signal test: passed

I took my signal test this morning.

Normally, the student would go in, wait for a few minutes until her name was called, then take the test (for a maximum of 10 minutes). Right after answering the last question, the computer would show whether the student passed or not, and the Police Examiner would stamp accordingly on the driving permit. The whole procedure was expected to take less than 12 minutes. I was wrong.

My test was scheduled for 8am, but since hubby told me that I should arrive early just in case there were a lot of us who were taking the test, I arrived at the school’s Ladies Waiting Area at 7:30am. I took a seat at the front row, and after a couple of minutes, a lady called us in a room to submit the papers. Apparently, not everyone there was going to take the signal test. There were others who were going to take their road test or assessment test.

I was the first one to give my paper for the signal test so the lady told me to sit down in front of the computer and enter my details, which I did. However, the screen showed that I wasn’t registered to take the test that day. The lady tried again, but the screen showed the same thing. She then told me to go the Test Counter and inform them of the problem. I did, but only the Office Boy was there, so he took my paper and told me to wait until someone would call me. I waited...and waited...and waited until it was already 8:05am, then I went to the counter to follow-up. There was a man there who was explaining to a lady to go to another room and speak to the RTA person. When he called my name, he told me to go to the same room because the lady and I had the same problem. Upon entering Room 3, there was nobody there even though the office hours on the door said it would begin at 8am. Augh!!! Following both of us was another lady and 2 men. We all had the same problem. Again, we waited...and waited...and waited, but nobody from RTA came. We went back to the counter and they referred us to another room. The person there told us to just wait at Room 3 because only they could help us. We went back, waited for another 5 minutes, and stormed out. We went to the person at the Customer Service counter to complain, but he wouldn’t help us either. They were sending us on a wild goose chase. It was ridiculous!!!

Finally (after going back and forth between people and rooms), the person at the Test Counter took our papers and told us to wait until 9am when the Police Examiner would arrive because she was taking students for their Road Tests. The time was already 8:45am, so I had to wait for 15 more minutes (more or less). As soon as I saw her arrive, I went to the counter and told the man she was there. He told me he would give our papers to her right away, so I went to the Testing Room and went to the lady. Again, we were asked to wait because she didn’t have our papers yet. I was really running out of patience this time but since I didn’t want to get on her bad side (hey, she might be the one who will be giving my assessment and road tests), I did what she told me to do. The man at the counter finally gave her the papers after 15 minutes (that’s their definition of “right away”). Fortunately, my paper was at the top so she called out my name first. I entered my details, started answering the test, and when I was done in less than 5 minutes, the screen showed that I had passed. Hurray!

The Examiner stamped my permit and I was out of the school in no time, rushing to work because I was already more than an hour late. Luckily, my colleague had told my manager that I was not feeling well when I woke up but assured him that I was still going to work today just as soon as I felt better. I arrived at the office by 9:25am, with no questions from my manager. Whew!

Four tests down, two to go!