Written Exam For the Knowledge of Londons Black Cab Drivers — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:05hi
3. 0:05my name is dean warrington i am a
4. 0:06knowledge of london instructor and in
5. 0:08this video i am going to show you
6. 0:10how the stage 2 written exam works and
7. 0:12give you some important tips and ideas
8. 0:14on how to pass it
9. 0:21the written exam is mistakenly called
10. 0:23the map test by many people because once
11. 0:25upon a time
12. 0:26there was a map section within the exam
13. 0:28that's since been removed there is no
14. 0:30map
15. 0:31in this exam the exam is intended to be
16. 0:34a gateway to appearances and
17. 0:36anyone who passes the exam is considered
18. 0:38to be good enough
19. 0:39to be on the appearance stage of the
20. 0:41knowledge
21. 0:43there is a compulsory mock exam that you
22. 0:45must take after completing 80 runs
23. 0:48the mistake many people make here is
24. 0:49that they actually think and are led to
25. 0:51believe
26. 0:52they should know all the runs and points
27. 0:54in the first 80 runs
28. 0:56scare-mongering tactics are used here by
29. 0:58some people to make you waste your time
30. 1:01picking up unnecessary information that
31. 1:03will contribute
32. 1:04nothing to your overall standard but
33. 1:06just delay your progress forward
34. 1:09you do not need to prepare for an exam
35. 1:11that you cannot pass or fail
36. 1:14it is purely an experience to introduce
37. 1:17you
38. 1:17to the format of the real exam that you
39. 1:19will sit after 320 runs
40. 1:23so i suggest once you have completed
41. 1:25your 80 runs you put your paper in to
42. 1:27take the mock exam straight away
43. 1:29and get this aspect of the knowledge out
44. 1:32of the way
45. 1:38the biggest question for the written
46. 1:39test is when exactly are you ready to
47. 1:42take it
48. 1:43so some time ago students were taking
49. 1:45far too long to complete their 320 runs
50. 1:48and their two-year time limit was
51. 1:50expiring the advice from tfl
52. 1:53was to put your paper in to be tested
53. 1:55even though you considered yourself
54. 1:57not ready and you may have only
55. 1:59completed one or two blue books
56. 2:02it was presumed that you would fail but
57. 2:05you would now be
58. 2:06on the system and not need to ask for an
59. 2:08extension
60. 2:09what actually happened was many students
61. 2:12passed even though
62. 2:13they had only completed 160 runs with no
63. 2:16points
64. 2:17so the question of how much work do you
65. 2:19need to do
66. 2:21to pass the test ranges from not very
67. 2:24much
68. 2:25to as much as you like what i will tell
69. 2:27you here
70. 2:28is going to be the best practice so that
71. 2:30you have a decent chance of scoring on
72. 2:32appearances
73. 2:34once you pass the test
74. 2:40anywhere from 600 to 1500 points under
75. 2:43your belt
76. 2:44is going to give you a very realistic
77. 2:46chance of passing this test
78. 2:49your real objective however is to have
79. 2:501500 plus points
80. 2:52under your belt before the first
81. 2:54appearance and then build upon this
82. 2:56repertoire
83. 2:57in the 56 day intervals between
84. 2:59appearances
85. 3:02passing the test does not require any
86. 3:05real special study
87. 3:06but there are some very important tips
88. 3:08to employ so you decrease your chances
89. 3:10of failing
90. 3:12i will cover those tips in a practical
91. 3:14format in this video
92. 3:16now as i already mentioned it is
93. 3:18possible to pass this exam
94. 3:20even if you have only completed 160 runs
95. 3:23with no points
96. 3:25i'd also say that if you are nearing
97. 3:26your two-year limitation
98. 3:28then no matter what stage you have
99. 3:29reached you should still apply
100. 3:31for your written test if you pass
101. 3:35you will be on appearances if you fail
102. 3:38you will be in the system and they will
103. 3:39wait for you to reapply for another exam
104. 3:48i often hear students complain that they
105. 3:50feel they put their paper in too early
106. 3:53they passed the test but didn't feel
107. 3:55ready for appearances
108. 3:56the first thing to repeat here is that
109. 3:59if the test is doing its job correctly
110. 4:01then by passing it you were ready for
111. 4:04appearances
112. 4:05being on appearances is far better than
113. 4:08not
114. 4:08being on appearances regardless of
115. 4:11whether you are passing or
116. 4:12failing them your level or standard
117. 4:16doesn't improve or get worse because you
118. 4:20are on appearances
