I took my driver's test in eastern PA in the early 90's. I don't know what it's like now, but at the time it was a closed course that only existed at certain State Police stations. Even better, the officers who conducted the driving tests apparently got assigned the testing duty as punishment for doing something wrong (detention for state police officers), so they were always a cheery bunch.
I flunked the first time (and the officer didn't say everything I did wrong, but I know I got dinged for "palming" the wheel, because I had my hands at 9 & 3 as they required but the steering wheel's support members were there so I couldn't fully wrap my fingers around the wheel. But the officer said had I moved my hands up to clear the support they would have been closer to 10 & 2 so he would have dinged me for that instead, so basically I got punished for the vehicle I brought to the test), I learned after the fact that they tended to flunk everybody the first time just to humble kids. It was actually my second time waiting to be tested, the first time I was the next vehicle in line when they decided to call it a day that day (after spending about 3 hours at the station to take the exam [passed that easily] and then waiting in line for the road test). The next time I went to a different police station (the next closest, over an hour away) where the road testing was supposedly more fair, and passed there. Though I was close, both times I had to back up on the course I moved my right arm towards the passenger's headrest which was a habit I learned from my dad (the previous officer made no remark on that), the first time this officer just said don't do that and I didn't make the connection, the second time he said I should only do that when a pretty girl is in the passenger seat, and that time it clicked so my right hand quickly went back to the wheel.
The very end of the test was to pull up against a curb (passenger side) in front of the station to park (not quite parallel parking, that was earlier in the test), my tires were less than an inch from the curb and had I hit I guess I would have failed (again at the time he just said something like "be careful, you're barely passing", and I found out afterwards what he meant because he could tell I was very close to the curb).
Though I also recall the kid who was the last one to get tested that first time I got turned away had passed his test, and was so happy afterwards that he drove off with his parking brake still engaged, squealing his tires a good 50 yards or so before he figured it out. I thought the cop was going to chase him down and take the passing score away, he was visibly frustrated.
But anywho, back to the original remark, my high school had a driver training course that included a simulator, nothing like modern simulators (remember, early 90's), but a simulator nevertheless. I don't know how common that is or in this case if they even offered training to non-students, but there might be drivers ed places near where you are that do simulators, and of course you should be able to do on-the-road testing with them also. I see cars with driver training/student driver markings on them all over the place around where I live now, I often wonder if that's a warning to stay clear or more of a "kick me" sign. :evil grin:
