There’s a particular kind of optimism that takes hold when you’re getting close to your target logbook hours. The end feels near, the test date feels achievable, and it’s tempting to push forward even when something in the back of your mind is quietly suggesting you’re not quite there yet.
That quiet voice is worth listening to.
Booking your VicRoads test before you’re genuinely ready is one of the most common and most avoidable reasons learners fail. More lessons aren’t a sign of failure — they’re a sign of self-awareness. And in a city like Melbourne, where driving conditions include trams, hook turns, multi-lane roundabouts, and some of the most unpredictable peak-hour traffic in the country, being genuinely prepared matters more than rushing to the finish line.
Here are five honest signs that you’d benefit from more time behind the wheel before booking that test date.
1. You’re Only Comfortable on Routes You Already Know
Think carefully about where your supervised driving hours have been accumulated. Are the majority of your sessions on the same familiar streets in your local area — the same roundabout, the same intersection, the same short stretch of road you’ve driven enough times that it feels almost automatic?
If your answer is yes, that’s a meaningful gap. The VicRoads driving test takes place in an area you may not know well, with intersections, road markings, and traffic patterns that will be unfamiliar. An examiner will direct you using verbal instructions, and your job is to navigate correctly without the comfort of knowing what’s around the next corner.
True driving competence is demonstrated through consistency across unfamiliar conditions — not just fluency on roads you’ve driven a hundred times. If your confidence noticeably drops the moment you’re in an area you don’t know, that’s a clear signal that your experience base needs to expand before you’re test-ready.
The solution is deliberate variety. Book lessons in the suburbs you haven’t driven in, use your supervised hours to explore different road types, and make sure your experience includes the kinds of roads and situations that might appear on your test. Our open road driving lessons and highway driving lessons are specifically designed to extend your experience beyond familiar local routes into the conditions Melbourne roads actually demand.
2. You Still Need Prompting to Complete Your Observation Routine
During your lessons or supervised sessions, do you still receive reminders — from your instructor, your parent, or the person supervising you — about checking mirrors, checking blind spots, or signalling at the right time? Does the reminder from your supervisor sometimes be what saves you from an error rather than your own instinctive awareness?
If the answer is yes with any regularity, this is one of the clearest signs that you need more practice before your test.
The VicRoads test is not supervised in the same way as your lessons. The examiner is there to assess, not to coach. There are no prompts, no quiet reminders, no gentle verbal cues. Everything your supervisor was catching needs to happen automatically — from mirror checks before every lane change to proper head checks before pulling out of a parking space.
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about the foundational safety habits being genuinely embedded rather than consciously recalled under pressure. When observation routines require deliberate thought rather than automatic execution, you’re still in a learning phase that benefits from more structured time with an instructor.
Our blog on mistakes learner drivers most commonly make covers these observation lapses in detail, and understanding which habits need the most reinforcement is a useful starting point for knowing where to focus your remaining lessons.
3. Certain Driving Situations Still Cause Significant Anxiety or Avoidance
Every learner has situations they find more challenging than others — and that’s completely normal. What’s worth paying attention to is whether certain scenarios trigger enough anxiety that you avoid them, underperform significantly in them, or feel your driving quality drop sharply when they arise.
For Melbourne learners specifically, the situations that most commonly fall into this category include:
Multi-lane roundabouts. Melbourne has a significant number of complex, multi-lane roundabouts that require correct lane selection, proper signalling, confident give-way assessment, and smooth execution under pressure. If roundabouts still feel uncertain rather than routine, they need more practice — not avoidance. Our blog on improving your driving skills at roundabouts addresses the specific skills roundabouts require and how to develop them.
Hook turns and tram zones. If your test route takes you into Melbourne’s CBD or inner suburbs, you may encounter hook turns and tram-related rules that are genuinely confusing without deliberate study and practice. Our blog on hook turns and trams explains exactly what’s required, and our city driving lessons provide structured practice in the environments where these situations arise.
Merging onto freeways. Matching speed, reading gaps, and committing to a merge decisively is a skill that many learners avoid practising until it becomes unavoidable. If freeway merging still feels like guesswork, more highway driving lessons will close that gap.
Parallel parking and reverse manoeuvres. The three key manoeuvres assessed in the VicRoads test require precise technique and consistent execution. Our blog on how to ace the three essential manoeuvres for new learners breaks down exactly what each one requires.
