Originally Posted by Burning Down

Try to follow everything by the book - that is the driver's ed manual for your state.

One thing that I learned (the hard way, unfortunately), is that if the examiner asks you to make a turn onto another street or make some other move, and you can't do it safely (i.e. you're in the other lane and can't get to the proper lane safely), then continue driving straight. I'll tell you my experience so this makes more sense - I was taking my first test and near the end of the route, the examiner asked me to make a left turn at the upcoming light. I was in the right lane and tried to get all the way over to the left, and almost hit somebody (the traffic was heavy in that spot). The other driver let me into the left turn lane and I completed the test, but I failed on that bad manoeuver. The examiner was honest with me and she said if I had just continued straight or turned right instead (the safe options), I would have passed the test.

So listen to the examiner's instructions carefully, and just take a second to make sure you can follow through on the instructions. If it's not safe to do what they tell you (like above), don't do it.