Lucien has many positive reviews, so I think his teaching style clearly works well for some students--it just didn't work for me. I'm not trying to criticize his technique as a whole, but I do want others to have a clear sense of what to expect. Booking a session was quick and easy, and I was able to get an appointment the very next day, which I really appreciated. I understand that driving instructors sometimes need to be curt and direct for safety reasons. However, I think the type of feedback also needs to match the situation and the student's experience level. For me, the lesson felt like an hour of being yelled at. I was constantly aware that I was doing something wrong, but not always what I had done wrong or how to fix it. My impression was that Lucien overestimated my prior driving experience. This could likely have been resolved by taking a few moments to pause, talk through what we were about to do, and ask whether I had done it before. When I asked questions, Lucien was willing to demonstrate, but many of his instructions weren't clear to me, and his tone made me feel as though I was being scolded, even if that wasn't his intention. If I made the same mistake multiple times, that suggested I didn't understand something, not that I wasn't trying. Instead, he seemed frustrated that I didn't get it immediately and would tell me I was doing it wrong without giving concrete, descriptive feedback about how to correct it. For example, when I was practicing turning, he would yell that I was doing it wrong and grab the wheel, which didn't help me understand what I needed to change. It would have been far more helpful to pull over, explain the steps clearly, and then practice on a quiet street where I could try again safely and independently. There were also times when I misunderstood his instructions (for instance, going into the leftmost lane instead of going to the leftmost lane that eventually turns right). His immediate response was to yell that I hadn't listened, rather than clarify what I had misunderstood. This approach felt infantilizing and made me upset and distracted, which wasn't conducive to learning. Pedagogically, it also didn't make much sense to me. I wasn't paying $70 an hour to ignore instructions; if I wasn't following them correctly, it meant something about the instructions wasn't clear. A more helpful response would have been to ask what part I had misunderstood and adjust the explanation so I could succeed next time. Overall, Lucien may be a good fit for students who thrive under very direct and high-pressure instruction, are very good at articulating the specific skills that they already have and are hoping to gain, and are better at interpreting his feedback. For others, his style may be stressful and difficult to learn from. read more

Highly recommend Lucien. He's a very good teacher who taught a complete novice. He' has never missed a lesson, always shows up on time and is a very good man. Thanks Lucien. read more

Tamara taught me 2 lessons, the first one was okay but the second one she started late and she was on her phone almost the whole time and she had GPS on and her phone was on speaker about directions to somewhere, she told me to don't listen to it but I wonder why she can't turn it off or mute it. Also she had me enter a 711 store from a do not enter sign because she needed snacks, overall very unprofessional. read more

First thing first, Lucien is an absolutely fantastic teacher. He is extremely experienced and teaches in a beginner-friendly way. He is humorous, patient, yet he always precisely pointed out what I did wrong and how I could improve. Today I passed the test and I sincerely thank Lucien for his teaching. Then why am I giving a 3 star? It is the UNPROFESSIONALISM and the INSULT from OTHER members who run the driving school. Alexa is the key person who runs logistics of road test sponsoring. The road test sponsoring costs !! $160 !! per person per test, yet she arrived at site late and underprepared. While Lucien arrived early taking good care of things, Alexa couldn't even find pens for exam takers to sign the form. Her late arrival forced Lucien to park her cars elsewhere and walk back while she set up shop. Bear in mind that Lucien is the sponsor who goes in the car with the exam taker and the examiner. So this blunder caused Lucien to come back late and forced the first exam taker spending time with examiner for half an hour ALONE, confused and frustrated, and the examiner was about to give a fail. I couldn't stand what this fellow exam taker was going through. I pointed out to Alexa that she should call Lucien and get him back ASAP while Lucien was away. She told me to call him myself and she won't do it (I'm sorry is this my job?!). After I called out the unprofessionalism of Alexa and the distress she caused to the exam taker, she went on a full rant of "This is not my responsibility! Talk to Lucien! We are done!" The last straw breaking camel's back: she called my behavior "DISGUSTING" in front of everyone, while I was just voicing my concern. This is not something I will let slide. The examiner, who witnessed the brawl, was extremely nice to me today and asked me not to give a hard time to others, as life can get tough sometimes. I really wanted to follow her advice, but I just can't let this slide after paying $160 seeing the unprofessionalism and being insulted as "DISGUSTING." So my final word: Lucien, thank you so much for everything! Alexa, you are DISGUSTING too and Lucien deserves someone much better to run business for him! I would have hoped my first Yelp review should be better than this. read more

