Hi. I wanted to share my experience of my qualification process especially the reasons why I was successfully on my first attempt at ADI Part 3 a number of years ago.

Well, you might think luck you. But it wasn’t all success on my route for qualification as it took me three attempts at passing the ADI Part 2!
OK, the main reason for successful completion are as follows-

1) Put the time & effort in.
You don’t just put in the effort when you are with your trainer, you need to put the time in between sessions. Research all the topics your need to teach by reading Driving the Essential Skills, Highway code and know your traffic signs. As a driving instructor you need to fill in the gaps of your pupil’s knowledge, they don’t know everything. You always need to know the rules, so you know what the expectations are. This allows you to identify any faults your pupil makes and their level of significance. Some faults are a lot more important than others, where some don’t matter.
During my qualification, I wrote out briefing notes for each of the topics I taught. I know briefings are no longer required on ADI part 3, as they take too long. But I as an ADI eventually it really helps to know your stuff and where to look for it or who to ask.

2) Regular weekly Training sessions with an ADI Trainer.
My ADI trainer was excellent. Not only did I get on with them, but I also trusted them to tell me when I was ready to pass the ADI Part 3. Yes, the ADI Part 3 was different when I did it as it involved role-play, where the examiner role-played a pupil. On my ADI part 3, my examiner tried to do two dangerous faults on the first and second phase, even when I was telling them what to do! The Initial 40 hours I initially received from the training school I signed up with wasn’t enough. Also, essential aspects of my training were left out like not being shown how to use the dual controls. The required training form I was told to just sign it with some of the requirements not being fulfilled. Having weekly practice allowed my trainer to identify any bad instructional habits I was developing whilst on a trainee instructor licence.

3) How to use a trainee instructor.
My pink licence lasted for six months. During this period, I was still working full time as a quality engineer at a local company. This allowed me to fund my training. I only ever did a maximum of 10 hours of driving lessons per week. I was under constant pressure from my franchise company to take on more learners as they were giving me a car for the whole week to do lessons in. But the pink instructor licence is a licence to learn not to earn. I felt if I did too many hours per week, I would become tired and let bad instructional practices set in. After each weekly training session, I would put my learning into practice with my learners. This allowed me to see what worked for me and my pupils and what didn’t work for me and my pupils.

4) Believe in yourself if you know you are good enough
On the day of my ADI Part 3, I mentally prepared myself. The main thing is that I knew I was good enough with the practice and experience I had gained. It didn’t matter what the examiner was doing to do (current ADI Part 3’s require you to bring a pupil, so it wouldn’t matter what a pupil did).

Best of luck with your ADI Training, Train Hard, Fight Easy!