Have you done the test before?
It’s an odd question and yet one that provisional driving licence holders will recognise. Does it sound familiar to all you parents of learner drivers? That's right, its what the examiners ask those taking their theory tests when they arrive at the centres. And it got me wondering....
Why ask that question? Of all the questions to ask, why that one?
Everyone knows that Pearson's received the governmental
contract to supply the driving theory tests. But are they as patriotic? Or are
they making a money mountain out of the potential drivers out there? Last
September, I was in Stockport at their driving centre. After a string of FAILs
at the Cobridge centre in Stoke-on-Trent, I'd thought I'd give another centre a
try – a recommendation by my Driving Instructor, apparently another of his
students tried Sheffield and passed first time, to see if I could pass both
parts of the driving car theory test. In doing so, I started noticing a pattern
with the multiple-choice half. It was not obvious at Cobridge because I'd been
going there so many times it was routine to hear the question. But what I did
note was the following question:
"Have you done the test before?"
Stupidly, I answered yes but not at this centre and discovered something else - the multiple-choice test was a little easier than the string of tests I'd recently completed previously and repeatedly failed. No longer was it the sort of random testing I got when doing a bunch of practise tests before the actual test. Instead, there were questions that 1) I was unfamiliar with, 2) vague, and 3) were the sort of questions that hid the real topic they covered. As you can probably guess I failed that test, but it did leave me with some concerns.
Why is it if a learner driver answers yes to this specific question, the tests are that much harder? It can't be a fluke, right? Pearsons cannot be allowed to change the difficulty levels of the so-called 'random' test that is being completed. Which then leads onto my next question?
How are so many learners, potential drivers coming out of the centre with disheartened faces and defeat, having just found out they failed, if the tests are meant to be random?
"I can't do this anymore," is the phrase I have commonly heard after those completing the test have just looked at their results and discovered what it says. It is the phrase which encompasses everything wrong with this test - an overly stressful time, too difficult, disheartening, false hope and candidates on the verge of giving up trying to get a pass.
It's a pass score of 43 out of 50 with a Hazard Perception pass rate of 44 out of 70 alongside it. Some of the questions aren't even relevant. I remember getting one which asked: "what's the stopping distance of an 18-wheeler going at 70mph?" I don't know, its not in the Highway Code and in order to drive a HGV or even a Box Van it's a separate test altogether. Another one was "what colour is the light on top of a mobility scooter?" That got a reaction out of everyone, as all I heard was ‘What the fuck?’ It was quiet, but as half of us in the room had said it, including me, it was heard by everyone there. No idea, haven't got a clue, seeing as I didn't even know mobility scooters had lights on top. But it is those sorts of questions that catch people out, trip them up and leading to take the test again and again and again. A internet search of the pass statistics for the Theory Test back in 2016 suggested that the average candidate passes on their 8th Attempt, and more recent statistics from the Driving Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), show that the pass rate has dropped by ~10% in the last reported 5yr period, and is now below 50% for nearly all test centres. It takes eight times to get a PASS, on average. Are they serious? And then there are people who haven’t left the 1970s, 1980s and believe the young adults now are the same as the young adults then.
Now, that I have indeed passed the theory test (it was my 12th attempt and my third at the Stockport centre), I can't seem to forget how soul destroying and disheartening the last four years have been. While its true I've had my A Levels and a University degree to mainly focus on in that time, not even the hardest exam for my A Levels and hardest assignment for my Degree were as stressful and seemingly difficult to pass than that theory driving test. That I can say with certainty as at no point did I consider jacking in either, whilst I had got to the point where if I had not passed last time I would have probably given up. As it was the only way I could keep facing failures was to put off re-sitting the test for at least a few months in between trying for it again.
When you do get that piece of paper and you see how many
questions you've got incorrect, it doesn't actually tell you which questions
you failed on, just the aspect of driving. Does anyone else have a problem with
that, or is just me? I do know from discussing it with my own Driving
Instructor that Driving Instructors around the UK have a problem getting useful
feedback from Pearsons over what individual candidates fail on and so are
unable to help their pupils pass the questions they find harder than others,
but do any parents or fellow learners have a problem with this system? Where
they receive the results and then struggle to remember the questions they didn't
know the answers to, or even figure out why their Test results for the multiple
choice questions are so below that which they were regularly getting on the
Practice Tests.
Is it right? Is it OK for a difficult to pass test to become progressively worse? Or are we just going to have to 'grin and bear it'? Personally, I believe its going to have to change, and the whole system needs to be independently reviewed, then scrapping and restarting again.
If those who passed their test 30 or 40 years ago had to resit their driving theory today - they would also probably fail. But maybe that's what is needed in this instance. But is it possible? Is it possible nowadays to get the driving theory test standards changed? Possibly. Is it likely to? I can't tell you for certain.
When our parents were taking their Driving Tests, it was a 1 stage test where they only had to answer 6 Theory questions at the end of the Practical, and only had to get 5 correct to pass. We have to answer 50 and get 43 correct, Sit and Pass a Hazard Perception Test at the same time, and keep re-sitting as many times as necessary (which for a lot of candidates will be over 9 or 10 times), just to get to the position of being able to even attempt a Practical Test, which has to be passed within 2 years or you get sent back to start again! How stupid, unfair is that to learner drivers trying to get their licences?! Plus, current candidates now looking to take their practicals have the current lockdown and pandemic working against them. MOTs have a six month break and yet the clocks still ticking for the provisional licence holders. Again, how is that fair? Anyone else feel that way?
Which leads me to my last question - Why do modern learner
drivers have so much difficulty passing the multiple-choice part of the Theory
Test if the test is truly random. Based on my own experience of failing 10 times
on the multiple choice part and only once on Hazzard Perception before I
eventually passed - Are the computers at Pearson's Test Centres either learning
what candidates have most trouble with, or are they set to select the harder 50
Test questions from the Pool of 200 for repeat FAIL candidates, so that in
order to get a fair chance you are better off going to another test centre in a
different city in order to get the PASS you want?
Comment below with your views and thoughts on the current Driving Theory Test Standards.
