September 2008 sees a refresh to the question bank for the driving theory test.
The questions do not change that much and most of them are identical to the questions in the question bank for 2007.
However there are now more questions about first-aid and safety - so make sure you practice them.
If you want to practice your driving theory test please visit http://app.uHavePassed.com/register
Taking mock theory tests prior to your real test is highly recommended if you want to pass the theory test.
uHavePassed includes all of the official Theory test questions and you can take the questions in a mock test or as a practice test.
Taking a mock test - means that you will be able to recreate the conditions of the real test - 50 questions with a clock counting down the time for 57 minutes. You can flag questions to go back to them at any point. After the Mock test you can analyse your results in detail.
Taking a practice test - means you can take 50 questions - but get immediate feedback on the question with the correct answer. Just like with Mock tests you can analyse your results at the end.
The nice thing about uHavePassed is that you can also take the mock test on your mobile phone - giving you a better chance of passing.
Give it a try at : http://app.uHavePassed.com/
Passing the theory test got much harder from September 2007, when the DSA will introduced new questions on the environment and health in addition to increasing the number of questions from 35 to 50 and increasing the pass mark to 43 questions.
Here are 5 tips to help you pass the new driving theory test first time.
1.Flick through the Highway code at least once a day for about 2-3 minutes. Doing this will get you familiar with more of the road signs and try to just look at a different section each day. You do not need to read in detail just have a quick look each day and you will pick important bits up.
2.Practise at least 5 times before the real test l. As a minimum you should take a mock driving theory test at least 5 times before attempting the real driving theory test, if you want to guarantee success you should make sure that you can pass the mock theory test three times in a row.
3.Analyse your progress. If you fail questions in the mock tests then see which topics you have failed questions in. You should read through the sections that you are failing in the most and get and revise the key concepts you should know for that section.
4.Take breaks. You will not be able to cram all of the information needed in one session and you will need to let your mind relax. Do a mock test then have a break and do something else, then do another one. Taking breaks in this way help reduce the headaches and other problems you might find from sitting in-front of a computer for too long - and also increase your concentration.
5.Revise in different ways. If you can find different ways to revise for the test, in addition to taking the mock tests, see if you can play simple games to help you remember signs and concepts. For example you can get someone to describe the signs to you and see if you can recognise them from the description - or see if you can describe the signs to someone else when they give you the name of the sign.
There are a lot of resources available to practise the driving theory test - books, websites and programmes make sure you chose resources that allow you do as many of the above tips as possible.
We obviously recommend using uHavePassed to help you practise the driving theory test.
Preparation for the driving theory test is key to your success on the day. There are lots of things you can do to prepare for the driving theory test - but some will be less effective than others. However it is a good idea to make sure that you do prepare in different ways because this engages different parts of your brain.
We all know that when we do the same things again and again they tend to become boring. Our brains are very good at adapting to the work we do and repetition of tasks is a job the brain can adapt to quickly. This is normally a good thing - but when trying to revise or learn things this can lead to us losing concentration or our mind drifting or wondering on to other things as we work.
Revision for the driving theory test is an area where this can easily happen. The most common way to prepare for the test is by taking mock tests that allow us to practise the questions from the real test. This is an effective way of practising for the test - but doing the mock tests time and time again starts to make it less effective.
To get the most out of the mock test approach you need to start well in advance of the actual theory test - if you can you should be doing these types of tests at least 20 days before the real tests - this allows you to take a single 50 question test each day and you have a good chance of seeing most of the questions in that time. Another advantage of preparing in this way is that if you miss a day - you can take two tests on the next day to catch up (if you do do this though - take a break of 10 minutes between the tests or find another activity to do).
One problem with doing the mock tests after each other is that practising 50 questions is a repetitive task as you have to repeat the questions 50 times. It is much better if you can to find ways to do smaller sessions more often - take 15 questions then do something else, then take another 15 questions etc. However you should take a 50 question test at least 3 times before the real test - this will make sure you know what to expect in the real test.
Doing mini 15 question tests is not that easy though - there are not many resources out there that allow you to take such small tests and even worse you must keep returning to the computer. This is why we developed uHavePassed and a useful aspect of this software is that it works on your mobile phone and therefore you don’t have to keep returning to the computer - but can also take a mini test on the bus, whilst waiting somewhere, lying in bed on the sofa and other such exotic places! (Our research shows that popular usage of uHavePassed happens before falling asleep in bed).
In addition to changing your activities between full-length and smaller length tests it is a good idea to find other ways to engage your brain. You can try to play games with the road signs for example - get a friend to describe a sign to you - until you guess the name of the sign. There are plenty of games you can try to make revision of the driving theory test more interesting - we have included games in the mobile phone version of uHavePassed to provide some other alternatives.
Finally uHavePassed is out of beta testing and we are launching today a new way to prepare for the UK Driving Theory test.
You can now practise for the driving theory test - on-line and on your mobile phone and also play games to prepare - for more information visit the main driving theory test site.
The feedback from our beta testing has been great and we have made changes and tested widely with lots of different models of mobile phones.
We know that this is a great new way to engage students with the content and look forward to helping more and more people - we have had great feedback from parents who have found that their previous reluctant to revise children - have turned into driving theory test addicts.
We have a lot of plans for the future of the service and will keep developing additional ways to engage students with the driving theory test - but now we are happy to open up access to the general public.
To use the service you will have to register as a user and then you will need to purchase a subscription to use the Official Driving Standards Agency questions.