119. 4:22it gets better or worse because of the
120. 4:24work you put in
121. 4:26in between appearances after every
122. 4:28appearance you have 56 days to improve
123. 4:32you also now have the experience gleaned
124. 4:35from the appearances you have taken
125. 4:37this is going to help you when it comes
126. 4:39to the psychology of controlling your
127. 4:40nerves
128. 4:41and mental preparation needed so let's
129. 4:44presume
130. 4:44that you fail four appearances and are
131. 4:47redlined
132. 4:49do you think you put in too early what
133. 4:52level
134. 4:53and how much experience would you have
135. 4:55gained in comparison
136. 4:57if you had not taken those appearances
137. 5:01you would have gained nothing and you
138. 5:04would be at the identical standard you
139. 5:06are
140. 5:06currently but without the experience of
141. 5:09those four appearances
142. 5:10it is impossible to be on appearances
143. 5:12too early
144. 5:13you cannot fail you can only learn
145. 5:16failure is success in progress every
146. 5:20time you fail you should be learning
147. 5:21from the experience
148. 5:23the fact is your standard will be no
149. 5:25different whether you're being tested or
150. 5:27not
151. 5:28so if you are failing your appearances
152. 5:31then at least you have something to fail
153. 5:33or succeed at
154. 5:35someone who is not on appearances does
155. 5:37not get that opportunity
156. 5:38they do not gain any experience and they
157. 5:41will remain
158. 5:42on zero until they become brave enough
159. 5:44to start appearances
160. 5:50the reason the written test was
161. 5:52introduced was to combat students that
162. 5:54would apply for the knowledge
163. 5:55and do no study whatsoever and apply for
164. 5:58testing
165. 5:59they clogged up the system this test is
166. 6:03in place to make students at least learn
167. 6:05their blue book runs and acquire some
168. 6:07points before testing
169. 6:09you are not expected to know everything
170. 6:11and at no stage will you know everything
171. 6:15if you passed the test you knew enough
172. 6:19taken appearances will not affect your
173. 6:21standard of knowledge
174. 6:22your standard of knowledge is only
175. 6:24affected by your study regime
176. 6:26and volume of practice
177. 6:29when you do pass the test don't make the
178. 6:32mistake of focusing on finding as many
179. 6:34points as possible
180. 6:36the thing that statistically will give
181. 6:37you the best reward for the first
182. 6:39appearance
183. 6:40is to practice point-to-point as much as
184. 6:43you can
185. 6:43physically stand worry about building
186. 6:47your points repertoire
187. 6:48after the first appearance and in that
188. 6:5056 day period
189. 6:52you should aim for a minimum of 125
190. 6:55points per week
191. 6:56if you are full time on the knowledge it
192. 6:58should be nearer to 250 per week
193. 7:01one thousand to two thousand points
194. 7:03between appearances on 56 day level
195. 7:08so stop making excuses stop being afraid
196. 7:11you will never feel ready but at some
197. 7:13stage you must
198. 7:14take the courageous step and walk
199. 7:16forward
200. 7:23now let's look at the structure of the
201. 7:25test
202. 7:27you will be given five questions
203. 7:29relating to blue book runs forward
204. 7:32each question will contain three
205. 7:34versions of a blue book root
206. 7:37you need to pick the correct route you
207. 7:40have a three to one chance just from
208. 7:42guessing
209. 7:43and each correct answer will count as 10
210. 7:45points towards the 60
211. 7:47that you need to pass
212. 7:50the other part of the test consists of
213. 7:5225 points
214. 7:54you need to pick the correct location
215. 7:57out of six possible answers
216. 7:58and you have a six to one chance just by
217. 8:01guessing
218. 8:02each correct answer will score two
219. 8:04points towards the 60 points needed to
220. 8:06pass
221. 8:08so you see from this the importance of
222. 8:10getting the runs correct
223. 8:12is 5 times greater than getting a point
224. 8:14correct
225. 8:16if you get all of the runs correct you
226. 8:19only need to answer 5 points from the 25
227. 8:23questions listed
228. 8:25and statistically you have a forty
229. 8:28percent
230. 8:28chance of getting five correct answers
231. 8:31if you
232. 8:32guessed all twenty five
233. 8:36the points used in the test are very
234. 8:38random they range from very popular
235. 8:41to never being heard of before or since
236. 8:44there will nearly always be five points
237. 8:47in this section that
