So, you have invested time and effort into learning, studying and committing to memory the road signs, rules and laws in preparation for your permit and driving test. Now, the best thing you can do is set yourself up for success by preparing the night before and ensuring that you are ready to make the most of test day.
Being ill-prepared or making choices about the night before that could negatively impact you on test day could mean failing the test. Reports indicate that as many as 43% of applicants fail their permit test the first time through. To avoid being in this group, use some good planning and decision making the night before your testing day and you will be able to avoid having to take either the permit test or the road test a second time.
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7 Things You Should NOT Do The Night Before
- 1
DON’T Neglect a Last Minute Study Session!
It should go without saying, but this is a good time to review your manual and any notes you have taken. While you don’t want to over think it or end up staying up too late to look over your driving materials, you should certainly be doing some last minute reviewing. In fact, this is a good time to determine whether or not you are ready to take the test. If you are finding this last chance study session has you realizing there is still a lot of information you didn’t know, it might be time to consider taking your test on a different day. What is more, consider using our premium account that includes a lot of extra features including 100 most common questions and the 120 US road signs. It helps you study much faster.
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By the way, you should certainly be reviewing the manual even if you are taking the driving road test the following day. This will help refresh your memory to the correct driving procedures that could get you passed or failed while in the car. If you are taking the driving test the next day, make sure you spend some time the night before your test practice driving, too.
- 2
DON’T Stay Up Late!
Even if you plan to stay up to get some last minute studying done, staying up too late will make you groggy the next day. Without a good night’s sleep, you may not be able to think clearly enough the next day and be unable to focus on the tests. For the permit test (a.k.a. written DMV test), this could mean forgetting things you know. For the driving road test, a lack of sleep could result in not just poor driving but dangerous driving. You could simply oversleep and miss your exam completely.
Several studies show that studying all night impairs reasoning and memory for as long as four days![knowledge test tip]()
- 3
DON’T Celebrate Your Upcoming Test Day by Partying!
Sure, you may be excited about the pending test and feel super confident you will pass and, therefore, feel a celebration is in order. If this means drinking, taking drugs or staying up and out late, you will definitely want to rethink that plan. Aside from the fact that drugs are illegal, any of the factors could make you useless the following morning and incapable of taking the test. And if you combine any two or three of these bad choices, you are sure to be a fail instead of a pass.
- 4
DON’T Forget to Review Your Safe Driving Tips!
In order to pass your test the next day, you should review the key points to safe driving. Some of these could be included in your permit test, but you will certainly need to know them while taking your driving portion of the DMV testing. So, review them mentally, and if you are taking the road test the following day, make sure you are utilizing these techniques while practice driving. These are things such as making sure you steer, accelerate and brake smoothly at all times. Of course, it also means checking your mirrors regularly, following at a safe distance and always driving defensively. The following video will help you understand what defensive driving involves.
- 5
DON’T Overlook the Importance and Value of Taking Practice Driving Permit Tests!
Studying is great, but actually taking practice tests to get an idea of what to expect when you sit down to take the permit test is another thing completely. Practice tests will help you get an idea of what the questions will be like and give you multiple chances to take different tests and get random questions, just like the real DMV permit test. Simply choose your state on our main page and take FREE permit practice test – as many times as needed!
You can take our free tests as many times as you want. Pay special attention to our non-stop marathon test (free practice tests)![driving practice tests]()
- 6
DON’T Forget to Take a Look at Your Testing Car!
Look the car over for things that could be infractions that make the car unusable for testing. A car with problems can be an automatic fail. These vehicle issues vary from state to state, so take a moment to get an idea what your state requirements are for a roadworthy automobile. Aside from what could be wrong with the car, make sure to take a moment to clean out the interior. While the fast food wrappers in the passenger seat may not get you a fail, you should show the examiner some respect by having a clean interior for him or her to ride along in.
Here are the most common car features that should be in working order. Most probably you will be asked to demonstrate them:
- 7
DON’T Overlook the Importance of Getting Things in Order the Night Before!
The morning of the big test can be a little nerve wracking, especially if you are taking either part of your exam first thing in the morning because that means you will have very little time to think and get things in order that you may need. For example, do you know for sure you have documentation handy that you may need at the DMV? Sure, you think your current proof of insurance is in the glove box, but it could still be in that stack of unopened mail. You will need your social security card and other things, so check with the DMV website for your state to find out what you are required to bring with you for testing. Then, make sure you have those things located and ready to take with you in the morning.