If you have any questions please feel free to get in contact with us.
As ever feedback is always welcome on the service - we aim to make it even friendlier and more useful over the coming months and add on new features.
Driving is one of the riskiest things we do – especially if you’re a new driver. According to parliament’s transport select committee, over 38,000 people are killed or injured each year in collisions involving at least one driver with less than two-years experience on the roads.
One of the issues this committee recently looked at was how people learn to drive and whether this could be changed to help reduce road accidents. The committee suggested introducing a minimum learning period, which would mean taking at least 12 months to learn to drive. This sounds like a good idea as it means learner drivers get more experience on the roads before getting their full licence and they would have practised driving in more varied conditions, like icy weather or in the dark.
However, one of the impacts of this minimum learning period would be to effectively raise the age people are allowed to drive unaccompanied from 17 to 18. What would this mean for young people who rely on driving for getting to work or college? In Sweden, when the period of driving training was increased they also lowered the age at which you could get a provisional licence. This may be a way of introducing this change without disadvantaging 17 year olds.
The transport select committee also said they think the whole process of driver training needs to be seriously improved. In addition to the minimum learning period, they want the Department for Transport to look at how to make testing more effective and maybe introducing ongoing driver assessment. The debate on how we learn to drive is going to go on for some time and it’ll be interesting to see what the government actually decides to do and how this affects both learner and qualified drivers.
It seems there is no easy place on the internet to find the facts on the driving theory test so we have decided to make a simple blog entry that explains about the new driving theory test that starts in September.
Start Date : 1st September 2007
Number of Questions : 50
Pass Mark : 43 questions (86%)
Time allowed : 57 minutes
Format : Computer based with touch screen.
Changes from previous test : Previous test was 35 questions and pass mark was 30 questions (86%), the time limit was 40 minutes.
New Topic: The new driving theory test has a new topic on the Environment with questions that get students to think about how their driving behaviour and subsequent emissions affect the environment (Example Questions here).
Note: Also on the first of September we hope to launch our new service for the driving theory test on a mobile phone you can help us reach this target by registering as a beta tester.
Today we are launching a new way to practise for your driving theory test.
In the main pages of the site at http://uHavePassed.com you will find details of our new idea - don’t sit in front of a computer and go through the 1000+ questions about the driving theory - do it on your phone where-ever you are.
We have realised that practising for the test has become a real chore and that it can not be good for your concentration to sit in front of the computer for hours on end - that is why we have created a tool that allows students to practise in bite-sized chunks.
You can do a 1 minute session or 20 minute session - it is up to you, we have even put in some games to make practising a bit more interesting.
We also think that you should easily be able to tell how you are progressing and focus your efforts in the best areas to increase you chances of passing the test first time and that is why we have created a tool for easy analysis of your results so far.
There is only one snag - at the moment you cannot use the software - we are doing final beta testing in August - and this is where we could do with some help - if you sign up to help us beta test the software - you will get access to the software for free for one month. You will have to be prepared that there may be bugs in the software and we ask you fill out a questionnaire also.
We are also looking to create a competition encourage people to test it properly with some nice prizes - more on this in your introduction email.
If you would like to sign up - please send us your details using the form at http://uHavePassed.com/beta
It’s probably a few years until the driving theory test will become irrelevant and with a review of how effective it currently is we can expect changes to the driving theory test in the next few years.
However there is a vision of cars in the future that will be able to understand signs and signals on their own and react accordingly. These cars are currently being tested by the US military for use in battlefield situations, but it will be only a matter of years until these technologies start hitting real roads.
Directional signs must only have a limited life - in the next ten years all new cars will start coming with Satellite navigation as standard - and then why spend the money on sign that only tell people what they already know!
With cars like these soon on the road will the instructional signs disappear soon also? To get a car to understand signs it is less efficient to get them to read an actual sign - but to get the sign to send out an electronic signal to tell the car it is there. This sort of replacement project would cost a lot of money though, but what if the road signs became virtual and only existed inside the Satellite Navigation software then that could be the end of road signs as we know them.
It might be that the current generation taking the driving theory test will be the last to take the driving theory test as we know it and that not only the test - but the reasons for the test might change in the future.
For now though it is clear that there is a new driving theory test starting in September - it will have 50 questions not 35 and will have a pass mark that is now higher at 86% - this is future that most current students should be worrying about! The new test questions will be launched on Monday for people to start practising.
I’m not sure that this idea has legs - at least I hope it doesn’t!
I’ve read on the BBC that the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety is suggesting that people could face a test of their personality before being given a UK driving licence as part of the driving theory test.
This idea seems to be so wrong in many ways - the first is that when does someone become unsuitable to drive? Where is the line drawn - surely we all have good days and bad days? What happens if someone with a “inappropriate” personality manages to get through the test, then on a “bad day” is in not in a good enough mood to drive?
If the idea was at all practical it would be a good idea - where it seems to be flawed is that there are two options:
It also seems that to be at all meaningful you would have to repeat the tests every 5 years and you would also have ot profile the entire existing driving population.
Then you will have to have an appeals process that will allow decisions to be reviewed - what do you do to people who are deemed unfit to drive in the mean time?
I hope this will get no momentum within government and it recognised for the crazy idea that it is, the only parallel I can see here is with doctors saying that a patient cannot drive any longer for example if they are epileptic - the system with the doctor seems to work much better here and doesn’t start from the point of view that every driver is flawed.
The recent paper by the Transport Commitee seems to suggest this ludicrous idea has been ignored.