistakes as recorded by him and I managed to pass as we can do 30 minor mistakes. The test involved doing left turn, right turn, lane change, parallel parking, 3 point turn, driving on high way.
I would say test in whole was an easy one. If you drive carefully with open eyes you can pass as I don’t see any rocket science needed to pass the test. Just keep your nerves kool. Make sure to completely stop on stop signs, check your blind spots, keep moving your head and above all please mind your speed limit as this is the most crucial part of the test.
Good luck all…