Obtaining a driver's licence in California

Given that this writer here has failed her driving test in Singapore, she had no choice but to take it in California.

It turned out that even if I had a Singaporean licence I would still have to take the driving test in California anyway. If you are a Singaporean tourist and are staying in California for <30 days, you can use your SIngaporean licence to drive around, but if you are staying for longer than that, you have to get a Californian licence. I am not sure what the policies are like in the other states or other places.

So, moral #1 is that I should not have bothered to take the driving test in Singapore anyway because it was a waste of money

Getting a driver's licence in California is pretty easy. Like Singapore, there is a written theory test and a practical test. The written theory test is easier to pass than in Singapore; there are 35 questions and you are only allowed to get 6 wrong. However, they always reuse their test papers, so if you get enough test papers from your seniors you can mug them and get full marks in the test (I have some if you all want any).

The written test takes no more than 5 minutes, you just have to show up at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)'s office and you can take the test after they take your picture and particulars and stuff. If you pass you get your provisional licence, if you fail you get to try 2 more times but this time you can only make 3 mistakes.

DMV makes it very clear that they want you to pass! Haha not like Singapore where they want you to fail your driving test.

Most people go for driving lessons after they pass their written test. All the instructors here are private because many Americans ask their parents to teach them how to drive. Go get an instructor or something, if you are a new student you probably only need 8 lessons to finish learning everything. If you are already experienced you might need 1 or 2 lessons to refresh yourself and to familiarize yourself with the driving rules and signs - that was really the biggest problem that I had when I was driving here because the signs were unfamiliar to me! I was charged about $30/hour for 2 hours per lesson, and I was picked up from my dorm and dropped off here as well. Rather convenient.

In the meantime you would want to book your driving test online on the DMV website. However it is a lot faster if you just ask your instructor to book a driving test date for you because they have somehow booked many slots beforehand for their students - allowing you to skip the 1-month long wait otherwise.

It is easier to pass the test in US for a few reasons, one reason is because you are allowed 15 minor errors (as opposed to the 20 demerit point system in Singapore), another reason is because the route is much easier to drive and is shorter, and also because roads here are much wider and so it's easier to change lanes. Oh and you are not tested on parking (ok fine just a little little bit but it's not important).

So if you pass here, you get your driving licence and you can convert it back to a Singaporean licence after 3 months.
If you dont pass, just take more lessons and then take the test again I suppose.

The perk though of getting a licence in Singapore is that if your licence has already been valid for 1 year by the time you reach here, you can rent a car (i.e Zipcar) but if not it's hard (though not impossible, I can rent a car from enterprise if I want to). Well you can always get a car and drive around, it's not that expensive to get a used car.

I'd say get a few lessons in Singapore (so that you get a solid foundation) and then come here and take the test. :)