This driving school was AWFUL. Lucien was unresponsive over and over again to my son's texts to schedule practices after we paid $800 to the school. He then would repeatedly text my son when he finally responded that the next lesson was tomorrow at a certain time, never asking if that would even work for him. Lucien berated my son and the other drivers in the car and was on his phone talking most of the time according to my son. I believe him, because when I initially called, Lucien was extremely rude to me, too, acting like I was interrupting him or bothering him in some way. As if this wasn't all unprofessional enough, when my son tried to schedule his driver's test, the school said that he already had gotten his license, which he clearly had not. Again, they seemed irritated by having to look up his file and set up this appointment, all which we paid them to do. Lastly, when we went to Watertown for the driving test, the school added on an extra $100 to the fee, which they never told us about in advance. I felt like this was a scam, as they wanted it in cash on the spot. We gave it to them, because we just wanted the entire experience to be over with. I would NEVER send another child to this school and in fact, did not send my daughter there. Instead, she is using Belmont Driving school which is very professional. read more

I took lessons with Lucien a couple of years ago when I was 27 years old. He was inappropriate - flirted with me, touched my leg above my knee when explaining gear shifting, and put his face close to mind when showing parallel parking. He said uncomfortable things like "you should pull onto the highway and we could have a weekend in New York together". The first session he just seemed friendly, but he started the more overt behavior on the second session and I never went back. read more

Lucien was a terrific instructor when I learned how to drive! I did around 12 lessons with him (I think it was a package, which also allowed me to save $), so that I could 100% master the road before my exam. This made me greatly prepared. His patience, humor, and thorough knowledge made the nerve wracking experience of learning how to drive a very pleasant one! He is well regarded by the RMV and will do the work to make sure you book a road test at a time that works for you. I'm now going to have my my sister learn how to drive from him! PS Bring him snacks as he's on the road long hours! :) read more

Wow, this was stuck in my drafts. Well even 3 months later, I still feel the same. I've even seen his car with students driving and yup him on his phone. I hate leaving bad reviews, I really do, but this one interaction blew my mind. Lucien and I had a 2 hour lesson scheduled, that I was looking forward to. I had to cancel 45 minutes before because my newly adopted dog has some sort of eye infection and I need to take her to emergency appointment. Clearly in this situation the dog comes first. Lucien a supposedly professional business man that owns a company had this to say to me. "Thank you dor waiting the last minute to cancel 2 hour lesson". Yeah it was really crappy of me to do that to him but I am not risking my dogs sight for his schedule. Needless to say I canceled the next 4 lessons I had booked with him. I should have read more reviews before booking. He has a track record of unprofessionalism. read more

I am in my 40s and failed driving tests many times over the years because I would get really nervous. This time I practiced a lot in advance on my own, then signed up for a two hour lesson with Alexa and did another hour with Lucien before using their car for the test. Both were great - observed problems carefully and gave advice as well as tips for the test. I watched three people fail before it was my turn! Then I passed. Great experience overall. read more

This school is run by Jean, his daughter, and his brother Lucien. I have been driving for almost 15 years abroad, but never got a license in the US. It turns out I need one to work now. I reached out to Shammah Driving School because was close to my place and I needed 1. understand how the driving test is/practice for it and 2. schedule a road test because the RMV website has huge backlogs of 2 months. Well, it didn't end well. During my driving lesson, Jean Pierre spent the whole time on his phone. When not on the phone, he was yelling conflicting instructions (including an illegal turn). He didn't show me how the test was or discuss it with me. I just considered I was alright because he didn't say anything so we scheduled the road test. Getting to the road test (2 weeks after the driving lesson), I thought weird when they took me to a distant parking lot away from the test site. I was surprised to hear most people there had failed 3-4 times already. In my turn, the inspector also gave me conflicting instructions (pull over in a busy street without time to react) and started complained I was too slow (15mph in a 30mph road). In the end, I failed and it was not clear why. They didn't give my test documents back. Jean told me I needed more driving lessons. Also told me it's normal for people to fail 3-4 times. Well, it's pretty clear this is a scam. If someone used to drive can't pass, they obviously take advantage so people pay for many driving lessons and multiple tests. I think the fact they can schedule suspicious driving tests (I looked online and it seems they are actually allowed to do that) and ask for cash payment ($160) suggests there a huge scheme to make people spend as much money they can to get their license. When I told them I was not going to do it again with them and just schedule my own road test on the RMV website they flipped to being aggressive immediately. It's horrible to realize that everyone there was an immigrant and someone is capable of exploiting vulnerable people that probably can't wait 2 months to drive. So I spent $210 ($50 for the lesson and $160 for the test) to learn that RMV is an accessory of this kind of scheme because they know and don't do anything about it. I am also surprised that there are no other reviews like that here. read more

