Twenty — C2 Driving License Journey

From June 26, when I registered at the driving school, to August 12, when I got my license, learning to drive basically spanned my entire summer vacation. Except for a business trip that delayed me for nearly ten days, it took me almost 40 days in total to complete the training. Overall, the process went quite smoothly—I passed all the exams on the first try—and the enjoyable summer driving experience has now become a sweet memory.

Subject One (6，26 ~ 7，9)

The driving school I registered at was conveniently located near my residential community. The instructor was in his fifties and not as strict as I had imagined. After my father completed the paperwork and I went through the medical check, the instructor asked me to download an app called 'Quan An Yi Dian Tong'. I wondered why he didn't suggest the more popular 'Jia Kao Bao Dian', but I didn't ask and just started going through the 1,800+ questions in the question bank.

Having survived the high-pressure environment of my senior year, these questions were a piece of cake—I could select the answers in about five seconds, and my accuracy reached 80%–90% (the passing score is 90). More importantly, the actual exam draws questions randomly from this pool of 1,800+, so my effective accuracy should be even higher. This gave me a lot of confidence for the test. On the 26th, I went through 400 questions, planning to finish in five days. But I got carried away—27th, I did 600 questions, and on the 28th, I spent half an afternoon finishing all the remaining questions. I was eager to enter the exam, but the Vehicle Administration Office hadn't approved my registration yet.

After that, my days consisted of taking one or two mock exams daily, consistently scoring above 95. The chance of failing was very low, so my focus shifted to Subject Two, which I was practicing simultaneously (see next section).

On July 9, the exam day, I arrived at the Xindu Zhengyi test site. The instructor asked me to hold the IDs of other candidates and secure a spot in the waiting area. After arranging this, he walked off to assist other students. Since phones were prohibited at the test site, I handed mine to him, which meant I was cut off from contact and alone in an unfamiliar location—my anxiety was understandable.

To make matters worse, heavy rain caused the test system to malfunction, and the exam was temporarily interrupted. Without my phone, I had no way to pass the time, so I gradually joined a conversation with the two girls sitting on my left. I learned that they were both taking the C1 driving license, one had just graduated high school, and the other was on summer break in her first year of college—coincidentally, she was from my hometown. Finding a common topic, we shared our learning experiences, driving tips, and future plans, and even exchanged WeChat IDs. Before I knew it, it was noon, and thankfully, they had brought phones so I could finally have lunch.

After a quick instant noodle meal, around 12:40 the system was finally restored, and it was my turn to take the exam. After security check, identity verification, and seat assignment, I approached the exam machine. It ran on an old Windows XP system, with a display that shifted colors depending on the viewing angle. I slowed down and spent about 15 minutes completing it. Nervously submitting my answers, I discovered I had scored 98 points! A triumphant start!

After signing off and returning to the waiting area, I said goodbye to the two girls and wished them success. At home, I found out they scored 97 and 90 (88 on the first attempt), both passing. While congratulating them, I also arranged the time and location for Subject Two in hopes of meeting again—after all, freeloading together is indeed fun.

Subject Two (6，28 ~ 8，2)

Although legally we weren't supposed to touch the car before passing Subject One, our instructor, aiming to improve teaching efficiency, took us to a remote driving school outside the Third Ring Road for Subject Two training.

Since the C2 driving license is relatively simple—and with the hill start requirement removed in June this year, reducing the difficulty considerably—daily practice wasn't necessary. I practiced at the driving school six times in total.

• The first two sessions focused on starting and reverse parking.
• The third session covered right-angle turns and curve driving.
• The fourth session taught side parking.
• The fifth and sixth sessions were dedicated to running laps to build familiarity.

After the fifth session, my family went on a business trip for nearly ten days, putting my driving practice on hold. By the time I returned, the exam was approaching.

Day -1: During the sixth practice session at the school, I quickly regained my previous form.

Day 0: I paid 390 for a mock exam, familiarized myself with the exam venue and vehicle, and identified some issues: for example, not fully releasing the handbrake, a minor mistake, and taking curves too closely during reverse parking, which caused me to cross lines when returning along the same path—a slightly more advanced error (see image; I still don't understand why it happened).

Day 1: I woke up at 6:50 AM, got in the car downstairs at 7:10, and headed to the Qingbaijiang Hongyang Test Site, several dozen kilometers away. We arrived at 8:30 (the exam started at 9:00). While waiting in the hall, I looked around and noticed that the two girls I had met during Subject One weren't there, leaving me a bit lonely.

The exam went smoothly. I drove very carefully and made no mistakes, achieving a perfect score on the first attempt. On the way out, I was so excited that I took a wrong turn and was scolded by a staff member; I awkwardly smiled and proceeded to the exam exit to sign off. I also noticed a nearby oath room where many people were watching road safety videos—I thought to myself, I hope I can join that group soon.

Other students from my driving school taking the exam that day included "Earring" and two other girls. Earring finished first and eagerly watched the exam car's monitoring video in the waiting hall (he also saw me take Subject Two). Of the remaining two girls, one had failed Subject Two twice, struggling particularly with curve driving. The instructor scolded her slightly, and she looked quite disappointed.

Subject Three (8，3 ~ 8，12)

The Subject Three material was quite extensive, especially the light-signal simulations. The road details were a bit tricky too—one small mistake could cost you 100 points. Since I dislike memorizing too much, and having heard that 'Jia Kao Bao Dian' offers decent light-signal practice and mock exams, I downloaded it and paid to become a Subject Three member. It really proved useful—well-deserved reputation.

However, there was one aspect of 'Jia Kao Bao Dian' that I found slightly annoying: during your first mock exam for Subject Four (officially called the Subject Three Safety and Civilization Exam), the system didn't select questions randomly. Instead, it gave you the questions you were most likely to get wrong. For someone who hadn't gone through the other 1,500+ questions to build up a pool of mistakes, passing became extremely difficult (see image).