238. 8:48everybody should know the best
239. 8:51preparation for this test
240. 8:52is to download the wizan with points app
241. 8:55and use the tfl exam part 1 button
242. 9:00when you finish the app exam it will
243. 9:02tell you how many correct
244. 9:04answers are required from the run
245. 9:06section for you to pass
246. 9:09when you tap continue it will show you
247. 9:12all your wrong answers
248. 9:14and highlight the correct answer with a
249. 9:16green glow
250. 9:17there is a stopwatch at the top right
251. 9:19and you should easily complete
252. 9:21all 25 questions in under 15 minutes
253. 9:37use educated guessing practice a lot
254. 9:40and your educated guessing will improve
255. 9:44competent is the best level to practice
256. 9:46on but experiment with the different
257. 9:48levels of difficulty
258. 9:51now let's look at some practical
259. 9:53examples of runs
260. 9:59in general the runs take on a format or
261. 10:01pattern that repeats throughout
262. 10:04each question has three options to
263. 10:06choose from and those three options will
264. 10:08contain
265. 10:09one illegal answer one long or wide
266. 10:12answer and obviously the correct answer
267. 10:14the best approach here is not to look
268. 10:16for the correct answer
269. 10:18look for the long route or illegal route
270. 10:20first
271. 10:21if you succeed in finding just one of
272. 10:23them then at least you've narrowed your
273. 10:25chances down to a 50 50 choice
274. 10:28let's try some examples and cover some
275. 10:30issues one by one
276. 10:32but let me first make a disclaimer these
277. 10:34examples were made in march
278. 10:362021 and depending when you watch this
279. 10:38video
280. 10:39they may have changed and become out of
281. 10:41date but the guidance remains the same
282. 10:44i will put a run on the screen now you
283. 10:46can pause the video and see if you can
284. 10:48choose the correct answer
285. 10:51so here i have deliberately chosen the
286. 10:53first five runs which you all will be
287. 10:54most familiar with
288. 10:56the first thing to point out is do not
289. 10:57choose a run because it looks most like
290. 11:00the run you have learnt
291. 11:02if it's exactly the same as your run
292. 11:04then that's great
293. 11:05but if it has even a small difference
294. 11:07then you must question it
295. 11:10the next thing here is that the correct
296. 11:12answer may be nothing
297. 11:14like you expect so in this instance you
298. 11:17really must look for the wrong answers
299. 11:19to establish the right answer
300. 11:22version a uses a street that unless you
301. 11:24are a local person
302. 11:26i guarantee most of you have not heard
303. 11:28of this should be a red flag
304. 11:31version b is very unusual and what may
305. 11:34scare you straight away is the right
306. 11:36turn into seven sisters road can you do
307. 11:38that
308. 11:38is the run wide so you need to question
309. 11:41that and if you know it's illegal then
310. 11:42you won't use it and if you're not sure
311. 11:44if it's legal then you have to hold it
312. 11:45and maybe use it you've got to balance
313. 11:47that now
314. 11:49run number three most certainly feels
315. 11:51wide to me
316. 11:52and this is going to be the first run i
317. 11:54think i can eliminate
318. 11:56i'm now left with a 50 50 choice
319. 11:59so you got to think do you see anything
320. 12:01in run b that you are certain
321. 12:03is illegal do you see anything in round
322. 12:06a
323. 12:07that you are not familiar with and now
324. 12:10you need to make your choice
325. 12:11so before i tell you the answer make
326. 12:13your choice now
327. 12:16the correct answer is run b and this
328. 12:18route is as short as any other you can
329. 12:20make
330. 12:20it is a really good and interesting
331. 12:22alternative to the more common used
332. 12:24routes
333. 12:25i use this route to highlight the fact
334. 12:27that you need
335. 12:28to look for the wrong answers first only
336. 12:31eliminate a run
337. 12:32if you are certain something is wrong
338. 12:34with it if you're unsure
339. 12:36hold on to it so you can at least make a
340. 12:3850 50 educated guess
341. 12:41let's try run number two this one i
342. 12:44think is a little bit easier
343. 12:46version b for example is using judd
344. 12:47street which no longer works but here
345. 12:49lies a small dilemma and a little danger
346. 12:51to be aware
347. 12:52of tfl do not update the test runs very
348. 12:54quickly
349. 12:55for example they may still contain runs
350. 12:58that are considered to be the correct
