You can book your car theory test once you have a provisional driving licence, and you can sit it anytime from your 17th birthday onwards.
You have to pass your theory test before applying for your practical test.
YOU MUST TAKE YOUR PHOTOCARD LICENCE WITH YOU ON THE DAY OF THE TEST! (if you also have a paper counterpart this has been abolished by the Government and is no longer valid).
There are two elements to the theory test – the multiple choice questions where you have 50 questions and the pass mark is 43. You also then have a hazard perception test of video clips where the pass mark is 44 out of 75.
You have to pass both at once, otherwise you have to retake both sections. The waiting list is normally around 3 weeks, and the local theory test centres are at Sidcup or Croydon (these are seperate centres from the practical driving test centres).
You can book by web or phone and the current cost is £25.00.
You will need a credit or debit card and your driving licence number. If you have any special needs, such as dyslexia, enter this information when you book.
To book online click here or Phone – 0300 200 1122.
You can purchase a number of different study aids, but the best are published by the DVSA – the people who set the tests.
For the question element, get the book or CD-ROM “The Official Theory Test For Cars” and for the hazard test get “The Offical Hazard Perception” DVD, or buy the DVSA theory test kit app.
For more information on this, and two free practice tests on the DVSA’s website click here, and you can also view the DVSA’s information videos on YouTube by clicking here.
This element of the test is not as easy as it seems. You will be shown 14 video clips, each lasting a minute, and there is no sound.
You need to use the mouse to click on hazards, although there is no mouse pointer on the screen – it just recognises the timing of your clicks.
A hazard is something that makes you change speed or direction, and there are two types of hazard when you are driving. There are static hazards and developing hazards.
Static hazards are fixed, and not changing, for example parked cars, bends, side roads, and you do not need to click on these. You need to click on developing hazards, and these are moving changing hazards like a parked car moving off or opening his door, a car coming round a bend in the middle of the road, a bike swerving out, a pedestrian running into the road etc.
On the test, try to imagine you are driving along, the monitor is your windscreen, and the mouse button is your brake – if you see a developing hazard, click the mouse at the point it develops to affect your speed or position. If you have clicked at the correct time, you score 5, if you click at bit later you score 4, then 3,2,1, and if too late then 0.
Unfortunately if you click too early, you also score 0 – it is easy to anticipate what is about to happen and click too early and then score 0. To get the best score, you need to click at least twice, and up to a maximum of 4 times on each hazard – this increases your chance of hitting the scoring window.
If you click too many times, at the end of the clip an error message will appear saying ‘you have responded in an unsatisfactory manner and scored zero for this clip’. You can however click 2 or three times on each hazard, and a maximum of about 12 per clip. You are more likely to fail if you click too little, so don’t be afraid to click!
With the multiple choice section of the test, you will be asked 50 questions, and you must answer at least 43 correctly to pass. You will use a touch screen at the test centre, which is very user friendly – you can leave answers blank to return to them later, you can change any answers at any stage, or you can flag any answers you are unsure of to check or change them. You are only commited to your answers once you end the test. You have 57 minutes, which is ample.
The study material you will revise from will contain all of the actual questions you may be asked – you MUST go through all the questions (almost 1000!) to stand the best chance of passing this part of the test. You will find a number of the answers are common sense, and there is some repetition with the questions.
With most of the remaining questions, the answers can be understood, and therefore remembered. There are however, some questions where the answer must be just learned and remembered – On the left menu there is a revision list of these we have compiled – You can view or print this as a final aid to your revision just before you take the test.
The following is a list of the questions and answers that require you to just remember a numerical answer. Most of the other questions in your book/cd can be understood and therefore remembered more easily. You MUST go through all the questions in your study material, and you can then view or print this list as a final recap before your test. We do not accept responsibility for any errors on this list.