[quote=“Amasashi”][quote=“Blaquesmith”][quote=“Micahel”]Yes, recently had the unpleasant experience of getting a car and a medium size motorcycle Taiwan drivers license. Sorry for all the negativity but I need to vent on this. The short answer below is correct, without practice you will likely fail both the written and driving test. So the safest thing to do is go get into a driving school. Why will you fail? You have been a good driver for xx years? Because Taiwan has purposely made the test ridiculously hard !!! I believe for the sole purpose of forcing people to go to driving school and practice the maneuvers until they can be done flawlessly since I don’t believe they have anything to do with improving public safety (reducing accidents). There are links to watch the video which have been posted and download the written questions. The bad news is the video makes it look somewhat fair, not true, there are even more deductions and opportunity for failure not mentioned in the video.
Written Car Test - 40 Questions, need a 85 to pass (can miss 6). There will be at least 8-10 questions which are Taiwan specific and if you do not download memorize the answers, you will likely not get it right (bad news, there are 400 questions, takes several hours just to read through them). Several road signs (a few in Chinese) not in the US and several penalty questions you will need to study to know. Most of these are somewhat trick questions, only a minor difference in the answer, not obvious. The other 30 or so questions are general driving questions you will likely get right. Example: You can beep you horn for up to a) .5 Sec b) 1 sec c) 3 sec ? Ans .5 sec. Yes if a policeman hears you beep for 0.6 secs he can give you a fine (and yes, Taiwan policemen’s ears have been calibrated and measured to distinguish to less than 0.1 sec accuracy, for sure).
Car Driving Test - They officially post a 70% is a passing grade, the real number is 97%. No, no, no you say, it clearly says 70% !! True, it is 70% with their unfair, completely biased grading system. If you add up all the possible deductions (like I have) there are a possible 1000-1100 points that could be deducted and they only allow -30 (that is 97%). As soon as you get over -32 your done, which is usually 1-2 errors! Come back and try again next time! The maneuvers are designed for initial failure if not practiced. They make you perform them first to get people to fail early so you can’t say " but I can drive the road test perfectly". Before you get to their bogus road test you will need to do parallel parking, reverse garage parking, and the “illegal” S turns from hell (illegal to build a real road or driveway to those tight radial dimensions, forward no problem, backwards you will likely get stuck and maybe hit the barriers if you do not know exactly when to aim for the corners). One pass only, no stopping or retries during the maneuvers. Touch the pipes, in one case you go home the other -16. You will also likely fail using the turn signals where there is no intersection (just a turn in the road) but a sign that says “Failure to Use Turn Signals -16”. Then there is the uphill test that they require you to put the parking brake on after you stop, however the video fails to mention that detail.
Motorcycle Test - Not so many opportunities for failure but the same philosophy. Make a really hard maneuver to force people to practice. Straight line stability, approx 40-50’ track approx 15" wide. Must not complete in less than 7 secs or test failure. I have ridden motorcycles all my life (last 1000CC BMW had for 12 years and put 90K miles). Had to go practice on their test track 4-5 hours before I felt I could reliable do it. Purposely designed for failure without practice. Then they have an illegal turn radius of the so called real road conditions (illegal to build a road with that tight of radius) on a too small of a track (approx. 2’ wide). Not true, they cheated again. Another illegal road condition, illegal to build a road to those conditons. Actually a second maneuvering/stability, too fast you hit the pipes, too slow loss control and hit the pipes.[/quote]
Now I’m going to seem a smug jackass, but an 85% in the written test seems difficult to you? In Spain we have 40 questions as well, and if you fail more than two, you’re out. In the driving test, we are only allowed to make one minor flaw. Make a “big” mistake (like changing lanes without signaling or looking in all directions before the action) and you’re out. And I’m sure Taiwan driving test is purposefully made to cause people to fail miserably, but that’s the case in Spain, too. Completelly illogical questions, sometimes with wrong pictures next to a question to confuse you. That’s the way it is.
As for the motorcycle test, I know in other spanish cities is easier, but in Barcelona, where we’re supposed to have “too many” motorcycles (at least according to the city council) It’s awfully difficult to get your license. I failed three times the motorcycle driving test, and finally I decided not to try again and stick with my 125cc bike (which I could drive legally with my car license).
Anyways… the bribe thing appeals to me if it can be done in a safe way. Even if I had to pay more, I’d hate applying and failing, specially in a country where most of the people drive as if they were under the influence or as if they had consumed huge amounts of crack.[/quote]
As with all things in Taiwan, it’s just much easier to submit to how they do things here instead of insisting on our Western ideals. Not judging, just saying.
The written test is just questions taken straight out of a question bank. You can download the bank for free at the MOTC website. Just flip through and remember the answers. Pretty straight-forward.
The driving test is the real bitch. My advice, unless you are an expert driver, it’s much easier and faster to pay a driving school for a full course because they’ll teach you all the tricks and inside secrets to passing through all the ridiculous turns, especially the S curve. It’s around 8000 for a regular course or maybe 10,000 for the “guaranteed” course. By the way, the guaranteed course doesn’t mean you’ll pass for sure. It just means they’ll keep giving you additional training free of charge until you finally pass.
A lot of people like the idea of paying for an hour or two of driving classes or just to use the course. It may work for some, but I don’t recommend it because it’s expensive and the instructors usually won’t tell you much. But if you’re a good driver and are willing to do homework beforehand to know the ins and outs of the test, then this may be an option.
Easiest way is this: take the automatic transmission test. It’s easier and about 1000 cheaper (7000 for a full course). Most people don’t drive stick anyway so it’s not a big deal. Then pay for a full course and tell the instructor that you already know how to drive back home and just want to ace the test on the first try. That way you won’t waste time with the basics and can have more time to practice the course. A secret is that if you pay for a full course, you won’t necessarily have to wait out the entire 4 weeks. If you’re confident you can pass, you can actually take the test whenever.
So basically, just pay for a full course and then you can tailor it to your needs. Driving school is happy, instructors teach you the secrets, and you can take the test whenever you want. Easiest way to a license. Such is the Taiwan way. Doing it yourself saves you about 4000-5000, but you’ll be wasting time asking driving school to driving school if they give classes by the hour or rent out their course for practice. And when you find a school that does, they won’t like you that much anyway and just leave you to your doing. It’s not worth it, I don’t think. Just shell out the extra money, everyone’s happy, and your journey will be smooth as butter.[/quote]
Actually the written test varies from county to county ie the English translations of the questions and answers vary! Not all counties have a full online resource or an English booklet of all questions and answers. For instance in Taichung I had to go into the test centre to practice on the computers to get used to their translations. I failed anyway and then got a reciprocal license instead.
I agree paying the money and following the local way is easiest.
