Vehicle Controls, Handling and Manoeuvres
Setting up
Before moving off, run the cockpit drill: doors shut, seat adjusted so the clutch can be fully depressed with a slight knee bend, head restraint level with the top of your ears, mirrors set so you see a sliver of your own car, seat belt fastened. Know where the indicators, lights, wipers, hazard switch and horn are without looking down.
Steering and gears
Use pull-push steering with both hands on the rim, and never let the wheel spin back through your fingers. Change gear in sequence, matching engine speed to road speed, and brake before the bend rather than in it. Coasting - in neutral or with the clutch held down - removes engine braking and control and is marked as a fault.
The routine
Mirror, signal, manoeuvre - then a shoulder (blind-spot) check before you actually move. Mirrors leave blind spots in which a cyclist or an overtaking car can hide.
Manoeuvres the test covers
Moving off safely, hill starts without rolling back, the three-point turn, reversing into a bay or around a corner, parallel parking, and the emergency stop. With ABS, press the pedal hard and keep it pressed while steering around the hazard; vibration through the pedal is normal.
Worked example
Three-point turn on a quiet residential road. Stop on the left, check mirrors and both blind spots, then move slowly forward on full right lock to the opposite kerb. Before reversing, check again - a car may have arrived. Reverse on full left lock, stop, check, then drive forward. Observation before every movement, and low speed, are what earn the marks.
Traps
Forgetting the final blind-spot check; dry-steering while stationary; riding the clutch on a hill start; braking hard mid-corner and skidding; reversing while watching only the mirror and missing a child on the pavement.