I never drove a car in my entire life, before joining Shammah driving school. Lucien is an excellent instructor. He is extremely patient with the students and let's you drive the car unlike the other instructors. He is always punctual. He has good tips for parallel parking and 3-point turn which are important to clear road test in Massachusetts. Lucien is extremely busy you must book the classes in advance otherwise, it is difficult to get lessons from him. Sometimes he is a strict teacher; but trust me it really helps you in becoming a good driver. Just blindly follow Lucien's instructions and you should be good to go. I cleared my exam today in FIRST attempt. Lucien has a great talent for teaching, and I'll be forever grateful to him. Thank you so much!!! read more

Shammah Driving School - I am extremely thankful to you Mr.Lucien :) - Driving Schools Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Lucien and Cory have been amazing instructors. I was putting off getting my license for years because I was just too afraid of the road. Cory helped me find confidence in my driving and I was able to pass the driving exam! read more

Lucien is a great instructor . He is always punctual and always available via phone or message. His techniques for a 3 point turn, reverse back and parallel parking are excellent. Lucien focuses more over learning the art of driving than actually clearing the road test. His instructions and techniques helps to get perfection. His pays attention to every detail for instance how you hold the steering wheel, right turns and left turns skills. I was able to clear my test in first attempt with no mistakes. Also he helped me get rid of mistakes in training sessions. read more

I took a session for only road test class with Alexa. This class is for the people who knows driving and only need the points of the test. She didn't taught me some of the points that they asked me in the test. I paid $140 for class and $160 for only the test. Just a waisttttt! Don't recommend at allllll read more

As much as I love Lucien, I must say I suspected my driving test instructor to be under the influence.

I had Alexis as an instructor and passed my test on the first try. She's very thorough and has patience. She let me parallel park 100 times until I got it correct!! Her dad makes sure test day runs nice and smooth. I absolutely would recommend this school and her as an instructor. read more

Don't attend this driving school! It's a waste of money. If you live in Cambridge, they will pick you up from your door but you need to drive another student to their home first, which means half an hour is already on the road, and you hardly got any time practicing parallel parking, three-point turn, etc. And they didn't tell you all the details that you need to pay attention during the road test. They charge $160 for road test (and you need to pay RMV separately for another $35) which is a bit too high in my opinion. The inspector won't treat you differently just because you are from this driving school, so better to schedule the road test from RMV directly, and save $160 if you are not in a ruch. read more

My first instructor was okay; my second instructor was on the phone for the whole hourlong lesson

I've been delaying driving for a long time for fear of being a lousy driver. After living in Cambridge for 6 years, I finally decided to get my license. I've never driven before, but Lucien has been a perfect instructor! His instructions are clear and on point. With about 12 or so lessons (I didn't have any other opportunity to practice other than Lucien's lessons), I passed the test today on first attempt! I'd highly recommend Shammah driving school, and in particular, Lucien! He's a great teacher! read more

So the way they operate is that they pick you up at a designated spot in Cambridge. If you live in Cambridge, they will pick you up at home, if you live outside, you just meet on an agreed upon place within Cambridge. You start off each lesson driving the previous student off to their home/pickup spot, then proceed to your driving. This does mean that when you yourself are done with your lesson, you will be driven back home. This means that you should tack on an extra 10-15 minutes of your schedule onto the lesson. My main issues with the school were that Lucien really yells a lot. He loses patience quickly and over-comments on even the smallest move you make. It gets quite irritating and distracting fast. On top of this, he is constantly on his phone, booking classes with people. This is also VERY distracting. He sometimes loses focus when doing this. For instance, gave me an illegal instruction once because he missed a certain cue while on his phone. We had quite a few lessons together and I didn't get the sense that he had a set plan for me. When directly confronted about how many lessons I would need, he was not forthcoming. At one point I realized that I was just giving him money, getting yelled at, and finishing the day feeling like crap without a clear end goal in sight. At one point he just became very inpatient and irritable with me all the time and got very aggressive when answering questions... I didn't really know why I was giving this man my money, so I stopped. While being driven to my drop off spot by other students, I saw him berate them in very weird infantilizing ways, that I just didn't see why anyone would put up with. read more

