I recently passed my final test obtained my driving licence in Singapore. In this post, I’ll share why I decided to learn to drive and what the process was like.
Introduction
I grew up in Indonesia, but have been in Singapore since my university days. I never had any chance to learn to drive back when I was in Indonesia, yet it has been in my mind all for a long time. Moreover, after my Japan 2025 trip, I realised that knowing how to drive could unlock a wider range of experiences on top of the convenience in places where public transport isn’t widely available. So I put it in my 2026 resolution back in my 2025 in Review post.
Class of Licence
The first ting was to decide which class of licence to get. For cars, the main choice was between manual (‘Class 3’) or automatic (‘Class 3A’) licence. I decided to go for Class 3A since it seemed easier to learn and it seems that automatic cars are getting more and more common.
Driving Centres
There are three driving centres in Singapore, and there are also private driving instructors. However, private driving instructors are getting rarer day by day because the Traffic Police no longer issue new private driving instructor licences. From reading Reddit, I learned that the quality of private driving instructors could be inconsistent. So I decided to enrol at driving school, and it is said that there wasn’t much difference among the three driving centres so the crowd advice is to choose one closest to your home. There are three driving centres: Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC) in Bukit Batok area, ComfortDelGro Driving Centre (CDC) in Ubi area, and Singapore Safety Driving Centre (SSDC) in Woodlands area. In my case, I decided to go for SSDC since it is the closest to my place.
Enrolment
I enrolled at SSDC mid-April 2026 via their website, and then shortly afterwards I saw this news on CNA: “Long waits for lessons, tests pushing some learner drivers closer to giving up”. So apparently the demand was much higher than the available supply, but I decided to preserve since I’ve decided not to plan any long overseas trip this year for giving me time to learn to drive.
After enrolling, I had visit to their centre to complete the enrolment process. Apparently, we need to:
- undergo an eyesight test
- have our photograph taken
- receive the training booklet
Basic Theory Test
After all this, the first milestone to clear is Basic Theory Test (BTT). The school have included four classes in the enrolment fee, but we can skip those classes and go straight to the theory tests. For SSDC, it is required to book three Theory Trial Test sessions which can be back-to-back (two practice modes and one time of test mode).
As an aside, I found that those questions are much easier to study as Anki flashcards. I found a Carousell listing for that and the seller was generous enough to share it to everyone for free.
After passing the test mode of the Theory Trial Test, I was allowed to book a Basic Theory Test (BTT) session conducted by the Traffic Police.
I cleared BTT with 49/50, and a few hours after passing it, I applied for a Provisional Driving Licence (PDL) with the Traffic Police. With the PDL, I was then allowed to take practical driving lessons.
Telegram Groups
I think it is important to join the non-official Telegram groups for school’s learners as they provide useful updates from other learners and seniors too, since the school’s website may sometimes be unclear or not up-to-date.
Final Theory Test
It was only at this stage that I realised the severity of the supply shortage of practical lessons. After obtaining my PDL in late-April, I couldn’t get any practical lessons for weeks. However, the next best thing to do is to keep going forward, so I decided to take the Final Theory Test (FTT). I studied it from the same Anki deck as mentioned above. The process is more straightforward this time: I only needed to pass one test mode of Theory Trial Test before is allowed to book the FTT with the Traffic Police. I booked two sessions of Theory Trial Test to do one practice mode and then one test mode afterwards.
I passed my Final Theory Test (FTT) again with 49/50 score, and I still haven’t had any practical lessons booked yet at that time, so I decided it’s high time to hire a full-time ‘camper’.
Getting Practical Lessons
I finally had my first lesson in late-May thanks to hiring full-time ‘camper’. These services involve someone logging into your account and constantly monitor for new slot release and book them according to your schedule. Although it carried the risk of having my school account being banned, I found that it’s the most practical option for me.
The official ways of book practical lesson slots in SSDC are:
- constantly checking the website for slot release
- obtaining an e-appointment slot to book slot in-person at the counter (*)
- walk-in at the counter (**)
I found that those are totally infeasible for me since I’m working full time.
Note for (*): A few months later, starting in July 2026, it is no longer required to visit in-person if one has managed to obtain the e-appointment slot as the school will make a phone call and arrange for a practical lesson slot over the phone. Since the e-appointment slot release was more predictable (Tuesday and Thursday around lunch time, based on the information from the Telegram groups), I managed to get one or two lessons this way. I think this is the best approach to take if do not want to hire those ‘campers’.
Note for (**): I heard that the counter staffs would likely turn you away if you attempt to do so, although they could make exceptions for those nearing their test dates. I did get several slots from this method for my final lessons.
Practical Lessons
There are 34 subjects divided into four stages of practical lessons: Stage 1 focuses on basic driving, Stage 2 has more interesting techniques, and Stage 3 focuses on things like parking, while Stage 4 consists of evaluations in preparation for final test.
When booking practical lessons, there is also an option to choose specific instructor for a fee (“fixed instructor” scheme). I found that once you find the instructors you like, it’s very helpful to keep sticking to the same ones, as they will be more familiar with your progress. For SSDC, the instructors are grouped in two shift groups: AM and PM; and they alternate between the shifts every week. So if you only book at certain timings, you will see those two groups alternating every week. For me, I tried to book “6590 Arvind” who has been really encouraging since Stage 1, and “6254 Fazree” who is considered by the Telegram groups as one of the best instructors in the school.
