More advice about the Part 3 test, from a trainer.
You can read Part 1
I'm currently training a PDI who has heard a lot of horror stories about the test. He failed part 3 once before meeting me, but I'm confident that he'll do well next time around.
His situation is amazingly common . . . he spent hours and hours driving round and round, trying to go through the pre set tests over and over . . . all that happened was that he felt less and less confident, less able to cope with his situation and had no understanding at all of what was required.
I'd like to offer every PDI who reads this some very valuable advice indeed . . accept it if you wish, ignore it at your peril.
Part 3 is all about YOU . . .
Part 3 is NOT about how well you have memorised a pre set test, it's NOT about how colourful your lesson plans are and even your briefings are relatively unimportant.
I'll say that again, because for many of you it will come as a shock, so read this carefully - even your briefings are relatively unimportant.
Part 3 is all about your lesson delivery, your lesson planning and how well you can control the lesson . . . it's all about your communication skills, your fault analysis and fault correction, your level of under / over instruction, your use of the controls etc etc.
If any PDI's reading this have failed part 3, please take a look at your DSA marking sheet. Down the left side of the sheet you'l find the marking boxes that are relevent to the PST you did. On the right side of the sheet you'll find boxes relating to the core competencies.
Almost every ADI part 3 failure involves a low score in the boxes on the right side of the sheet - the core competencies - the very subjects that far too many ADI trainers state are unimportant - possibly because they managed to pass part 3 themselves without really understanding it.
So many times I've heard ADI trainers say "part 3 is nothing like a real lesson with a real learner, but you might just get lucky and pass but it depends on what mood the SE ADI is in, and theres no way you can really prepare for this because you can't predict how the SE will behave"
All negative and all complete and utter rubbish.
Part 3 must be approached EXACTLY like a real lesson with a real pupil. Even the errors made by the examiner are quite realistic, if a little exaggerated! Remember, the SE ADI wants to assess what you'll be like in real situations dealing with real people. I firmly believe that the reason for high failure rates at part three is because of extremely poor training of the 'sub skills'.
I have met quite a few PDI's who, after failing part 3, quite literally have no idea why they failed or anything at all about the core competencies. Worse, I've met ADI trainers with a similar lack of understanding. Incredible.
The only 'surreal' thing about part 3 is that your learner learns very quickly. Very quickly indeed! The SE ADI has only about 25 mins per phase to assess you. The SE is looking for you to set the lesson objectives, deliver the lesson objectives and to transfer some learning to the 'pupil'.
For example, the SE knows that in reality it may take several lessons to put a steering fault right. They just want to see HOW you'll put it right. With a real learner, if you don't do the fault correction properly, you could spend weeks and weeks with the pupil making the same errors and never finding the solution. The SE only has 25 mins, so they learn quickly if you teach them well!
The old saying 'quality not quantity' could have been written to describe part 3. I have known part 3 tests where the PDI set the lesson objectives, delivered a short briefing, kept an iron grip on the 'pupil' and only managed to deal with one fault. But they dealt with that one fault superbly. They got a 5/5. Excellent by any measure.
The message I'd like to give you is simple . . . part 1 was about your knowledge - so the SE doesn't need to test that - part 2 was about your driving skills - so the SE doesn't need an in depth lecture on ms-psl, part 3 is all about YOU!!
Think about the core competencies. Ensure that your training brings out these skills and you will find part 3 just about the easiest of the ADI tests to pass. Part 3 represents just what you'll be doing for the rest of your driving instruction career, so why be scared of it! There is no reason at all to not enjoy part 3.
I wish you all the very best with your part 3 training.