If you’re actively avoiding any of these — skipping them in supervised sessions, choosing routes that don’t require them, or hoping they won’t appear on your test — that avoidance is the sign that you need more lessons, not less.
4. Your Driving Is Noticeably Worse Under Pressure or In New Conditions
Here’s a useful self-test: how does your driving quality change when the pressure increases? When there’s a car tailgating you on a busy road, when it starts raining unexpectedly, when you take a wrong turn in an unfamiliar area, when heavy traffic and multiple things is demanding your attention simultaneously — do you stay composed and drive consistently, or does your performance visibly deteriorate?
If the answer is the latter, your driving competence isn’t yet robust enough to carry you through a test, which is itself a pressure situation. The examiner’s presence alone creates a level of stress that can affect drivers who haven’t yet developed enough automaticity in their skills. If your baseline driving degrades under normal pressure, test-day pressure will compound that significantly.
The fix is a more varied, challenging experience — not just more hours on comfortable, familiar roads. Deliberately practise in conditions that are slightly outside your comfort zone. Drive in the rain. Drive in peak-hour traffic. Take routes you’ve never driven before. Book lessons specifically designed to push your skills further, because driving confidently under normal pressure is a prerequisite for driving confidently under test pressure.
Our blog on overcoming driving anxiety before your test addresses the anxiety side of this equation, while our VicRoads test preparation lessons are structured specifically to help you perform consistently even when the stakes feel high.
5. You Wouldn’t Trust Yourself to Drive Solo in Melbourne Traffic Right Now
This one is the simplest and the most honest. If someone asked you right now, “Are you comfortable driving alone through peak-hour Melbourne traffic to a destination you’ve never been to?”, what would your genuine answer be?
Not the answer you’d give to reassure someone. Not the optimistic answer. The honest one.
If the answer is anything other than a clear “yes,” that’s your most direct signal that more lessons are needed before your test. The VicRoads test isn’t asking you to drive in controlled conditions on familiar roads with guidance — it’s asking you to demonstrate that you can handle real Melbourne roads, real traffic, and real decision-making without anyone helping you. If that prospect feels genuinely daunting rather than merely slightly nerve-wracking, your preparation isn’t complete.
Our blog on 5 signs you’re not ready to drive alone yet explores this readiness question in more depth and is worth reading alongside this post. And if you want to see what the test actually feels like before your official attempt, Monika’s on-Road Test (MORT) gives you a simulated test experience in real conditions — so nothing about the actual test day comes as a surprise.
How Many More Lessons Do You Actually Need?
This is the question most learners want answered, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you’re working on and how quickly those specific skills develop through structured practice.
A learner who is solid across most skills but needs to build confidence in two or three specific situations might need three to five targeted lessons. A learner who recognises several of the signs above across multiple skill areas might benefit from a more structured lesson package working through each one in sequence.
Our blog on how many lessons you need to pass your test in Victoria gives useful benchmarks based on starting points and progress rates. And if you’ve already had a failed test, our blog on what to do if you fail your driving test covers exactly how to approach targeted preparation for your retake.
The 5 most important tips to pass the driving test and our practice driving test checklist are both worth revisiting before you decide whether you’re ready to book — and our mock driving test checklist for beginners gives you a structured way to self-assess your current standard against what the examiner will be looking for.
The Right Mindset About Extra Lessons
It’s worth saying clearly: needing more lessons is not a reflection of ability or intelligence. It’s a reflection of experience — and experience is simply something that accumulates over time with the right guidance. The learners who try to rush through their hours to hit a test date quickly are the same learners who are most likely to need multiple attempts, which ends up taking longer and costing more than additional lessons would have in the first place.
The learners who take an honest look at where they are, identify what needs more work, and invest the time to address those specific things are the learners who walk out of the test centre with their P plates on the first or second attempt. Our blog on why we need to take driving training seriously makes this case more fully if you want to read further on this.
Conclusion
More lessons before your test isn’t a setback — it’s a strategy. The signs above aren’t there to discourage you; they’re there to help you make an honest assessment of where you are so you can invest your remaining preparation time in exactly the right places.
At Monika’s Driving School, our instructors help learners at every stage identify their specific gaps and work through them efficiently. Whether you need a few targeted sessions, a structured lesson package, an intensive driving course to build experience quickly, or simply a professional assessment of where your driving currently stands, we’re here to help. Contact us today and let’s make sure your next test attempt is your last one.
