Show me, tell me: what it is and when you are asked

Quick answer

• They are part of the practical driving test, not the theory test.
• GOV.UK states you are asked 2 vehicle safety questions during the car driving test.
• A tell me question asks you to explain something; a show me question asks you to demonstrate it.
• The questions come from a list DVSA publishes, so you can practise every one in advance.

Search for these questions and you will find them called DSA questions, DVLA questions, ADI questions and vehicle safety questions, often on the same page. It is no wonder learners arrive confused about what they are and when they happen.

They are not part of the theory test

This is the most common mix-up, and it matters because it changes when you need to revise them.

Show me, tell me questions belong to the practical driving test — the one where an examiner sits beside you in the car. The theory test is the earlier, separate exam with multiple-choice questions and hazard perception clips, sat at a test centre on a computer. Nothing about show me, tell me appears there.

DVSA, not DVLA or DSA

Two other names come up constantly, and neither is right today.

• DVSA — the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. This is the agency that runs driving tests and publishes the questions.
• DVLA — the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. Different organisation. It handles licences, vehicle registration and tax, not testing.
• DSA — the old Driving Standards Agency. It no longer exists; it merged into DVSA. Old pages and old revision books still use the name.

If a site is still calling them DSA questions, that is a clue about how recently it was updated.

The difference between show me and tell me

The names are literal, which makes them easier to remember than most test terminology.

• Tell me — you explain, in words, how you would carry out a safety check. You are describing the process, not performing it.
• Show me — you physically demonstrate the thing, operating the relevant control.

That distinction is why rote-learning answers works poorly. A tell me answer you have memorised as a sentence tends to fall apart when the same subject arrives as a show me and you have to find the actual control in an unfamiliar car.

How many are there?

GOV.UK states you will be asked 2 vehicle safety questions during your car driving test, drawn from a published list. Searches for a specific total are common, and the numbers people quote vary — which is exactly why it is worth reading the current list on GOV.UK rather than trusting a figure from a forum post or an old book.

The list is short enough to work through properly. Two of them come up on the day, but you will not know which, so treat all of them as fair game.

How to actually prepare

1. 01

   Learn them in the car

   Sit in the vehicle you will be tested in and find each control as you go. Reading the answers on a phone builds recall, not familiarity.

2. 02

   Say the tell me answers out loud

   Explaining something aloud exposes the gaps that silent reading hides.

3. 03

   Cover both directions

   For each subject, be ready to explain it and to demonstrate it.

4. 04

   Check against the official list

   Use the GOV.UK list as the source of truth, especially if you have been revising from an older book.