Thanks for all the info! Just finished my test at Downsview. I've been riding since Aug 2008, about 6,000-7,000 KM of experience, on my 2nd bike (650cc Ninja), and I ride to/from work every day in the city, weather-permitting, and don't ride on the highway too often (maybe a couple of times a month?). I've been trying to ride by the book almost all summer (except for speed limits and full foot-down stops at stop signs). I thought the test was extremely easy, as long as you're good on the head movements, good on the blocking positions, and just ride safely and logically otherwise.
My examiner, Jahan, didn't seem especially nice but I thought he was pretty lenient considering how slow I was going (often 10kmph below the speed limit for stretches due to cars parked on the side of the road or when I was trying to make lane changes in traffic, and I would coast at low speed towards a red light at times if I knew I was going to have to brake anyways... I'm a bit L/100km conscious... my right turns and lane changes were very safe, but I didn't always have the ridiculous 10 car lengths or whatever. I just made sure to only do it when I felt there was enough room for two cars to have, in real world driving, made the turn/lane change).
He did, however, either forget to hit his walkie-talkie button or just forgot to give me instructions for most of the last 5 mins of the test. I had to assume I was making a left in a smaller street intersection at one point, then I had to assume I was making a right from Sheppard to Keele (I would signal since I was already next to the turn lane, then wait for him to give me instructions). When I made the left from Chris Drury to Carl Hall, I was already at the intersection in the right lane before he said anything so I had to do a really crooked left turn. I was practically stopped and looking at him for instructions before he told me to turn left. For the right-turn from Carl Hall into the examination centre, I received no instructions so I just sat there with my right turn blinker on, watching the mirror for some sort of signal. He then got on the mic to ask me what I was doing since it wasn't a stop sign and since it's a one-way headset, I couldn't explain.
When I spoke to him about it afterwards, he denied having not provided me instructions, but I think he suspected he probably forgot to say anything or mis-handled his walkie-talkie. No chat after the exam except for that (maybe he was in a rush? Would explain his lenient grading: No marks off = no explanations after the exam).
Route was (roughly): Allen Parkway southbound, attempted to make my lane change (and even slowed down to do so) but didn't get a chance and he called it off when we approached 401. 401 westbound, made my lane change there successfully, and then got off at Keele. North up Keele, detours up some small residential and business streets where my emergency stop was made. There was a flyer/newspaper guy on the emergency stop route so he called it off, since we'd be getting in his way, and then we did it a couple of turns later (I goofed and left my hazards on after getting back on the bike and *trying* to signal out). Curled around some ressie and low-density commercial/industrial streets some more and then went back North on the small streets towards Sheppard W. Made a left on to Shep W, then a right turn (North) up Keele, then a Right on Chris Drury (which is 30 kmph with lots of parked cars and bad lane markings... be careful) , left on to Carl Hall, and then a right back in to the center towards the big parking lot in the back. Park the bike back where you originally met the examiner: I was dumb, thought I was supposed to just find a regular parking spot and the examiner got a bit mad at me, but by then it was pretty obvious he had already filled all the boxes so wasn't going to bother scoring me down further.
3 points off:
1) for leaving the hazards on after the emergency stop (stupid me. I figured turning off my ignition would have disabled it. Guess it's not computer controlled). Needless to say, I don't use my hazards often.
2) for not exercising sufficient caution in an industrial area: I guess I didn't head check enough at the parked cars or driveway/entranceways. ("Business/Residential - Not look at hazard" - *1 point off for ServiceOntario for grammar)
3) Lane: Wrong/late lane/TIRE TRACK (tire track underlined) - [3]. I don't know when this happened, but I suspect it was one of the times I was told really, really late before a turn and maybe didn't line up perfectly. No big deal though.
SPECIAL EPIC FAIL) When the examiner started testing the headset from his car, 20 ft away, and asked me over the headset if I could hear him, I responded: "yes, I can hear you quite clearly, actually" in my regular speaking voice and waited for 10 seconds wondering what I was supposed to do next. Then hearing "I can't hear you. If you can hear me, give me a thumbs up". I am not a smart man.