Feel free to keep adding the minor mistakes people have made on tests, maybe times you've thought you failed but passed
I did more than that on my CPL(H) - I made some fairly major mistakes but still passed!
I get horrendously nervous doing exams, and it seems to get worse as I get older and do more. I've tried everything to deal with it; nothing helps much.
This was the case with my CPL test. I got in, and did the start-up, using the checklist, as I'd done hundreds of times before. But I forgot to put in the clutch...for f/w pilots, this is about as basic as you can get! Eventually I realised it, came clean and said I was nervous, and carried on. But I could hardly fly. My speeds and heights were all over the place, and I even made mistakes doing the familiar airfield departure. I almost told the examiner that we should abandon the test, and I thought that we might as well, since I thought I'd failed anyway.
But I didn't. And I don't quite know what it was that made me suddenly stop and somehow manage to pull myself together. But I remembered my instructor saying that there may be particular things you're meant to do/not do, but ultimately it's down to the examiner, and you should never give up till it's all over. I decided that it didn't matter if I passed or failed; I'd just fly, and to hell with what happened. And things got better. Not instantaneously, easily, wonderfully, better, but the numbing panic eased somewhat. The first section was the nav, and I found my isolated house...though I was still so scared I could hardly tell the examiner which house I thought it was (don't worry; this is a CPL bit; you won't have to do it). By the time we got to the general handling I was pretty much flying as I always did, though not brilliantly, and during the instrument flying I just relaxed and followed the instruments as usual.
I still thought I
must have failed, but the debrief was interesting. The examiner said he could see I was incredibly nervous, but he was impressed by the fact that I was overcoming it and getting better. And I'd proved I could navigate...in the end. My general handling, he said, was acceptable after the first few cockups (my words, not his), and my instrument flying was good (wow!). So he finished by saying, "So you've passed, but I don't want you to think you did well". I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and said, "I
know I didn't do well".
Moral of this longer-than-intended story...no matter what happens, never ever give up...at least until you've landed and shut down.