My first lesson in SSDC didn’t go well at all. It was my first time behind the wheel, but the instructor did not help to calm me down and instead made several snide remarks, causing me to feel even more uneasy. It was only when I met Arvind that he calmed me down and I made good progress smoothly. He did not hesitate in telling what I was doing well and what I could improve. When I made mistakes, he was also reassuring and would say things like ‘it’s okay, we’ll try again’.
I met Fazree during the latter half of Stage 1, and my impression of him was that he is strict about the teaching the techniques, and didn’t hesitate in correcting the steps I missed when I did my techniques. It was during the later stages where I realised that his steps, especially parking techniques, were really effective. I kept practising his methods all the way till my final test.
Simulator Lesson
Once learners passed Subject 8, learners are required to book the simulator driving session. There are two types of simulator lessons: “Situational Based Simulator” (one module) and “Traffic Police Driving Simulator” (three modules). All of them can be cleared in a single day but it was advised to leave a gap each modules.
I found that the simulator lessons were designed to expose me in accident scenarios, such as sudden appearance of hazard, or unavoidable hazards too. I guess those can only be safely demonstrated in simulator.
Practical Test
I cleared Stage 1 in mid-June, Stage 2 at the end of June, Stage 3 at the end of July, and Stage 4 in early August. After clearing Stage 4, I was allowed to book the practical test, also known as TP Test, since it is administered by the Traffic Police.
I booked my test for early-September. Because there was a significant wait before the test, I decided to ask my camper to pause my lesson bookings and resume them in late August. These lessons after clearing Stage 4 are called Revision lessons. I booked 4 revision lessons before the test itself.
The TP Test consists of two parts: circuit, and public road. The circuit tests techniques such as: S-course, crank course, stopping on a slope, platform ramp, vertical parking, parallel parking, and emergency brake. In public road, the tester will follow some of the prescribed test routes which involves right turns, lane changing, and U-turn. A candidate passes if one accumulate fewer than 20 demerit points and no immediate fail (IF) counts.
On my first TP Test, I cleared the circuit with 0 demerit points. Once we’re outside, I immediately got a scolding from the tester, since while turning from major road into minor road, but I waited for the cars on minor road to turn, causing traffic confusion. Then, I was scolded again for being too fast when passing through a traffic junction. It was at this point I told myself to calm down and focus. Things were going well next, until the tester suddenly told me to stop the car to ask me why I didn’t stop before the stop line. I did notice the stop sign and pressed the brake. However, I think the stop was too brief for him to accept. I was really disheartened and realised there was no point of arguing, and since it’s already an immediate failure, I had nothing left to lose, so we continued and I shortly returned to the school. The roads were still full of surprises: to have good lane habit, I changed lane to left, but the lorry in front suddenly stopped and parked, forcing me to move back into the right lane. There was a point when returning to school where we need to do a right turn, however, there’s a sudden 2-lane road closure due to road works, and I had to move across 3 lanes in such a short distance, thankfully didn’t commit a “abrupt lane change” demerit point. During the debrief, it was revealed that in total, I only accumulated 6 demerit points. The first instance of ‘delay in moving off’ carried no points, and the 6 points was for ‘failure to slow down when approaching road hazards’.
After I failed that test, I went to the counter and booked another test again. There was an opening the following week so I decided to go for it. It was also at this point where I book several more revision lessons since I was already at the counter.
On my second TP test, I found that the tester was pretty impatient and was annoyed by my mumbling of the steps when doing techniques in the circuit. He kept asking me to keep quiet, but I found doing so makes me remember the steps really well, so I did it quietly. During the parking course, I had not even finish the parking yet (haven’t pulled the handbrake) but he already instructed me to move off from the parking lot. Also inside the circuit, he asked me to do emergency-braking procedure twice (!?), once immediately after we entered the circuit area, and one more time after we finish the public road section. In this test, had all my demerit points from the public road: 12 points in total. 4 points for abrupt lane change: this was because after the right turn after exiting school, I wanted to quickly keep left but might have been too sharp in doing so. The remaining 8 points were from not checking left-and-right at traffic junctions. At the end of the session, he mentioned that he passes me and told me that I did do all the safety checks well, but I have to keep in mind about checking both left and right at every traffic junction.
So yeah, I finally passed my TP test on my 2nd attempt. After several hours, I applied for Qualified Driving Licence (QDL) and that’s the actual driving licence.
Costs
Altogether, I paid around $4,000 to the school (it would have been around $3,400 if I pass on my first attempt) and another $700 for hiring of the camper service. It was pretty expensive because on a typical practical lesson, I could only attend the peak hour timings: one lesson costs around $100, excluding camper fee of $30-$40 depending on demand, and $13 for choosing preferred instructor. The TP test itself costs around $320 since that includes a mandatory ‘warm up’ session right before the test.
Conclusion
Five months of starting my journey of learning to drive, I finally obtained my driving licence. It is expensive, but I did learn a lot. I felt grateful to all the driving school instructors who helped me grow from feeling very nervous to being confident in driving.
I do not plan to purchase a car in Singapore but maybe will rent a car once in a while to keep my driving skills sharp. Hopefully this will unlock more travel destinations in the years ahead.
