3 steps to Pass your driving test as quickly as possible
3 steps to Pass your driving test as quickly as possible
From April 12th 2021 the government has announced that driving lessons can begin again, a rough estimate from the DVSA is, that there is a backlog of 420,000 tests, with an average of 20 weeks waiting time, this in all honesty is likely to be a MINIMUM.
Extra Demand for Driving Tests
Because of the pandemic, more and more people want to avoid public transport, also many have turned 17 during the lockdown periods and no want to start to learn to drive and on top of all that, many of us who have never really thought about driving before, have got fed up with staying indoors and look forward to having a driving licence and being able, once restrictions end, to simply jumping in a car and driving to the beach, or into a city to go shopping once again.
All this has caused a huge surge in demand for both driving lessons and driving tests.
So if you want to start driving is there any point? The good news is YES there is still hope! We have put together a simple 3 step plan to help you pass your driving test as quickly as possible
1 – THEORY TEST PRACTICE
If you haven’t yet passed your theory test, or your theory test may be close to expiring (please check it, as its only valid for 2 years and we have lost a year to lock-downs so far! and the Government is not expanding the time limit).
The theory test consists in part of 1200 questions covering a whole variety of subjects including disabled driving, towing caravans etc and ones such as these:-
You are turning right onto a dual carriageway. What should you do before emerging?
At a puffin crossing, which colour follows the green signal?
What percentage of all emissions does road transport account for?
You see a pedestrian with a dog. The dog has a yellow or burgundy coat. This especially warns you that the pedestrian is?
On the theory test, they choose 50 at random, so you really do need a LOT of practice at these.
PRO -TIP – “Don’t just do the mock tests, they tend to use the same bunch of questions! So many times pupils will tell us they failed because they got so many questions, that they’d not even seen before!”
By preparing in advance of the DVSA booking system opening, you will be able to book your theory test (it doesn’t matter how long the waiting list date is, it just gets us on the system) then you can look for short notice cancellation tests.
So for example you may go online and the first available date is August 20th.
You book that slot, so you are on the system
You look for cancellation tests, because people always get ill or realise they can’t make it on that date
If you’ve done your revision and are ready, if the computer says there’s a space available tomorrow at 12.30 you can take it, because you know you’re ready for the test.
2. Book As Many Driving Lessons As You Can
For the driving test, we are going to use exactly the same principle as the theory test! You need to book as many lessons as your schedule and your budget will allow!
Most people from new, take around 25 to 45 hours to get to driving test standard. So the quicker you can get this experience in driving and dealing with as many situations as you can, the quicker that you will be ready to take your driving test!
Whilst we are taking the driving lessons, we can book the driving test. This then brings us to point 3.
3. The Driving Test
We are going to use the same principle with the driving test as we did with the theory test. Whilst having as much practice as you can fit in with the driving, you book your driving test online, but don’t worry if the first available date is something crazy like August.
We simply want to get onto the system.
Then once your driving instructor is saying that you are at test standard –
You will know this yourself, as to be at driving test standard, you should be able to drive for at least 40 minutes without your instructor reminding you about speed limits, or having to step in to help you deal with a situation
Once you are at this point, then you can start looking for cancellation tests, this one though is a little more tricky as you first need to check with your driving instructor that they are free at that particular time to take you.
So although your original driving test is booked for August, you could go on to the booking system and see that there is a gap, tomorrow at 3.30 and as long as you …..AND your driving instructor! Can alter your schedules, you are not having to wait months and months to pass your driving test!