RoutePOV
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For instructors6 min readUpdated

How to build a practice route your pupils will actually use

The short answer

Pick one test centre and build outwards, not a loop you drive in order. Six to twelve points is usually right: the junctions and roads that actually catch pupils out, each with one sentence saying what to do and why. Then hand it over as a link the pupil can open on their phone. The note is the product; the map is only where it lives.

Start with one test centre, not your whole area

Since 9 June 2026 a pupil can only move a test to one of the three nearest centres, so the geography you need to cover is tighter than it used to be. Pick the centre you send most pupils to and build there first. A complete picture of one area beats a thin scatter across four.

What to include

Work from failures, not from geography. The useful contents of a route are the places pupils go wrong, which you already know without having to think about it.

  • The roundabout where lane choice has to happen earlier than it feels like it should.
  • The junction with restricted visibility where pupils creep or lunge.
  • The road where the speed limit changes and nobody notices the sign.
  • The parked-car stretch that needs holding back and then progress.
  • Any national speed limit road within reach, now the test leans on rural content.
  • A dual carriageway join and exit if you have one nearby.
  • The manoeuvre spots you would actually use, including one on the right.

Writing the note

This is the part that decides whether the route is useful. A note has to be readable while moving, specific enough to be teaching, and general enough to survive the examiner doing something else.

Notes that work and notes that do not
WeakBetterWhy
Roundabout aheadMini roundabout: get in the right-hand lane early, the exit comes up fastNames the action and the reason, so it transfers to a different exit.
Second exitTwo lanes merge into one on the exit, so be decided before you commitA sequence instruction is worthless if the examiner sends them a different way.
Careful hereParked cars both sides: hold back, then make progress once it is clear'Careful' does not tell a pupil what to do differently.
60 zoneNational speed limit, but the left-hander after the farm tightensThe limit is a maximum. The bend is the actual hazard.

One sentence, occasionally two. A pupil reads it while a car is moving, or in the two minutes before a lesson, and a paragraph gets skipped.

The method

  1. Drop the points, or drive it once

    Drawing is quicker for a town loop you know well: drop pins where you would actually go and the line snaps to the roads, so distance and timing come out without measuring. For a rural loop where the shape of the road is the point, drive it once with recording on and edit the track afterwards.

  2. Categorise each point

    Tricky junction, roundabout, blind spot, speed limit change, school zone, narrow road, level crossing, pedestrian crossing, cyclists, traffic lights, parallel park. The category does the fast visual work; your sentence does the teaching.

  3. Write the note while the drive is fresh

    Immediately after a lesson where somebody went wrong is the best time. Write what you said to them, not a tidied-up version of it.

  4. Read it back as a pupil would

    Play the route through. If a note arrives and you cannot act on it in the time available, shorten it. If it says 'careful', rewrite it.

  5. Hand it over the way that fits the moment

    In the car, a QR code on your phone is faster than typing anything. For a pupil at home the night before, send the link. Nothing to install and no account to create, or they will not open it.

  6. Send the supervising driver their own link

    If a parent is taking them out between lessons, they need the route and your notes too, plus the conditions for supervising legally. That practice either reinforces your teaching or undoes it.

Reusing routes across pupils

The first route takes a few minutes. It then works for every pupil testing at that centre, which is the entire return on building it. A working library for one centre is usually three or four routes: a town loop, one with the difficult roundabouts, one that gets out to a fast road, and one built around manoeuvres.

Frequently asked questions

How many points should a driving practice route have?

Six to twelve. Fewer and there is not enough teaching in it to be worth opening; many more and pupils skim it. If you have twenty things to say about an area, make it two routes.

Should a practice route follow the test route?

It cannot, because test routes are not published, and it should not try. Cover the area rather than a loop: the junctions, roundabouts and roads that catch pupils out near the centre, so no road is new whichever way the examiner goes.

Is it better to draw a route or record one by driving it?

Draw a town loop you know well, since dropping pins is quicker and the line snaps to the roads. Record a rural loop by driving it, because the shape of the bends is the thing you want to capture and pins approximate it badly.

What should I write on each point of a route?

One sentence naming the action and the reason, for example 'get in the right-hand lane early, the exit comes up fast'. Avoid sequence instructions like 'second exit', which stop being true if the examiner sends the pupil a different way, and avoid 'careful', which does not tell them what to do.

How do I share a route with a pupil?

In the car, scan a QR code. At home, send a link. It should open in a browser with nothing to install and no account to create, otherwise a meaningful proportion of pupils simply will not look at it.

Sources

Every figure and date on this page comes from one of these. If something here disagrees with GOV.UK, GOV.UK is right and we have not caught up yet.

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