Anyone else find the (English) theory test close to impossible?

[leb0wsk1]

So here I am sitting in the OnNut drivers licencing offices, gutted after once again spending 6 hours jumping through hoops only to fail at the penultimate hurdle.

This is my third attempt at getting a motorbike license. The folks here are happy to renew my 5 year driving license, though going by my theory results I clearly should not be allowed on the road.

Unless, perhaps, there are no correct answers to many of the multiple choice questions on their English language exam. Given the two other farang taking the test today also failed i suspect this could be the case.

Getting close to giving up now. Anyone have some hot tips for success they'd care to share?

[bkkjames]

study the book....repeat.

[eeeya]

anyone got a link to the questions?

[Eliot Rosewater]

So here I am sitting in the OnNut drivers licencing offices, gutted after once again spending 6 hours jumping through hoops only to fail at the penultimate hurdle.

This is my third attempt at getting a motorbike license. The folks here are happy to renew my 5 year driving license, though going by my theory results I clearly should not be allowed on the road.

Unless, perhaps, there are no correct answers to many of the multiple choice questions on their English language exam. Given the two other farang taking the test today also failed i suspect this could be the case.

Getting close to giving up now. Anyone have some hot tips for success they'd care to share?

I remember purposely having to memorize wrong answers, finally passed; barely. I heard you have to pass by 95 percent now

[Ace of Pop]

Hes Polish i think.Who translated the Thai to English.If an American translated it then its just garbled English, from what ive seen of American Thai Schoolbooks.

[Eliot Rosewater]

Hes Polish i think.Who translated the Thai to English.If an American translated it then its just garbled English, from what ive seen of American Thai Schoolbooks.

Whats an American Thai schoolbook?

Is it American or Thai,

[stevenl]

anyone got a link to the questions?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/732938-take-the-new-thai-driving-test-online/

[waynethor]

Hes Polish i think.Who translated the Thai to English.If an American translated it then its just garbled English, from what ive seen of American Thai Schoolbooks.

It's funny how some people look for any reason to bash Americans and American English here. This is the type of post that should be removed by the powers that be. It's completely off track for the topic and just there to insult.

[Ace of Pop]

Hes Polish i think.Who translated the Thai to English.If an American translated it then its just garbled English, from what ive seen of American Thai Schoolbooks.

Whats an American Thai schoolbook?

Is it American or Thai,

My English inst that good ,but i can read and understand English better written by an English writer generally.Bill Bryson writes very clear English ,very clear for an American.Try reading a Thai Hi Way Code book here.GAVE UP.

[leb0wsk1]

anyone got a link to the questions?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/732938-take-the-new-thai-driving-test-online/

Excellent, thanks stevenl, that link is really handy!

[streetlite]

Why, Thai Visa, do you allow such ignorant comments, specifically Ace of Pop, to be published on this site? It's inflammatory, pure and simple. Is it because he has 3000+ posts? Apparently reference to Polish nationality in a derogatory sense is allowed but calling somebody an a....hole is cause for suspension. Who is monitoring this guy. He added nothing to the post except his obvious garbled English.

Yes, Ace of Pop, your English is not very good at all. Maybe go back to school?

[bkkjames]

Why, Thai Visa, do you allow such ignorant comments, specifically Ace of Pop, to be published on this site? It's inflammatory, pure and simple. Is it because he has 3000+ posts? Apparently reference to Polish nationality in a derogatory sense is allowed but calling somebody an a....hole is cause for suspension. Who is monitoring this guy. He added nothing to the post except his obvious garbled English.

Yes, Ace of Pop, your English is not very good at all. Maybe go back to school?

He's Polish I think.

[Ace of Pop]

Cant get behind a Desk at the Test Office, bloody Wendy House Furniture. No, no Derogatory remarks intend, i find Pure English easier to read as do many other non Brit Europeans. For Example. U.S. say take in a Movie,whereas English say Take in a Homeless Person or Stray Dog.How can one TAKE IN A MOVIE.?. Spelling Police are not very popular here.

