Don't plan to fail. It's definitely not true that everyone fails once.

As a personal tip, book one lesson with a driving instructor before your test. They'll be able to call out all your mistakes, and it will be fresh in your mind during the real test.

Everyone fails once would be illegal, and sounds more like something from a movie than reality. They are not there to be against you, nor for you, but just to make sure you meet the basic standards. In general I doubt the want you coming back for another that is more work for them.

From what I've heard, US tests are super easy.

That's not a thing. I only know one person who ever failed.

its my understanding sometimes DMVs have a secret everyone fails once policy, or some instructors do.

Literally never heard this. I passed on my first attempt. Only missed one point for not merging all the way into the bike lane when turning right.

Though if possible, I would talk to people who have taken the test at the exact DMV and ask if there are any gotchas. The DMV I took mine at had a nasty curb on the driveway while turning in that many people would hit on the way in and autofail at the very end. I had more than one person give me a heads up about it before my test, so I practiced it on my own first.

I failed my first time. The instructor never told me why I failed, so I have no idea what I needed to improve on. I remember thinking it MUST be the parallel parking section, so I asked my dad to take me out to the DMV so I could spend an hour or two perfecting my parallel parking.

I scheduled a second test for the next Sunday. Little did I realize this was Super Bowl Sunday. The instructor I got that time around was very chill and just told me to drive through a nearby neighborhood a few times so we could wrap things up quickly. I was never even asked to parallel park.

All of this to say that I don't think the DMV has a secret failing policy, but I can guarantee you that some instructors take it more seriously than others.

I technically failed my first time, as the backup lights in my car didn't work, so I didn't even get to the driving part. They let me use a different vehicle the same day, so I passed with a vehicle that I didn't drive too often. I've never heard of a secret policy where everyone automatically fails, and most of the people I've known pass the first time, so I'm guessing it's some urban legend.

That was not a thing in my experience. The only thing I got a point taken off for was not checking my mirrors when turning. I did, but I guess I should have exaggerated turning my head to make it more obvious.

I'd believe it if I was told that some instructors will never give a perfect score and will always find something to ding you for, but it would be absurd to have a standard policy of failing everyone.

Only took it once, I don't know anyone personally that took it more than once. If there's a minimum wait time it would be posted in your state's policies, but I'd guess they'll take your money for the second test as soon as you want the too

Which time?

It was over 20 years ago, but I passed mine the first time. And if you're taking the test for the BMV they legally have to be fair, they can be super picky, but if you don't do anything wrong they can't falsely penalize you.
If you're worried the person giving you the test is going to be super picky then just be super careful.

It depends on the state and how busy the DMV is.

Passed mine first try. It helps to take it somewhere suburban-almost-rural--the roads will be way easier and the instructors are more inclined to pass people because it's much more important for people in those places to have licenses.

Said I could come back the next day, as it turned out I was busy that day so I passed the following day instead. I failed because I got over confident backing out of a parking spot an nudged a cone. Or, as he put it, I murdered a toddler. Fair enough. We did the backing up thing first so I could get that out of the way, the rest of the test was easy.

I've never heard of a weird secret code to force you to fail, just relax and don't run over any toddlers, I mean cones, and I'm sure you'll be just fine!

I failed my first time. I panicked and forgot how to parallel park. I think I spent the next month or so practicing and took it again. I don't think I've heard of people failing so frequently - so I'm not sure about that fail policy

I didn’t fail, and I never heard the “everyone fails once” thing. But also I learned from a private driving school, where the test was given by my regular instructor and had exactly the same vibe as all our regular practice sessions did.

Nah, there's no policy like that. Well, not across the board. There could be some individual offices that do such, but I've got a giant famn damily across the country, including two different DMVs, and there's no sign of a policy like that being in place.

And I passed my first go. So did most of the cousins in my age range, so it definitely isn't an everywhere, every when thing at all

It varies from state to state. Some let you take it the next day, others might require you to wait a few weeks. At least that is what I remember from when I was worried about failing the test. Although, I've never really heard of a practice where the DMV or an instructor fails everyone the first time. Some instructors might be stricter than others, but I don't think it's a policy across DMVs and driving instructors. Besides, with two months of practice, you should be fine. So long as you can obey traffic laws and do what the instructor says you should pass.

So I figured out, minor offenses are 2 weeks, and major ones on 30 days

Not. I didn’t fail.