Why such a trap for users? After making more than 10 mistakes, the system pops up a failure window along with an ad for Subject Four VIP fast-track improvement, aiming to manipulate the user into paying. I have to admit, this method works to some extent—I even began doubting my own intelligence. But I believed that the high-frequency mistakes weren't that numerous, so I resisted and avoided paying the so-called "IQ tax." Here's the result from my previous page (see image):

Truly, this is a case of 'Jia Kao Bao Dian's multilayered traps' (link). Now I finally understand why the instructor didn't let us choose 'Jia Kao Bao Dian' initially.

Actual on-road Subject Three practice lasted only three days. During this time, I didn't learn much new technique; the focus was mainly on meeting exam requirements (though it did correct my bad habit of changing lanes without checking the rear). What left a strong impression were a few phrases from the instructor:

"Drive faster—the faster, the more thrilling!" (while taking another student on the Third Ring Road for Subject One)

"Rules are made by people. For double solid lines, you can choose to see them or not." (while guiding a student to turn left into a small road)

"The more you rush, the slower you go. Rush too much and you'll stall!" (during practice)

"Getting a license is just exam-oriented education in China. If you haven't driven thousands of kilometers, how will you ever handle real roads?" (on the last day before the exam)

Since Subject Three has a higher degree of subjective evaluation, I obediently paid another 390 for the mock exam, hoping not to fail over trivial details. (The total demerit points for Subject Three exceed 10,000—yes, you read that right, ten thousand points!! In comparison, Subject Two only has a little over 2,000 points.)

The mock exam and the official exam were scheduled on the same day, the 12th. The night before, the instructor messaged us to sleep early and be downstairs by 5:25 AM! I was once again dumbfounded—my last time waking up this early was five years ago, rushing to catch an 8 AM flight in Xiamen from Chongqing… I prayed it wouldn't rain, but checking my phone, the forecast said a 60% chance of rain! Oh no, I didn't even know how to operate the wipers yet…

On exam day, it indeed rained. I woke at 5:00 AM, got in the car at 5:30, and arrived at the test site by 6:00. It was still dark when we got into the simulation car. Inside were three of us: me, Earring, and the girl who had failed Subject Two. Each of us ran two laps, feeling fairly confident (I even quickly learned how to use the wipers). By 8:30, the simulation was over, and it was time for the real exam.

At 9:00, we became the first batch of examinees. Unluckily, I was the first among the four candidates (including one from another school) to take the exam, which made adjusting the mirrors a bit tricky. My run went smoothly, except for the final parallel parking: my observation of the rearview mirror was insufficient, leaving a distance of 30–50 cm from the curb, costing 10 points—but I still passed on the first try.

The second candidate, from another school, failed the lighting part on the first attempt (he forgot to turn on the position lights while temporarily parking on the roadside, and his hands were shaking). His second attempt went better, but in the final stretch, a car blocked the way. He tried to change lanes to overtake, but a large truck appeared in the opposite lane, forcing him to hurriedly signal and return to his original lane. He failed again because signaling for less than 3 seconds costs 100 points—he was quite unlucky.

The third candidate, the girl, thought she should stop at a right-turn intersection because she saw a red light. The examiner urged her to continue, but she didn't move. I instinctively said, "You should turn right." The examiner glared at me fiercely, and I said nothing, just observed her notes from Subject Two (she had written extensive notes, yet still failed Subject Two; this shows that natural talent also plays a role). She drove at 20 km/h the entire route, slightly slower than my 25 km/h, and still scored a perfect score.

"Earring" had good control and drove over 30 km/h the entire time without losing any points—truly a seasoned driver.

After the exam, the external school candidate and the girl left, leaving only me and Earring to prepare for Subject Four. We sat on massage chairs, comfortably going through Subject Four questions, quietly waiting for the shuttle to arrive.

"Great! I've passed fifteen times in a row!" I said.

"Damn, that's impressive! I haven't even finished the questions yet!" Earring replied.

By the time the shuttle arrived, it was already past 11 AM. It took us back to the Subject One test site for Subject Four. While waiting to be called, I had a chance to eat a bowl of instant noodles, but due to uncertainties ahead (you know what I mean), I wasn't able to eat until 12:50 when we were finally called.

The Subject Four exam followed basically the same procedure as Subject Three, but with only 50 questions, each worth two points. I finished in four minutes and scored 100 points, walking out of the exam first—so fast! Then we went to the oath room to watch the intense safety education video, showing disasters caused by attempting to touch a phone while driving, including a car spinning 720 degrees. After watching twice, Subject Four candidates gradually entered the room. The staff had us take the oath together, marking the official end of the exam.

Next came issuing the physical license and applying for the electronic license. I was unlucky: after countless refreshes on 12123 and some tricky maneuvers with the staff, they finally retrieved my file. After a successful application, the staff handed me the license and the probation tag, and we were free to go.

In this remote test site, getting home wasn't easy. Earring and I walked three kilometers to a bus stop, took a 20-minute bus to the start of Line 5 (really remote), then an hour-long subway ride. It happened to be raining heavily, so I rode my bike, hurriedly said goodbye to Earring, and rushed home. I arrived at 4 PM. As usual, the rain stopped the moment I got home. Every important exam seems to have rain—maybe I'm a 100% rain guy (you know what I mean).

After finishing the instant noodles I bought at noon, I lay down to sleep. Around 7 PM, my father returned and said:

"Congratulations on passing the exam and getting your license! You've finally started learning to drive! Tomorrow I'm taking you on the road!"

I felt a mix of emotions—it seems I've truly just entered the door…