[WarpSpeed]

Hes Polish i think.Who translated the Thai to English.If an American translated it then its just garbled English, from what ive seen of American Thai Schoolbooks.

Maybe that's why I passed it with points to spare in my first try? Or maybe it's just the level of expat driver skills that even a Thai test is difficult, may be time to hang up the keys. Funny that too since their system is far more patterned after British and Euro systems than it is American..

[WarpSpeed]

Hes Polish i think.Who translated the Thai to English.If an American translated it then its just garbled English, from what ive seen of American Thai Schoolbooks.

Whats an American Thai schoolbook?

Is it American or Thai,

My English inst that good ,but i can read and understand English better written by an English writer generally.Bill Bryson writes very clear English ,very clear for an American.Try reading a Thai Hi Way Code book here.GAVE UP.

Yes, that's Thai translated English not American English, very similar to Chiglish as an example. But since you don't read it well anyway (or write for that matter) you probably couldn't tell the difference.

Edited August 19, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[Ace of Pop]

Nah Warpy its just because you do nothing else but Whizz about the Place and the Thai Test is simple.

[96tehtarp]

study the book....repeat.

Once again, if anyone missed it; Study the book. It maky take an hour or more. It is virtually impossible to pass the test without reading the book cover to cover at least once.

[stevenl]

study the book....repeat.

Once again, if anyone missed it; Study the book. It maky take an hour or more. It is virtually impossible to pass the test without reading the book cover to cover at least once.

Or do the test over and over again online to practice.

[leb0wsk1]

study the book....repeat.

Once again, if anyone missed it; Study the book. It maky take an hour or more. It is virtually impossible to pass the test without reading the book cover to cover at least once.

Or do the test over and over again online to practice.

@stevenl: Do the test over and over online - Good advice, and now that I have the link I'll be doing that, thanks again for this. Though for the benefit of others: having done the test yesterday I can say a good percentage of the questions have changed since that link was put up.

@96tehtarp: I would have studied "The Book", though up until today had no knowledge of its existence in English. Where can I find this book?

In any case - not sure when I'll next be afforded the luxury of taking another day off work to visit the licencing office - though when I do I'll be sure to post back the result...

[waynethor]

Cant get behind a Desk at the Test Office, bloody Wendy House Furniture. No, no Derogatory remarks intend, i find Pure English easier to read as do many other non Brit Europeans. For Example. U.S. say take in a Movie,whereas English say Take in a Homeless Person or Stray Dog.How can one TAKE IN A MOVIE.?. Spelling Police are not very popular here.

If I remember my English lessons, I'm pretty sure that "take in' is something called a 2-part verb. There are many of them in English and they are like idioms. All languages have idioms, and for people who don't speak the native language they are hard to understand sometimes. If you look in a good dictionary for the 2-part verb "pick up" you will probably see at least 15 meanings for it.

Your writing and use of random capital letters tells me that English isn't your first language, so maybe you're not the best person to have strong opinion about what is good or bad about the differences between the English used in America compared to Britain. I'm not sure what "pure English" is. When look for information about it online, I just get a lot of hits for a wedding company.

[firefox999uk]

I asked this question before, when exam link was posted back in June…..

The new exam came out in June 2014, but, the date at the top of the exam

in the link, Says 2013.

So is this the new exam or the old exam?

just asking like.

Have a Nice Day.

[leb0wsk1]

I asked this question before, when exam link was posted back in June…..

The new exam came out in June 2014, but, the date at the top of the exam

in the link, Says 2013.

So is this the new exam or the old exam?

just asking like.

Have a Nice Day.

It's the old one. Questions are similar, though there are newer questions in the exam I took yesterday.

For example, I had 4-5 questions showing a triangular warning sign (red borders) containing Thai script. I can't read Thai so was my response was purely guesswork (i.e. 3 of 4 answers were a warning - could have been any of them for all I knew).

Having said that, a decent portion of the 50 questions felt the same, just worded slightly differently and with the order of the answers changed...

In any case - going through the questions in the link provider is still a better primer than showing up and expecting the correct answers to follow common sense/on-the-road experience...