I have been training at an approved yard in prep for my ptt in march and am struggling with the lunging. here is the instructor's suggested lesson plan (bearing in mind you have a total of 15 mins!!!!)

Lunge horse, no rider on left rein, no side reins.
bring into middle - change rein, having put on side reins
Lunge horse, no rider, with side reins on right rein.
bring into middle, take off side reins, leg up to the rider, put on side reins again
Lunge horse and rider on left rein with stirrups
bring into middle, rider takes stirrups away, change rein
Lunge rider on right rein with no stirrups and do various exercises...reins in one hand...
bring horse into middle, change rein
Lunge rider no stirrups on left rein
bring into middle, take back stirrups to see if improved, change rein
Lunge horse and rider right rein with stirrups (sitting)
bring into the middle take off side reins, dismount rider
FINISHED!!!!

My question is, how an earth you can do all this in 15 mins and get any sort of improvement in your pupil and keep the horse thinking forwards when you keep briniing him into the middle to change the rein??? Your comments appreciated, along with your suggested plan that has worked. I don't want to fail this exam on my lunging but the whole thinkg just gets me annoyed and i know on the day if i get the lunge i will be really unhappy and inconfident. ??????

how do you do it??

in reality you actually get nearly half an hour for lunging.
Also, only the borderline cases get the lunge lessons, even though the BHS say this is nonsense.

I took and failed the PTT last March - yes I failed the lunge bit as well. At the start of the day we picked out a piece of paper with either a jumping brief and a lead rein brief OR a flat work brief and a lunge brief. The examiners said they thought it was fair that if you had a jump lesson then you should have he lead rein lesson as well. I don't know if all examiners do this, but I certainly don't think that borderline cases get the lunge lessons - how do they know at the start of the day whether or not you're borderline?
I had a lunge lesson myself last week and it was for just half an hour and the intructor certainly seemd to pack a lot into it. Perhaps you should try that and see how someone else does it?
Good luck, I might take it again in May. (I'm in the North west).

There is no actual time set for the lunge lesson, therefore to have a lesson plan that will fill at least half-hour is a good ides - it's not going to come across well if you have run out of ideas, and are just lunging aimlessley.
Also, remember to teach to the standard of the rider - I had a secure well-balanced rider, and these exercises may not have improved her at all!.
If you are stopped early, then the examiner eather 1. has already decided you've done something really unsafe or 2. you are well up to standard and have already proved yourself. Although sometimes they may be curious about what more you are going to do, and will let a 'good' lesson finish off!.
I also was given the lunge lesson at the start of the day!.

Sorry for the delay in replying , my PC's been running like a slug! I've lost count of the number of times Internet Explorer has crashed this week!

I tend to do it similar to the original post ( although I got the lead rein lesson for my PTT last year ).
The following is taken directly from my notes :

I would spend very little time in working the horse in - just making sure that he is safe , and getting a quick idea of whether he has any problems which might cause problems for the rider ( the horse should be forward going enough , and already worked in anyway ).
Try to get the side reins on at the first change of rein .
Before ,mounting rider up , check tack and undo side reins , mount up the rider and redo side reins.
ASSESS the rider both ways with reins and stirrups.
USE what you see to :
Check position - seat and legs , work without stirrups , knotted reins in outside hand , holding loop. Both hands on saddle with loop of rein , or inside hand free. Not both hands on reins at first - rider may not be balanced enough.

Walk and exercises ( leg away / forwards and back / knee up , out , back , down etc). Change rein and repeat exercises and trot work on the other rein.
NO CANTER AT THIS LEVEL , and DO NOT crack the lunge whip!
Put stirrups and reins back.
Trot again , sitting or rising depending on the standard of the rider and look for improvement on both reins. ( Can the stirrups be lengthened ? Are they easier to keep? ).
UNCLIP SIDEREINS BEFORE rider dismounts.

I have used this method quite a bit , and with practise it does get easier to fit everything into 25 minutes ( just don't let the warm up phase drag - try to give the rider VFM , you can also use your warming up period as instruction by telling the rider what you are doing and why as you do it.)

Now , that's the theory - just hope that if I get a lunge lesson in March that it all goes to plan!
Jonathan.

I am back at the yard tomorrow to practice again and have been using liveries as guinea pigs too!! Still hope I get the lead rein though on the day as I teach kids all weekend everyweekend . Thanks again.