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Everything you need to bring, sort out and expect on test day, in the order you will need it. Add your test date for a countdown, and your ticks save automatically in this browser.
Work through it in the days before your test. Your ticks save in this browser, so you can close the page and come back.
Add it for a countdown and a nudge about what to focus on with the time you have left.
Most test day nerves come from not knowing the sequence. The forty minutes are more predictable than people expect, and knowing the order removes a surprising amount of the tension.
You arrive, and you wait. Examiners come out at the appointment time and call candidates by name. There is no advantage to arriving forty minutes early — it simply gives you longer to sit and think about it.
Your examiner introduces themselves, checks your provisional licence, and asks you to sign a declaration confirming the car is insured for the test and that you meet residency requirements. Then you walk out to the car park together.
Before anything else, you read a number plate from about 20 metres. If you need glasses or contacts to do it, wear them, and keep them on for the whole test. Failing the eyesight check ends the test immediately, and it counts as a fail.
You are asked one tell me question at the car, before you drive. It is a knowledge question — how would you check the brakes, how would you know if there is a problem with the anti-lock braking system, that sort of thing. You answer it verbally.
Later, while driving, you are asked one show me question. These are things you do while moving: demist the rear window, wash the windscreen, operate the headlights. Getting one wrong is a single driving fault, not a fail.
Roughly forty minutes covering a mix of road types, one manoeuvre from the current set, possibly an emergency stop, and about twenty minutes of independent driving following either a sat nav or road signs.
The examiner gives directions in good time and will repeat anything you did not catch. If you take a wrong turn, that is not marked. Only what you do next is.
You park back at the test centre and the examiner tells you the result straight away, then goes through the marking sheet. If your instructor is there, they can sit in on this, which is usually worth doing whichever way it went.
You can ask not to be told during the test. Some candidates ask the examiner to say nothing about faults until the end. If knowing mid-test would rattle you, say so at the start.
You are allowed to, and some people prefer the familiarity, but the requirements are strict and the responsibility is yours. The car must be taxed, have a valid MOT, be insured specifically for a driving test, and be in a roadworthy condition.
It needs L plates front and rear, an additional interior mirror for the examiner, working seatbelts, a functioning speedometer and a passenger head restraint. Some vehicles are not permitted at all, so check current DVSA guidance before committing.
If any of that is not right, the examiner will cancel the test and you will lose the fee. Most candidates use their instructor's car precisely because it removes every one of these risks.
Our students test at centres across the region, and each has its own character: particular roundabouts, particular junctions, particular roads where speed limits change. Practising on the actual routes around your centre is one of the most useful things you can do in the fortnight before your test.
If you are still choosing an appointment, it is worth thinking about the timing as much as the location. Rush hour tests are not automatically harder, but they are busier, and mid-morning slots are generally calmer. We provide Early Test Booking Support Available to help our students plan sensibly.
Your provisional driving licence photocard is the only item you genuinely cannot take the test without. Bring your theory test certificate number too, and your glasses or contact lenses if you need them for driving.
If you are using your own car rather than your instructor's, it must be roadworthy, taxed, insured for a driving test, display L plates front and rear, and have an additional interior mirror fitted for the examiner.
About ten minutes before your appointment is right. Early enough to use the toilet, hand over your licence and settle, but not so early that you sit in the waiting room getting steadily more nervous.
Plan the journey so that arriving ten minutes early is comfortable rather than tight, and add extra time if your test is in rush hour.
Yes, and we would recommend it. An hour beforehand gets you into the car, warms up your driving and usually settles the nerves considerably. Many students use the lesson to drive to the test centre.
It also means you are already in the driving seat mindset rather than arriving cold after a bus journey.
Yes, if you want them to. You can invite your instructor to sit in the back and to be present for the debrief afterwards. It is entirely your choice and it does not affect the marking.
Many candidates find the debrief far more useful with their instructor there, because the examiner's feedback gets turned into a lesson plan on the spot.
The examiner calls you by name in the waiting room, introduces themselves and checks your licence. You sign a declaration confirming the car is insured and that you meet the residency requirements.
Then you go out to the car park for the eyesight check, where you read a number plate from about 20 metres, followed by one tell me question before you drive away.
You are asked one tell me question before you start driving, answered while stationary, and one show me question while you are driving. There are 21 in total across both types.
They cover basic vehicle safety: lights, tyres, brakes, washers, demisting and so on. Getting one wrong is a single driving fault, not a fail.
Around forty minutes for a standard car test, including the eyesight check and the questions. About twenty minutes of that is independent driving, following either a sat nav provided by the examiner or road signs.
Extended tests, taken by drivers who have been disqualified, run for about seventy minutes.
If the DVSA cancels because of ice, snow, fog or high winds, you are given a new appointment and you do not pay again. You may also be able to claim back out of pocket expenses in some circumstances.
Check the DVSA's status before setting off in bad weather, and speak to your instructor — they will usually know whether local tests are running.
Every tool on this page is free to use, built by our DVSA approved instructors in Manchester.
An hour in the car immediately before your test settles the nerves and warms up your driving. Most of our students find it makes a noticeable difference.
Express Pass Driving School is a leading driving school in Manchester, your one-stop destination for intensive driving courses in Manchester.
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