The moment that a child first starts to feel like an adult is a glorious milestone. Many students agree that the first time they stepped behind the wheel with no one in the passenger’s seat immediately made them feel a sense of independence.

After patiently sitting through 30 hours of classroom instruction at a driver’s education school, there’s still a huge obstacle between a student and freedom: the dreaded license test. They are forced to choose between taking the test through a driving school or making the trip to a DMV.

James Banbury ’16 believes that taking the drivers test at a DMV is much more challenging than taking it through a driving school. “In my mind it’s sort of like donating a huge amount to a college. It’s not really cheating, but everyone knows how you got in,” Banbury said.

Banbury is not alone. McDevitt agrees that the test at the DMV is more challenging. He took his test at the Bridgeport DMV where he was unaware of the roads, and felt that it was a lot busier than near to his driver’s ed classes.

“There is literally a turn on the test where if you’re turning right, you can’t see the oncoming cars, and once you go to make the turn, the sidewalk is broken, so your car always bumps and in doing so you can so easily hit the curb and immediately fail,”  Anabelle Porio ’15, who took her test at the Bridgeport DMV, said.

Despite the claims that it is much easier to pass the test through a driving school, All-Star still says that they are not a license factory. On their website it says, “When you enroll in our class, you aren’t signing up for a license. You’re signing up for a lifetime of safe and confident driving.”

But the differences in the tests are substantial. According to Jack Cassell ’16, the test at All-Star only consisted of driving and backing into a space. Whereas, according to Nic Amato ’16, the test at the Danbury DMV included driving, backing into a space, a three point turn and parallel parking.

“The test wasn’t too bad, but I’m pretty sure it was harder than All-Star. Having witnessed some of the driving talent that earns a pass at All-Star, I can say pretty confidently where some of that extra 100 dollars is going,” Amato said.

Although some people think that each test should consist of the same criteria, Cassell still thinks that it’s fair because every student had the opportunity to take it through a driving school.