[Nick]

Over 2 million driving tests take place in England, Scotland, and Wales each year, yet over half of the people taking the test will fail.

This new article on the RAC blog offers 15 tips to prepare yourself ahead of the big day and avoid some of the common mistakes. Follow this link to the article to dig deeper and get more information on the points: 15 driving test tips to help you pass first time.

• Be on time
• Have a lesson beforehand
• Check you have everything you need
• Use your instructor's car
• Take your instructor along for reassurance
• Ask your examiner to repeat, if you need
• Don't assume that you've failed
• Choose where you want to take your test
• Get to know your test route
• Exaggerate those mirror checks
• Choose when to take your test
• Learn to drive in different conditions
• Listen to your instructor
• Go over your theory again
• Don't rush to get your licence

Do any of these resonate for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

[Beelzebub]

@Nick

• Get to know your test route - test centres can have as many as 16 routes, and they stopped publishing them many years ago. But by all means get your instructor to identify known "tricky" locations.
• Exaggerate those mirror checks - this is a bit of an old wives' tale. The examiner is looking for effective observation. Moving your head just proves that your neck muscles work, not that you're taking in what you see.. The examiner knows what is happening behind, and wants to see you take the appropriate action.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Beelzebub

@Nick

• Get to know your test route - test centres can have as many as 16 routes, and they stopped publishing them many years ago. But by all means get your instructor to identify known "tricky" locations.

They may have stopped publishing them but you can still get a sense of what they were, for example, on this site, where there are listed examples of previous routes. When I took my test it was on a route that most of my friends had on theirs and I would bet a significant amount that it's stil in use today - although some of the layouts have likely changed somewhat!

[Drivingforfun]

I agree that learning the exact routes is a fools' errand - if there even were set routes, anyone with the ability to memorise them all would make a fantastic driver if they put that brain to memorising how to drive!!! 😆

That said, putting aside the obviousness that you'd best be able to drive safely anywhere, learning on the roads around the test centre you plan to use is apt.. If the test is an hour at most, the test will take place on roads within half an hour of the centre, so learn on those roads if you can

My main tip is drive as much as you can while learning, and take the test in the car you've been using. Obviously not possible for everyone, admitted

Doesn't have to be super time consuming - once I became competent my parents would let me shuttle them about in their car, which I also used for the test. Whenever they wanted to go somewhere they'd ask if I wanted to go with them, so I'd get some practise in while going where they wanted and not making them go out for an "extra" drive...although occasionally making their trip a little more eventful 😒

I did 15 hours of lessons but probably another 50 in "driving hours" so it was like 2nd nature by the time I did the test ... the test itself was little more than a pootle around while chatting with the instructor about the philosophy course I was studying....which probably sent her to sleep and is why I passed 😒

[Nick]

I don't think the point is to memorise the routes - more to get a feel for the type of roads you might encounter - like the article says, making sure you're familiar with a variety of road types, major to minor, dual carriageways etc - I think it's more about making sure there are no unexpected surprises on the day.

To be fair, once booked in I would expect an instructor to take you around the area on a lesson or two - I recall that from mine at the time - I also remember booking a lesson beforehand and then taking the test in the same car.

[Drivingforfun]

I see @Nick , I think that's fair

The thing I'd be concerned about is people doing the opposite now - i.e. feeling the need to take their test the other side of the country because of the wait times

While it's meant to be universal, I don't think passing your test in, say, North Yorkshire proves you're set out for London driving

I'm sure some will spit their Bovril out reading this but I'm happy to admit I'd have no clue what I'm meant to do if I found myself driving alongside a tram... Likewise I'd expect city dwellers to have limited or no experience of single track roads or sheep-based roadblocks 😄

[Rolebama]

We used to have a lady on this Forum who lived on the Isle of Mull. She once posted that she took her driving test on the Isle. All single track roads, no roundabouts or traffic lights, and she lived at the end of a cul-de-sac with no turning space. Her first journey on the mainland was across to Edinburgh. Overtaking, being overtaken, few roundabouts, a few traffic lights and dual carriageways. Things she had only heard of. She said she was initially terrified, but as she got used to it, couldn't get enough. Soon found any excuse to drive there.

[TC1474]

Back in the day when I had the ADI qualification and also taught learner bike riders, the rule from the DSA was that non of the test routes were to be taught to learner drivers even though it was inevitable that some parts of the various routes would be used.

It was one rule I actually agreed with, and why I still feel that a competent driver should be able to take and pass their test anywhere, is because it meant you were teaching inexperienced drivers to drive on what they could see rather than use local knowledge and drive on what they know.

The problem with the driving test in this country is that the standard or the bar has been set at such a low level to facilitate even the thickest of drivers being able to pass, the overall standard of driving is dropping like a stone and the DSA will do nothing about it because being the driving standards authority for the UK, they do not believe that anyone should tell them how to make things better.

Which says it all when they took over the register of advanced instructors and examiners and we refused to accept them as the authority unless they could prove they had a half decent level of competence, simply because when doing instructor check runs on advanced instructors, they did not understand a single thing we were teaching.

