At this point I must admit that I'm just a bit skeptical of how difficult this could possibly be. Afterall, I passed the California Bar exam on the first try for a test that historically has the lowest pass rate of any bar exam in the US. That exam took 3 days and one of those days was 6 hours of multiple choice questions. I'm pretty confident the patente test doesn't take 3 days...or 6 hours...at least I don't think it is. Geez, I hadn't even considered that as a possibility!
So let's examine the potential problems. First, the book:
This book is 228 pages long not including practice tests. The California Driver's license handbook is 108 pages including practice tests, pretty pictures and blank pages.
Second,
This book is in Italian. Now it makes imminent sense that the Italian Driver's License book is in Italian, but this book is full of words that don't come up in daily conversations. This is a whole new vocabulary on top of the one I still haven't mastered.
Note the title of that section: I Coefficienti di Aderenza. That means the Coefficient of Friction. The Coefficient of Friction!!! Are you kidding me!!! I have no idea what the coefficient of friction is in English. Then, to make matters worse, the sample questions want me to speculate ie. guess, at the probable cause of accidents...what, bad driver's!!!! Are they going to ask me to estimate the speed a car was traveling from it's skid mark? I don't do math!
And 3rd, there is this little jewel:
This is a book of practice tests. It has a mere 6891 questions. How long is it going to take me to get through this book, assuming I can first get through the other one? In fairness, I don't have to take the exam in Italian, I can apparently take it in English, but I have to ask myself if that's the best approach. How can I talk my way out of a traffic ticket if I don't know what the Carabinieri are saying to me. That is assuming it's possible to talk your way out of a ticket. I'm still not clear on that yet, but I'll report back. So, at least for the time being, it's my intention to take the written test in Italian.
And finally, there is the practical exam. That would be the driver's test in the little car with 2 driver-seats in case you completely lose your mind and try to run down the examiner or some other unsuspecting pedestrian. It's this little car that traps you into a relationship with a Driving School. Can't take the test without the right car, can't get the right car without taking driving lessons. And, for those of you who can't drive a stick shift, automatic 2 driver-seat cars are few and far between. Fortunately, I've always preferred a stick, so on at least this point, I'm ahead of the game.
Oh, and lest I forget, I will have to drive under 65 mph and not drive while under the influence for the first 3 years. Does that mean I can drive under the influence after the first three years?
To tell the truth, I'm pretty annoyed that I have to go through this process at all. If I'd come from France or England or one of the other EU countries I wouldn't have to do any of this. However, for some reason, the framers of the US Constitution decided that it wasn't a good idea to let California enter into it's own treaties with foreign countries. Well, at the time, they probably didn't care about California since it wouldn't come into existence for another 75 or so years, but you get my drift. You may come here with an International Driver's License, but that's only good for a year from date of residence and if you drive illegally here, not only will they fine you, they can also take your car away. That would be unpleasant!
Thus, because the US doesn't issue a national driver's license, and California has no treaty with Italy allowing me to drive on my California license, I must, like all American residents in Italy, get an Italian patente. Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be more to come.
I'm sure that you will have no problem getting your license. Good seeing you blogging again!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck I have an American friend who did her test here not that long ago, but she did opt to do it in English, despite the different car type words she felt it was by far the easier option so I am impressed that you plan to do it all in Italian.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - best of luck, Mary. I thank my lucky stars that, as an EU citizen, I don't have to retake the test.
ReplyDeleteYou make a really good point about being able to understand the carabinieri. I hold my breath and pray every time I drive through a stop point that they won't ask me to stop, as I'm very unlikely to understand them should they do anything more than ask for my licence and car's papers. I did get pulled over once (ironically, for driving just like the Italians do - I forgot to indicate) and was so terrified that I couldn't say anything. He got his point across, though, with a little bit of sign language and finger-wagging. I drove very carefully from that point on!
Don't worry, it is easier than you expect. I do advise to find a driving teacher though / they'll point out all the tricky questions on the test and you won't have to learn by heart all the contents. The test is the same in all counties and I must say that for me it had pretty basic questions. Doing it in Italian is an excellent way of learning the language! I was overwhelmed in the beginning of how many of these notions I did not know, but in a month or so I could cite them all. Oh. BTW the website quttroruote.it has some nice animations to help you understand better.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about this post is that it confirms there are other people who've passed the test. Thanks Ing.
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