Guides
What changed, what it means, and what to do about it
Written for approved driving instructors, with a few pages plain enough to send straight to a pupil or the parent supervising them. Every date and figure is sourced from GOV.UK or DVSA statistics, and the source list is at the bottom of each page.
Every change to the UK driving test in 2026, with the dates
The four dated changes to the UK driving test in 2025 and 2026: booking rules on 31 March, 12 May and 9 June 2026, and the test content change on 24 November 2025. What each one means if you teach.
Read the guide- Instructors and pupils7 min
Show me, tell me: all 21 questions, and how to teach them
The complete list of 14 'tell me' and 7 'show me' vehicle safety questions, word for word from DVSA. When each is asked, how a wrong answer is marked, and the ones pupils get wrong.
Read - Instructors and pupils7 min
Independent driving and the sat nav: what the test looks like now
Independent driving can now run for the whole test. What the examiner provides, why one test in five uses traffic signs instead, what happens when a pupil goes the wrong way, and how to teach it.
Read - Instructors and pupils5 min
How driving test faults work: minors, serious, dangerous
The exact pass threshold, the difference between a driving, serious and dangerous fault, how a repeated minor becomes a serious one, and what the current fail rate actually is.
Read - Instructors and pupils8 min
Are DVSA driving test routes published? No, and here is what to do instead
DVSA stopped publishing driving test routes in 2010. Why the sites selling 'the real routes for your centre' cannot substantiate that, why route memorisation would not help much anyway, and what genuinely prepares a learner.
Read - Instructors and pupils5 min
How many driving lessons does it actually take?
DVSA's figure is 45 hours of lessons plus 22 hours of private practice. What makes a learner need more or fewer, why the private practice half is the part people skip, and how to plan a course around it.
Read - Instructors and pupils5 min
The driving test manoeuvres, and how often each one comes up
The three reversing manoeuvres an examiner can ask for, what each one is marked on, why the emergency stop is now rarer, and where to practise them so the spot is not the problem.
Read - For instructors6 min
Teaching rural and high-speed roads now the test leans on them
Since 24 November 2025 the driving test spends more time on rural and high-speed roads. Why DVSA made the change, what examiners are looking for, and how to build the hours in where your test centre is urban.
Read - For instructors6 min
How to build a practice route your pupils will actually use
A method for turning the roads you already teach on into a route a pupil can revisit between lessons: what to include, how many points, what to write on each one, and how to hand it over.
Read - Share with pupils6 min
Supervising a learner driver: the rules, and how to make the practice count
What you must be able to tick off before taking a learner out, what to practise between lessons, and how to avoid undoing what their instructor taught. Written to be sent to a parent.
Read