Cory is an amazing instructor! I had a lot of stress and a fear of driving but Cory was patient and encouraging and made driving a fun experience. After taking classes with Cory I was able to pass my road test exam and gained confidence in my driving ability. I would recommend that everyone take classes with Cory, he's the best!! read more

(review from 04/30/2016) Great choice for learning how to drive (hopefully this guy is still in business). Found Shammah Driving School through google, then through yelp. I found a couple of driving schools but decided to go with this one due to the fact that there were such good reviews on yelp. I didn't really know what to expect for my first time driving, but it was way more fun and easy than I expected it to be. I think a large part of that is the fact that Lucien, the guy who runs the business and teaches classes, is such a good instructor. He's not overly hands on (in the best way possible), and is patient and easy to speak to. Frankly I think the car he uses to teach is a little small, but otherwise this is a good experience. Lessons go for $40 each, and appointments are generally kept on time. He comes to pick you up, wherever you may be (of course, assuming you're in the area). If you live in Somerville, or in the Cambridge area maybe, this is the best place to take driving lessons, no matter the age. read more

I had my first set of classes in Brighton some time back which turned out to be a bad experience. So, i was skeptical about how Shammah driving school may turn our to be. But all my apprehensions were dispelled in my classes with Lucien. He is to the point, methodical n patient teacher. His inputs on parallel parking, 3 point turn etc were spot on and helped me clear the test in one go. He is extremely busy n booked a week or 2 in advance. only way to get in touch is via a call. I will recommend him for drivers of all experience ranges read more

My experience with Shammah Driving school was excellent. Lucien is a wonderful teacher and made me feel very confident going into my road test. I passed on my first time. Thank you Lucien!!!!! read more

This place has an overwhelming number of positive reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I ended up having four lessons total, three with Lucien and one with Tim. That was enough for me to see that this is an extremely unprofessional driving school and a waste of my money. I turned down their offers to schedule more lessons with me and took my money elsewhere. Here's a summary of all the things that left me quite furious: - I had my lessons rescheduled or canceled (sometimes just 20 minutes before the lesson) five times. FIVE TIMES. That's more than the number of lessons I've had. I have a job, like most other people, and I had to make time for these lessons, which never happened. There was no way I was going to pass my road test in two months. - At my first lesson, Lucien didn't even ask me about my previous driving experience and just seated me at the wheel and made me drive. Luckily I had driven a little before, but this could have gone really badly. - Tim was a decent instructor when he did show up, but I learned very little from Lucien. He made almost no attempt to explain stuff. All I got was the occasional comment that I was doing something wrong, but nothing about how to fix it. - During one of my lessons, I spent 40 minutes sitting in traffic to drive the previous student to Porter Square. That was $50 wasted. When I decided to switch schools, Tim offered me two free lessons to make up for it, but who knows if they'd have shown up for those two lessons? Do yourself a favour. Go to a real driving school. read more

After two 1 hour lessons with Lucien, one several weeks before my road test and the second just an hour before the test, I passed. Thank you, Lucien! I have been driving for several years with a permit but failed the road test twice because I didn't have formal training on how to parallel park and didn't really understand what the road test proctors were looking for exactly. In just two hours, Lucien was able to give me incredible tips on what do to ensure success. Most importantly, he taught me how to parallel park easily. He assured me I would do well and gave me the confidence to believe I can pass- and I did! He is direct and clear in his instructions and does not lose patience when you want to repeat a part of the exam you feel you need more practice with. Would highly recommend! read more

Ridiculously unprofessional. Tim stood us up twice on two different days. The first time we waited for half an hour before he finally called, claiming to have been in an accident. We set up another appointment for a different day. He didn't show up again! Plus, he never called or responded to texts to explain why. Do not do business with a place that doesn't respect customers' time! read more

Lucien is a gem of a person. he was patient and an excellent teacher. there were times when i did the most stupid mistakes , for the simple reason i found it difficult to switch to the american way of driving ,being so used to driving in India .Here was a man who instilled confidence in me and got me to switch . 5 classes and today i passed the test, one go. I could feel how proud he was ,and i was dearly humbled, humbled by his nature. and his love for his pupils. Yes he is punctual ,very much so. Thanks Sir,i am looking forward for a class or two with you on the Highway read more

Lucien was amazing. After a couple of sessions with him I passed it with no difficulties. Also he is very polite and nice. His car is really clean and his scheduling is perfect. read more

