Quote Originally Posted by euphonius View Post
Dear Xiaoyin,

The theoretical test in Shanghai will be administered in English if that's what you want. Prior to 2013, it was available in several other languages too (Japanese, German, French, Spanish), but at the turn of the year when they introduced the new questions there was a period of several months when the ONLY tests available were in Chinese. Several MCM members have recently taken the NEW exam in Shanghai in English, and it's these members who are saying the best way to prepare is with the smartphone app.

Needless to say, if you take it in Chinese and pass, you'll have special bragging rights!

No need to do so much guessing and assuming. Ask specific questions of the members who recently took the exams in English, and you'll get specific answers.

Good luck!
Hi again,

well, my school (Junti Driving School in Hongkou) still does not have the test for motorbikes in English (remember: I'm getting a license from scratch, not converting a foreign one). But I figured out what I need to study for the last exam (科目四): it's called 安全文明驾驶常识考试 and an online version is available here.

In the meantime, I've finished my two driving exams. For the first exam, you just need to drive a slow slalom through five posts, turn around, and drive through the posts again. Done.
first_exam.jpg

For the second exam, you need to drive over two elevated ...um.... things (sorry, no idea how to call them, but you can see them on the picture below). The instructor told us not to worry about dropping down from the elevated thing, because "you won't ever find this kind of situation when driving on the street" (which makes me wonder why they make us do this).
After that, you drive up a "hill" and stop. It's required to do a little "dance": put the left foot down first, then the right foot, then pretend to switch the gear with the left foot (we never switched gears during the driving lessons or exams), before you start driving again. Again, that's it.

second_exam.jpg

So as you can see, the driving "lessons" and exams are a complete waste of time. I don't think I've learned anything about driving, though maybe gained a little bit of understanding for the craziness you see on China's streets.

This Friday, I'm gonna take my last exam (well, hopefully it's gonna the last one!). Wish me luck! ;-)