What do examiners look for on the driving test?

You can make up to 15 driving faults, the ones people call minors, and still pass. You cannot have any serious or dangerous faults, the ones people call majors. A 16th driving fault means you do not pass, and so does one major with no minors at all.

There are three types of fault you can make:

• Dangerous fault: actual danger to you, the examiner, the public or property.
• Serious fault: something potentially dangerous.
• Driving fault: not potentially dangerous, though if you keep making the same fault, it could become a serious one.

That last point means counting your minors is a poor guide. The same small mistake made again and again can turn into something bigger, so 15 is a limit to stay well below. Your result also shows “examiner took action” if they had to step in, by telling you to do something or taking control of the car, to stop an incident. The guide to the top 10 reasons for failing, listed at the foot of this page, shows where people most often go wrong.

You drive for around 35 minutes, or around 65 minutes on the extended test taken after a driving ban. The test is the same in a manual or an automatic car, and it has four parts:

• Eyesight check: you read a number plate from 20 metres, or 20.5 metres for an old-style plate. If you fail this, you fail the test and it ends there.
• “Show me, tell me” questions: one before you drive and one while you drive. The guide to them, listed at the foot of this page, has all 21.
• General driving ability: various roads and traffic, but no motorways. This includes 20 to 35 minutes of independent driving, following a sat nav, traffic signs or both. You also pull over and pull away, including a normal stop, pulling out from behind a parked vehicle and a hill start. You might be asked to do an emergency stop.
• Reversing: one exercise, which is parallel parking, parking in a bay (driving in and reversing out, or reversing in and driving out), or pulling up on the right, reversing around 2 car lengths and rejoining the traffic.

Your test result breaks your drive into areas. The first group is about you and the car. Under precautions, you should have your seat and mirrors set, doors shut, the handbrake on and the gear in neutral before you start. Control means using the accelerator, clutch, gears, brake, handbrake and steering smoothly and at the right time. Ancillary controls covers things like wipers, heating and demisters, used without losing control of the car. Vehicle checks are the show me, tell me questions.

Your examiner also looks at fuel-efficient driving, such as planning ahead and avoiding heavy braking, but this does not affect your result.

Moving off is marked for control and for safety, each time you do it. Use of mirrors means checking in good time before you signal, change direction or lanes, or change speed. Checking at the same moment as you signal is one of the common faults. Signals are marked on three things: whether one was necessary, whether it was correct, and whether it was timed well.

Practise it:

• How do you move off safely on your driving test?
• How do you move off from behind a parked car on your driving test?
• How do you change lanes safely on a dual carriageway?
• When do you signal if you are pulling up just after a side road?

You are marked on five things here: approach speed, observation, turning right, turning left and cutting corners. Coming in too fast makes it harder to look. Misjudging a vehicle’s speed and forcing it to slow as you emerge is a common fault.

Practise it:

• How do you emerge from a blind junction?
• How do you turn right into a side road on your driving test?
• When is it safe to go at a busy roundabout?
• Which lane do you use to turn right at a roundabout?

Use of speed is about being safe and reasonable for the conditions, the traffic, the signs and the limit. Progress is the other side of it. Marked as appropriate speed and undue hesitation, it can catch you for driving well below the limit on clear roads, or for not emerging when it is safe to.

Following at a safe distance means a gap that suits the road and the weather. Clearance to obstructions means leaving at least a metre, when possible, when passing stationary vehicles or hazards. Rule 163 asks for more around people: as a guide, leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and allow at least 2 metres for horse riders and for pedestrians walking in the road.

Practise it:

• Can you use a bus lane on your driving test?
• How fast should you drive past parked cars?
• How do you take a sharp bend on a country road?
• What is the two-second rule in the rain?

Judgement covers overtaking, meeting and crossing: knowing when to go, when to wait, and making your intentions clear. Positioning is marked for normal driving and lane discipline. Awareness and planning asks whether you anticipate what others will do and react in good time, with extra care for motorcyclists, cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians.

Practise it:

• Which lane should you be in on a dual carriageway after overtaking?
• How much room should you give a cyclist when overtaking?
• Do you have to give way to a bus pulling out?
• Who has priority on a narrow road with parked cars?

Response to signs and signals covers road signs, road markings, traffic lights, traffic controllers and other road users. At pedestrian crossings, you should recognise each type and react correctly. Common faults are stopping on the crossing, approaching too fast, and moving off before someone has fully crossed.

Practise it:

• Can you go through an amber light?
• Do you have to stop at a stop sign if the road is clear?
• Do you have to stop for someone waiting at a zebra crossing?
• What does flashing amber mean at a pelican crossing?

Reversing exercises are marked for control and observation. Finishing neatly is only part of it, as you also need to keep checking your surroundings all the way through. For a normal stop, you pull up in the first safe place, without becoming a hazard. On an emergency stop, the examiner looks at how you react to the signal and how well you control the car while stopping.

Practise it:

• What do examiners mark on the parallel parking test?
• What are the common faults on the reverse bay park test?
• What are the common faults on the pull up on the right test?
• Where can you pull up on your driving test?
• How do you reverse out safely on the forward bay park test?

Driving test routes are not published, so you cannot check them before your test. During independent driving, the examiner tells you whether to follow a sat nav, traffic signs or both, and sets up the sat nav for you. You cannot use your own. When you are not following a sat nav or signs, the examiner gives you turn-by-turn directions.

Going off the route is not a fault in itself. How you drive is still marked as normal, so a wrong turn taken from the wrong lane or against the arrows can still cost you. The examiner will help you get back on the route. If a sign is hidden, by trees for example, they will give you directions until you can see the next one.

Keep driving. You can carry on after a mistake, and if it is not serious it might not affect your result. Your examiner only stops the test if they think your driving is a danger to other road users, so put the mistake behind you and concentrate on the road ahead. They tell you what faults you made when you get your result. If you do not pass, you have to book another test and choose a date at least 10 working days away, so talk to your instructor about when to rebook.

• What are the show me, tell me questions on the driving test?
• What are the top 10 reasons for failing the driving test?
• All 37 situations, explained

• GOV.UK: what happens during the car driving test
• GOV.UK: driving test faults and your result
• DVSA: understanding your car driving test result
• DVSA: examiner guidance, car driving test
• DVSA: examiner guidance, general technical matters
• GOV.UK: The Highway Code

Checked against these pages on 4 November 2026. If GOV.UK says something different, GOV.UK is right.