What happens on your driving test

Quick answer

• GOV.UK lists four parts: an eyesight check, 'show me, tell me' questions, general driving ability including independent driving, and reversing your vehicle.
• You drive for around 35 minutes, and GOV.UK says 20 to 35 minutes of the test is independent driving.
• You can pass with up to 15 driving faults, but any serious or dangerous fault is a fail.
• The test does not go on motorways.

Most of the nerves on test day come from not knowing the shape of the thing. The driving itself you have already done for months; what you have not done is sit through the sequence, in order, knowing what comes next.

So here is the sequence. One thing to note before you read anything else about the test: GOV.UK changed how it describes this, and a lot of driving-school pages still carry the old version. It is four parts now, not five, and you drive for around 35 minutes rather than the 40 that is still widely quoted.

The four parts, in order

1. 01

   The eyesight check

   Before you get in the car, you read a number plate: 20 metres away for a new-style plate, 20.5 metres for an old-style one. The consequence goes further than most people expect - GOV.UK says you fail the test, it does not continue, DVLA is told and your licence is revoked. When you reapply, DVLA will ask you to take an eyesight test with DVSA at a driving test centre, and even after passing that you still have to pass the standard check at your next practical test.

2. 02

   'Show me, tell me'

   Two vehicle safety questions. The 'tell me' comes before you drive off and asks you to explain something; the 'show me' comes while you are driving and asks you to demonstrate a control. Getting one wrong is a single driving fault rather than a fail - and it is still one fault even if you get both wrong.

3. 03

   General driving ability, including independent driving

   The main body of the test. Independent driving takes 20 to 35 minutes of it, following either sat nav directions, traffic signs, or a combination of the two - the examiner tells you which.

4. 04

   Reversing your vehicle

   One of three exercises: parallel parking at the roadside, parking in a bay, or pulling up on the right, reversing about two car lengths and rejoining the traffic. You get one of the three and you do not know which in advance.

How long it really takes

GOV.UK says you drive for around 35 minutes. That is driving time, not the length of the appointment: DVSA's examiner manual says that once all of DVSA's requirements are taken into account, the total test time lasts between 38 and 40 minutes.

There is a floor underneath that which is not a matter of DVSA policy. Regulations set the on-road driving time for a car test at not less than 30 minutes, which is why a test does not get cut short just because it is going badly.

How the marking works

There are three kinds of fault, and the difference between them decides your result rather than the number of them.

• A driving fault - 'not potentially dangerous, but if you keep making the same fault, it could become a serious fault'.
• A serious fault - 'something potentially dangerous'.
• A dangerous fault - 'actual danger to you, the examiner, the public or property'.

You pass with no more than 15 driving faults and no serious or dangerous ones. So 15 small errors is a pass and one serious fault is not, which is why chasing a low fault count matters far less than avoiding the one that changes category.

Where the test goes

Around the test centre, on roads the examiner uses regularly, and not on motorways. Expect a mix of junction types, a stretch of higher-speed road, and at least a couple of ordinary stops at the side of the road - DVSA's guidance asks examiners to include a minimum of two.

What happens at the end

You park up and the examiner gives you the result. If you have passed, they tell you what faults you made, hand you a pass certificate, and ask whether you want your full licence sent to you automatically - hand over your provisional if you do. If you have not passed, they tell you what faults you made and you keep your provisional.

If it was not this time, you can book again straight away, but GOV.UK says the date you choose has to be at least 10 working days off. That gap is not a punishment - it is roughly the time it takes to turn a debrief into lessons that fix the thing that went wrong.