351. 12:59answer
352. 13:00but currently do not work due to covert
353. 13:02changes
354. 13:03there is leeway for the runs that are
355. 13:05changing and tfl will allow the use of
356. 13:07older and currently out of date routes
357. 13:10the problem you now have is still the
358. 13:12same look for
359. 13:13the wrong answers version c most
360. 13:16certainly looks wide to me
361. 13:18so i now have a 50 50 choice but in this
362. 13:21instance i think i'm lucky and the run
363. 13:23matches my own so that one's easy
364. 13:27another thing to look out for that may
365. 13:29catch you out is when things are not
366. 13:31written
367. 13:31or called in the same way you are used
368. 13:34to
369. 13:35there is no right or wrong way of
370. 13:37calling things like
371. 13:39bare left instead of left or even
372. 13:41forward
373. 13:42these are all open for interpretation
374. 13:44and vary from person to person
375. 13:47i will add the more advanced you become
376. 13:49the less you will be using
377. 13:51bare left and bare right and the more
378. 13:52instances you'll change it to a forward
379. 13:54or a right
380. 13:54because it's easier to say the other
381. 13:57issue is junctions
382. 13:59for example culling circus some years
383. 14:02back an examiner was failing people
384. 14:04because they were adamant it was not
385. 14:06called culling circus
386. 14:08this may be true but calling or not
387. 14:10calling it
388. 14:11is fine and not an issue the examiner
389. 14:14was being a little pedantic
390. 14:16the same is going to apply to saint
391. 14:18agnes well
392. 14:19hybrid corner archway junction queens
393. 14:22gardens and
394. 14:23others so if you see any variation in
395. 14:26the way these are written or called
396. 14:28it's all completely fine
397. 14:40now run number three version a looks
398. 14:42okay i can't see much wrong with it
399. 14:44i don't see anything illegal so it may
400. 14:47be the right answer
401. 14:49version b now i see forward new bridge
402. 14:51street left queen victoria street
403. 14:53and right queen street place the thing
404. 14:56is
405. 14:57you may or may not know that these are
406. 14:59illegal so think to yourself
407. 15:00have you ever physically done any of
408. 15:03those turnings
409. 15:05you should have no memory of ever
410. 15:07turning there
411. 15:08so this should raise a red flag for you
412. 15:11version c looks like a more direct route
413. 15:14to bricklayer's arms than version a
414. 15:16so i think version a is wide slightly so
415. 15:19version c
416. 15:20is the correct answer
417. 15:23let's move on to run number four here i
418. 15:26will just let you pause the video
419. 15:28and work through it yourself remember
420. 15:30you are looking for something illegal
421. 15:33and something unnecessarily long or wide
422. 15:37okay hopefully you chose route a route b
423. 15:40is most certainly wide
424. 15:42and route c is illegal at union street
425. 15:47now one more question and once again
426. 15:49it's pause the video time and see what
427. 15:50you choose
428. 15:54route a uses left oxford street which is
429. 15:57illegal
430. 15:58root b is most certainly wide and root c
431. 16:01is the correct answer
432. 16:09so to summarize on the run section look
433. 16:12for the wrong answers first
434. 16:14on the point section don't forget to
435. 16:16make educated guesses
436. 16:18if you do not know the answer play the
437. 16:20statistics
438. 16:21every run you think you get wrong means
439. 16:23you must get five points more correct
440. 16:27do not look for the run to be the same
441. 16:28as your run the test in general is not
442. 16:31too difficult and if you pass you
443. 16:33are by definition ready for appearances
444. 16:37i hope this goes some way to easing your
445. 16:38mind about the written test
446. 16:40and remember you will never feel ready
447. 16:43you will never know
448. 16:44everything and it is impossible to be on
449. 16:46appearances too early if you have passed
450. 16:48the test
451. 16:50please subscribe if you haven't done so
452. 16:51already put your comments below i
453. 16:53promise i will answer all of them
454. 16:55and until the next video goodbye again
455. 16:59right now out straight at the camera
456. 17:04yeah they're ready
457. 17:09thank you for watching subscribe and hit
458. 17:12that bell
459. 17:13and hit that like button and put your
460. 17:16comments down below in the comment
461. 17:17section
462. 17:18bye bye nice to meet you
463. 17:35[Music]
464. 18:39you