Are You Ready For the UK Driving Test?

How do you as a provisional licence holder know when you are ready to take the driving test and have a good chance of passing first time?

If you are taking professional lessons with a driving instructor who you trust because you took the time to choose the right individual and did not just go for the cheapest school in your area, then they should tell you when you are ready.
Personally I do not wait for the learner driver to get to the test standard before I advice them to book a driving test, I go by the rate of learning, number of lessons taken in a week and predict a rough time to achieve the DSA standard. This usually means that I can tell them about 6 - 8 weeks in advance the rough date. If 2 weeks before the test date there are major driving faults that need to be addressed, we either take additional lessons or move the appointment date.

You do not however have to rely solely on the driving instructor to know when you are truly ready to take a driving test. You can use the DSA learner's record to track the learning process, and once you are independent in all the listed skills, then it is time to take the driving test.

The main question though is are you truly independent, or do you rely on help from your supervising driver even if it is only a prompt through asking a question? You will be surprised at how easy it is to commit a driving error when your driving instructor suddenly goes silent on you and doesn't answer a question you ask, or comment on how you are doing. A lot of times during a lesson, I tell candidates to drive home or make way to a familiar place and all of a sudden their driving habit changes (speed approaching junctions becomes too fast, forget mirror checks or use indicators, do not use appropriate gears, fail to observe speed limits), all because they have not become independent and have been relying on prompts (level 3 and 4).

During your driving test, you only have 40 minutes to demonstrate to the DSA examiner that you possess both the knowledge and skills required to drive safely unsupervised, so it is absolutely important that you get enough practice and experience dealing with the various traffic situations that might be encountered, afterall it only takes 1 serious fault to fail in a split second.

Many test candidates know they have not reached the required DSA test standard, but insist they are ready either because they want to save money on lessons, or have left learning late and now urgently require a licence for work or the 2 year theory test certificate is expiring soon. if you take the test before you are ready, you are most likely to fail (why do you think the pass rate is so low in places like London, Birmingham, etc).

Over 80% of my learner drivers pass their test first time, not just because I am a good instructor, but because they put in the work required and follow the advice I give both in the car and through my free online advice blog. Are you ready to take the UK driving test?

If you require high quality affordable driving lessons from a very helpful, patient honest and fully qualified instructor, then why not call or send me a text message on 07956233032

Thinking about becoming an instructor? Don't just make a decision based what the training organisations like the red driving school and their glossy advertisements say, do the proper research and know all the ADI training options available to you.

Illegal Driving Instructors Information Video



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