Depends on the kid. One my daughter was paired with had less than 4 hours in a parking lot but wound up passing. A terrifying experience for her on day 1 but everyone survived.

My daughter just did ACE Behind the Wheel in November. The instructor was great. She had about 30 hours of driving under her belt and still had two more months until she was eligible for her license, but schedule wise, November worked best for us. She did her test on the last day, then her paper license was held captive at the Pimmit Hills ACE office until recently when we had to make an appointment almost 3 weeks ahead of time to pick it up. I found that kind of annoying, as with a private driving instructor for my other kid they just gave us the temporary license and said it is valid on such and such date.

Her driving partner had literally never sat in a drivers seat before. She only got to drive around the HS parking lot for the first 5 lessons and then went into the nearby neighborhood. Kind of a waste of "observation hours" for my kid. That student will have to make an appt to take her driving test in about 6 months or whenever she is eligible for her license (with ACE). So I don't really recommend taking it unless you are ready to at least take the test on the last day.

Nobody drove on the beltway or 66 in Behind the Wheel with either of my kids (the other used Aloha Driving school--do not recommend). I wanted to do iDrive Smart, but their schedule didn't work with ours, unfortunately. They do have a nice self scheduler on their website, but not many convenient options at the time I was looking.

They will be going on the Beltway. No, your kid cannot attend. Please cancel/transfer your session.

You have to do the 45+ first. We will do a lot more before. You have to the think of the safety of everyone. There will be another student in the car. The assumption is the student has met all the requirements of the 45+ hours (which includes-night, different weather conditions, etc). The instructor and fellow student may be very annoyed and you could seriously injure someone.

You do the ACE CERTIFICATION classes AFTER you have completed your parent-supervised 45+ hours.

I would think you want your kid to actually PASS the certification classes, right? Well, then set them up. Plus, I'm pretty sure they required me to sign something that said we had already completed the 45 hours when I brought my kids for their first day of the ACE certification classes.

Do you want to put your kid in a car with a driver who has only driven 7 hours? I don't. So why would you want some other kid to have to risk their life while your inexperienced driver drives (and the other kid has to observe)? Your kid will end up crying at the wheel because s/he screws up and the teacher has to pull them out of an accident. My kid saw other drivers nearly get in accidents while he was in the back seat, and the tears flowing from the driver who screwed up.

Set your kid up for success and do your job. Teaching driving to teens sucks.... and yet, it is your job. If you want some assistance, then you pay for a company to do SOME of the practice hours. IDrive Smart charges about $750 for 5 sessions (private) where your kid will get 1.5 hours of practice each time. I liked doing that in addition to my supervised practice so that the teacher could teach things differently/better than I do. But, in the end, you just have to suck it up and log in all the hours. Your kid's life depends on it -- as well as the lives of others. This is not the place to cut corners.

When my kids did the class, one of the days had them driving on the Beltway - and it was around 4:00pm, so I imagine the traffic was extremely heavy and very stressful driving for a new driver.

I've had three kids do this program. I wouldn't have them take it until they're VERY comfortable driving on all kinds of roads. It's really meant for fine tuning and taking the exam on the last day. They will have another student in the car with them and you'd be putting that child at risk, too.

We always did the hours first although no one has said explicitly that you have to wait that long to do behind the wheel.

Anonymous wrote:Do the 45 hours with a parent before ACE. It’s not really driving lessons.

45 is minimum. Responsible parents support for well over 100hrs... before allowing behind the wheel test...

Anonymous wrote:Do the 45 hours with a parent before ACE. It’s not really driving lessons.

This. Both of my kids did BTW through ACE. They didn’t have to have their hours completed by the first class but it was expected that they be ready to take the road test at the end.

Do the 45 hours with a parent before ACE. It’s not really driving lessons.

Anonymous wrote:Based on my experience, with the last child of mine, who took it, I would say no. I think the expectation is they take the test on the last day. In fact, my son did his test on the second last day, did not pass the first time, and he corrected his mistakes and was able to pass the next day.

Pp again. It’s not really like driving school, more like the final step to get your license. I have a permit driver right now, and I wouldn’t even consider it for her for at least a few more months and she’s driving on the roads already.

Based on my experience, with the last child of mine, who took it, I would say no. I think the expectation is they take the test on the last day. In fact, my son did his test on the second last day, did not pass the first time, and he corrected his mistakes and was able to pass the next day.

And I realize they won't be able to take the test at the end and get their provisional license, obviously.

Can students succeed in the 7-day behind-the-wheel class if they only have a few hours of practice with parents? Not really out of the parking lot yet, but the class is next week...