An update that is long overdue - I passed the exam in Nov. 2018 in the first attempt with full score, all thanks to Lucien! He is very patient and does have very good driving / teaching skills. Like most other comments have mentioned, Lucien is very punctual and is always reachable through phone and SMS. If you are looking for a driving instructor near Cambridge / Somerville, definitely look nowhere else. read more

Lucien is an amazing teacher. My fiance and I took lessons from him, and learnt to drive from the basics. We did about 10 classes each. Lucien is a very busy man, but he accommodated us, despite our limited availability. I went from being afraid of the thought of driving to a confident driver very fast. He makes things very simple. He scheduled our road tests and taught us well enough for us to pass. he is respectful, calm and a very nice person. It is very pleasant to learn to drive from someone like hi,. if you live in our around Cambridge or Somerville, Shammah Driving school should be your #1 choice for a driving school. You will not regret it. Thanks a lot for everything Lucien! read more

The best driving school in Cambridge/Somerville area. I passed the road test on the first try. Lucien trained good drivers, there's no doubt about that. If you're looking for a driving school, this is the place to go! read more

Lucien is the most amazing driving instructor. He is very punctual, knowledgeable and gives great feedbacks on how I drive. Both my girlfriend and I took lessons with Lucien and passed the road test in our first tries. read more

I wouldn't recommend this driving school. After 5 to 6 lessons, I didn't obtain much improvement compared to when I first started. And Lucien's approach wasn't very effective as he would yell at you as his "pedagogical approach" to teaching driving, without patiently explaining how you could improve with certain aspects. I switched to another driving school afterwards and it only took me 4 lessons to pass the test. Ethos - having someone yelled at you without explaining what you did wrong never helps. read more

ok so 2 months after the fact Lucien is now sending me messages saying that it was explained to me that the driver had a flat tire. uh, no. to reiterate, i called after waiting for 15 minutes, no one told me about a flat tire, whoever i spoke to just seemed completely confused as to why i was or why i'd want a driving lesson. read more

Lucien's great! Both my boyfriend and I passed on the first try after taking lessons from him.

I started working with Lucien with zero driving experience and extremely high anxiety about getting behind the wheel. Lucien is very good at not just teaching you tricks to pass the road test (which he does), but helping you to become a confident driver overall. I feel like I am definitely ready for my long work commute now. read more

I've been terrified by the idea of driving and put it off for nine years, but I finally reached my breaking point with the MBTA. One of the two driving schools that picks up in the town I live (Lexington) had pretty terrible reviews, and the other was too expensive. I went with Shammah Driving School because of the great reviews and location. I work in Cambridge so I could take lessons in the evenings, and I felt it would be better to learn in a more difficult environment to be better prepared for difficult situations. As an added bonus, his rate is the lowest I found in the area ($50 per lesson at the time of writing, no package discounts). Lucien has a no nonsense attitude that ended up being what I needed to push through my initial anxiety. My first lesson was my first time on the road at all, and he immediately had me driving on the street to get the previous student back home (with a lot of help steering and use of the his second set of brakes). His feedback was firm but encouraging, concrete and 100% constructive. He does a great job of reading you and evaluating what you're doing in order to help you improve. Scheduling can be difficult because he is so booked, and I have overheard similar scheduling issues and misunderstandings that people are complaining about here while in the car with him. I haven't experienced any issues myself, but I would definitely recommend anyone interested to call his cell number (can be found on the business card in the photos) rather than the office number. He nearly always picks up and can also schedule further ahead than the people in the office do. I'd also encourage confirming your appointments multiple times (call the day before, ask in the car during your current lessons) to make sure you're on the same page. While I haven't personally had any problems with scheduling mistakes, I know that others did, so these are the things I did to ensure I wouldn't. After 12 hours of lessons with not a lot of other practice, I passed the road test on the first try. Lucien has a great talent for teaching, and I'll be forever grateful to him for helping me feel comfortable in the driver's seat. read more

It was a great experience learning from Lucien. I was in a situation to take my drivers license immediately before my internship. So I approached him and I felt that it was a right decision. I was also new to diving at that time. He made me comfortable and gave constructive criticisms and told everything what is required to pass the test. Finally I cleared my test on the 1st attempt at Lynn. So I would recommend him to all those who want to get their drivers license. Thank you Mr. Lucien! read more

Lucien is AMAZING. Best teacher ever. Tought me everything I needed to know for the test in a couple of classes, and passed with flying colors. Best bang for your buck - do yourself a favor, choose Lucien. read more