@tigertiger

Agreed, and nice example. When did you take your test? The Google translation for the new test is pretty terrible, but at this point I have few options. I am scheduled to take the test in three days and still don't know which version of the test Kunming is using (and I just spent 3 days studying the old one).

I've at least got the official translation for the old test (assuming the nice folks at the Traffic Bureau gave me something official), and it's mostly readable.

Matt

@tigertiger

Ah we cross-posted. Yeah I really hope that's the case. I'm going to have my Mandarin teacher call tomorrow and try to figure out what to expect.

Matt

You get one free re-test, so at least in 3 days you will know what they are using.
I would hope you get given the test based on the info they provided you.

I did my test two years ago. Passed 1st go, yay!

OK, so an update.

There is in fact an Apple App Store app called "Drive in China" that has an English-language version of the new 2013 test. The translations seem good enough to understand what the questions are actually asking. I'll confirm tomorrow when I take the real test.

www.dlen.decode-china.com/

There is another app called "China Drive" but it only has the old questions.

Also, the new 2013 test does NOT use the little animations I was seeing before here (Chinese: jiaogui.zd87.com/km3-1.html), nor does it have the "select all correct options" multi-choice questions that I was worried about. Those are only on the new Type III test that you have to take if you get 12 points in your license. The normal written test is Type I (Chinese: jiaogui.zd87.com/km1-1.html). Type I uses only updated questions and a lot more images. The rules upon which the questions are based do not seem to have changed, other than by the new 12 point system now in place.

And actually these questions are more straightforward, once you go through them once.

It's probably still worth reading the old questions, if you have the time, inclination and curiosity, as the rules are almost all still the same, and you quickly will get a sense of how they test. The new test, for better or worse, has done away with questions about whether to tie a bag around your head when your car is sinking, whether to violently straighten the legs so as to help project you out of the car into safety in the case of an unavoidable collision, and what to do when someone is poisoned. The new test instead has questions about seatbelts, airbags and other more familiar international signs, symbols, etc.

I will confirm that Kunming uses the new 2013 test and that the iPhone app has good enough translations to help you train.

Matt

@splenkus
Good luck for your test.

@tigertiger

Thanks! My partner Anjuli and I both passed with 96 and 98. We're very excited...

I can confirm the questions in that app are the same ones in the test, so Kunming is indeed using the new 2013 test.

The English in the app is close enough to what we found on the test, whose English was really good.

Matt

Congrats to both of you.

Expect to get into a few near misses in the first couple of weeks while you learn the 'rules of the road' as practiced in Kunming. Then after that it should be easy.

Word of advice, always carry 200 cash with you. If you get into any scrape, even a touch with no damage, even if you collide with a heap of rust at zero kph, they will want compensation. If you are in the wrong the cops will hit you for 200, and the other guy knows this and so will want 200. It can be better to pay, rather than foul up the traffic and waste half an hour. Or you can haggle them down to 100. If you are sure it is there fault then you can, if you wish, demand 200 yourself and wait for the cops. The cops will probably get you both to agree to forget it if there is no damage, and then fine the person in the wrong.
I have found it easier just to have a conversation in Chinglish laced with Anglo Saxon and give the other guy the money. Not waste time, unless there is a cop already there, wave at the guy as you go and wish in all the best for the future in your best Anglo Saxon, and with a smile.

@spelunkus, I've been meaning to take the driver's license test for awhile, but I've never gotten around to it. The main reason I never took the time was because I never found the time to study. After reading your post, I went to the App Store and found the app, Driving in China for $1.99.

Is this the app you used? Did you just take the test over and over until you passed it? Can you give just a bit more information about what you did to prepare yourself.

Thanks!

I just figure that i have to buy an iPad... the drivers license is going to be expensive now. ;)

If someone have any updates about the new questions in english, dont hesitate and post a link. Thanks...

Edit: I just found this: de.scribd.com/[...]

That investment is worth it, i guess.

Cromson

the link results are good but it's only in english..

the original is also in chinese which helps a lot if you have a question to ask....