So, they sent two of their chief poo ba's to do an intermediate advanced course at a Police home office driving school (Intermediate not a full advanced) and they packed up after 4 days because they could not handle it.

I then had to examine 2 car drivers and 2 motorcyclists at advanced level and they were full of themselves about as examiners they were up with the best, and on each and every one of them I terminated tests within the first 15 minutes because they were that bad..

And that is the problem we are up against.

Sorry to go off track, but it is one of those things that really bugs me even now when I speak to my brother in law who is a current ADI and he is one of the worst drivers I have ever come across, it makes me wonder what is being taught to our young drivers these days.

[olduser]

I suppose the problem is, the intention is to pass the test rather than to learn to drive.

Vehicles have improved making it easy to get into big trouble, and the roads carry more traffic the standards required has gone up but the test requirement has not.
I do accept, it would take a lot of political courage to increase the standard required.

I disagree with trying to have a test on familiar roads, I would argue that is when you are more likely to make mistakes, wrapped in a security blanket of, 'I know these roads I needn't give my full attention'.
Whereas, strange roads keeps you attentive, which is what driving is or should be about.

Accident statistics point most event happen close to home, suggesting, 'I know this area I can relax'...

[TC1474]

Originally Posted by olduser

I suppose the problem is, the intention is to pass the test rather than to learn to drive.

And that is exactly the point. New drivers are being taught to simply pass a test of about 40 minutes duration and drive by the numbers, rather then being taught the skills for life.

[Rolebama]

One of the things I don't understand is that people will happily reveal they are not computer literate, or musically inclined. Yet it seems the minute most males get their Driving Licence, they become self-professed masters of the art.
I don't understand why, but for motorcycles it is a progressive track to the more powerful, yet a 500bhp car is available on the day they pass a car test. What a nonsense!

[TC1474]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

One of the things I don't understand is that people will happily reveal they are not computer literate, or musically inclined. Yet it seems the minute most males get their Driving Licence, they become self-professed masters of the art.
I don't understand why, but for motorcycles it is a progressive track to the more powerful, yet a 500bhp car is available on the day they pass a car test. What a nonsense!

I may have mentioned this before, but back in 1989 just before CBT was introduced for bikes (replacing the old part 1 test) I was on the very first CBT instructors course at Cardington.

It was drummed into us that if CBT was successful for bikes it would be introduced for car drivers within a couple of years along with a graduated licence.

In the first 24 months of CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) the crash rate for new riders dropped by an astonishing 75%, but the failure rate for those taking their full licence test also plummeted because unlike the old part 1 set up, we could not insist on students returning to receive road training in order to obtain their part 1, with CBT as soon as they attained the standard on the road we had to issue the DL196 certificate.

However, having shown that CBT worked for bikes, when we asked when it was being introduced for car drivers, it very quickly got swept under the carpet and when it was suggested that new drivers should have at least go through the graduated licence route, it was frowned upon from a great height.

Much of the reason is that Government officials work on the basis that all drivers are voters and it would be a potential vote loser (just as they did when it was suggested and planned to have a compulsory driving re-test), so it has all been dropped.

Based on experience of instructing over the past 40+ years, I have always found women easier to instruct and they are more receptive to new ideas, simply because they do not have the ego's that men have when it comes to driving or ridijg.

I get it even now, the number of guys on advanced test who think that by simply turning up they will impress and get their qualification and then get very anti when I fail them and spend an hour debriefing them on issues that they need to address just on the grounds of safety let alone anything else.

[Drivingforfun]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

We used to have a lady on this Forum who lived on the Isle of Mull. She once posted that she took her driving test on the Isle. All single track roads, no roundabouts or traffic lights, and she lived at the end of a cul-de-sac with no turning space. Her first journey on the mainland was across to Edinburgh. Overtaking, being overtaken, few roundabouts, a few traffic lights and dual carriageways. Things she had only heard of. She said she was initially terrified, but as she got used to it, couldn't get enough. Soon found any excuse to drive there.

I remember her from when I was quite new here! "Fickle Jade" rings a bell

She chastised me about single track roads, for not realising passing places are for letting others overtake, as well as passing someone coming the other way

I noticed she disappeared one day, I assume she wasn't young as said she had a son in his forties I think? Hopefully she just got bored of us!

[Rolebama]

Fickle Jade was right. Passed her Test in a 1926 Fraser-Nash, if I remember rightly.

[forrestbmatthews]

@Nick Great tips, Nick — especially the one about not assuming you've failed. So many learners get thrown off mid-test because they make a small mistake and then spiral.

One thing I’d add is the importance of simulating test conditions during your final few driving lessons — no prompts, no corrections, just you and the road. It helps build the mental stamina you need on the big day.

Also, revisiting your theory in a practical context (like actual roundabouts and tricky junctions) really ties it all together. These 15 tips are spot on!

[ajayon]

Some great tips here — especially about driving in different conditions and using the same car for the test. I’ve seen a lot of learners get caught out by nerves when something unfamiliar comes up, so the more variety you can fit in before the test, the better. Practicing around the test center area definitely helps build confidence too