First time: Failed
Second time: Passed
Which examination centre were you in?
> Schaerbeek/Evere
Where did the examiner sit?
> Back-right of the car both times
Turnabout: to what extent were you able to choose your own place to do the manoeuvre?
> I was allowed to choose the place on the street. Both times I just used the first available space on the right to pull in, and then started the manoeuvre from there.
> First time: on Avenue E Speeckaert
> Second time: can't remember, some wide street in Evere
Parallel parking: what did you have to do?
> First time: the examiner told me to park behind a car at the corner of Rue Vervloesem/Avenue Paul Hymans during rush hour. There was no car behind me, only in front of me.
> Second time: the examiner told me to park behind a car on Avenue Herbert Hoover. There was a car in front and behind me, but there was a lot of space to work with.
Preliminary checks: what was asked?
> First time: how to check the tyre pressure, minimum tread depth, lights (dipped, beams), horn, brake lights, indicators
> Second time: Open the bonnet, where is the coolant, lights (dipped, beams, fog), horn, brake lights, indicators
Did you train with a driving school or did you use a supervisor?
> I trained originally some years ago in my home country and failed a few times because I was not able to practice on my own legally. But I decided to do everything from the start in Belgium. I did 20 hours with a driving school in Brussels so that I could get the M-18 licence and drive independently. I did some extra hours closer to my first exam to find out tricky places on routes, and just practiced a lot on my own. I watched a lot of YouTube videos (Conduite Facile, Conquer Driving) to supplement advice, and spent a lot of time analysing roads on Google Maps. I also practiced a lot in the evenings.
Who attended the exam with you?
> The first time I used the appointment my driving school set. They would not allow me to use my own car, and so everything was a bit different when I sat the exam.
> The second time I used my own car, booked an appointment directly with the test centre and asked a friend of mine to accompany me.
> Both times I used a FR/EN translator who was really calm.
First route:
We went around the block through a couple of roundabouts in a square, went around roads around Avenue de Mai. Came down Avenue de Juillet onto Avenue Heydenberg (did not say anything, it is turn right only). We did the turnabout on Avenue E Speeckaert, and then went around some roundabouts, eventually came down Rue Theodore De Cuyper and then onto Avenue Jacques Brel (careful, can only turn right onto Avenue de la Spiruline and then left onto Chausee de Roodebeek). The parallel parking was done on the main road, but I was lucky there was not much traffic at that time (careful, this part of Avenue Paul Hymans is 30km/h as there is no speed sign). Turned left at the next junction onto Rue Vervloesem, then went around Poseidon and then left onto Avenue de Broqueville.
We turned right onto Rue du Duv, and it was here that I did not practice at all beforehand. Boulevard Brand Whitlock is a cycling street, and we continued onto Rue Saint-Henri. I ended up messing up really badly here here
https://goo.gl/maps/fFupc1CEWt1792DW7 because I did not understand this sign properly with exam stress. There was a truck obscuring the two way traffic sign, and so I did not notice it until too late. I was stressed and ended up trying to go into the left lane which is on the wrong side of the road. We headed back to the exam centre then, but it was an instant fail at that point even though we were so close to the end.
Second route:
This time I had practiced almost every street in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and most of Evere. I got a fright when practicing the day before because a car was speeding and I had to give priority. It kept me on my toes and reminded me to trust no one, slow down and let pedestrians cross even if they are a few seconds away because it uses more time and allows you to slow down. Don't do anything illegal. Take a small mark instead of doing something serious, even if it means you don't follow the route exactly.
This time we turned left at the roundabout onto Avenue Leon Grosjean, then right onto the N2, eventually turning onto Avenue des Anciens Combattants. At one point we went into Flanders, and I was dumb by not remembering that the zone speed is 50km/h there. Instead, I did 30km/h for a stretch until I turned headed towards a motorway, at which point I sped up, joined it and then stayed around 110km/h. On Avenue Franz Guillame there is a stop sign, and we turned right and then left onto Avenue des Communautes via Cora. Note, you need to keep as far right as possible at the entrance to a roundabout even if there is one large lane (no markings). I got a pretty serious mark for this because I kept to the left in order to take the third roundabout exit. We eventually came around Kleinenberg, and then back into the Brussels Capital Region via Boulevard de la Woluwe. We came back via Rue Theodore de Cuyper, and then onto Chausee de Roodebeek. I did the parallel parking manoeuvre around there on Avenue Herbert Hoover. At this point we were driving for over 45 mins, and we came back to the test centre. I was waiting for a long time, but eventually the examiner came out and said I passed! He pointed out some mistakes I made, but none were illegal enough to fail.
You can do it, it just takes some time, money and dedication. Treat the exam centre like chess, there are only so many starting moves you can make. Get a lot of sleep, and try not to be stressed. It can be really hard to do that, but it will only make things a lot worse. I recommend avoiding coffee, alcohol & sugar if you get stressed easily.