Conducting mock tests

The driving test changed on 24 November 2025. If you learned the test format before then — or are working from older training material — the independent driving section is the part that has moved. The detail is in plan the independent driving section below.

As your learner progresses toward booking their practical test, start incorporating mock test scenarios that simulate the real test environment, so you can gauge their independent driving ability. Mock tests should begin at least 2 to 3 months before the actual test date. Running the first mock test a week before the real thing is not helpful: if the learner performs poorly, it may be too late to postpone with the DVSA, and significant money may already be invested. Managing expectations and encouraging learner responsibility is crucial.

Each mock test should be carried out exactly as an official driving examiner would conduct it, to provide an accurate and constructive experience. Use the examiner's wording, so there is nothing for the learner to misunderstand or misinterpret during the test.

So what should a test look like?

On a real test the candidate drives for around 35 minutes. Build your mock to match, and include:

• Checking the pupil's driving licence
• An eyesight check — 20 metres for a new-style plate, 20.5 metres for an old-style one
• Show me, tell me questions
• General driving ability
• Reversing the car — one of the manoeuvres
• Independent driving
• Giving the test result and feedback

The emergency stop is not in every test. It is asked in roughly 1 in 7 tests — reduced from 1 in 3 — so include it in some mocks but do not let your pupil expect it. DVSA's mock-test guidance still lists it as a component, and practising it remains essential; just do not present it as a certainty.

What mock test routes should include

Start somewhere suitable for the eyesight check and a tell me safety question. Then include as many of these road types as possible:

• Rural roads with higher speed limits
• Urban roads
• Dual carriageways, including national speed limit sections
• Multi-lane roundabouts
• One-way systems

Driving abilities your pupil will need to demonstrate

The route must give the pupil opportunities to demonstrate:

• Changing lanes
• Passing parked or stationary vehicles and obstacles
• Approaching and crossing junctions
• Observing road markings and signs, and reacting to potential or actual risks

Keep each route consistent, with similar hazards on each route.

Plan where you will do the manoeuvres

Your route needs:

• A straight section of main road with clear visibility ahead and behind, for pull up on the right and reverse
• A straight section of main road with cars parked on the left, for parallel parking
• A car park suitable for bay parking, either driving in and reversing out or reversing in and driving out

Choose suitable car parks

A suitable car park has:

• No restrictions on practising
• Room to drive around and exit if no bays are free
• Several bays to choose from
• Bays that require steering in on the left or the right
• Clearly defined bays

Use a quieter area of the car park.

Plan the independent driving section of the route

This is the part that changed on 24 November 2025, and it is the most common thing to get wrong in a mock now.

Independent driving lasts 20 to 35 minutes — it is no longer a fixed 20-minute block, and it can run for the full duration of the test. It may follow a sat nav, traffic signs, or a combination of both, at the examiner's discretion. The old fixed split, where roughly one test in five used traffic signs, no longer applies.

Two things follow for your mocks:

• Vary the length. A pupil who has only ever done 20 minutes independently will be caught out by a test that is independent almost end to end. Build some mocks where independent driving starts early and runs to the finish.
• Mix the methods within one mock. Because the examiner can switch between sat nav and signs, practise the handover — sat nav for a stretch, then "follow the signs for the town centre" — rather than treating them as two separate route types.

Set up a sat nav to give directions

You can either create, save and use set routes, if your device supports it, or simply set a destination, accepting that the device may not suggest the exact route you planned. DVSA examiners use a TomTom Start 52 sat nav for the driving test, as it can save custom routes. However, you do not need to use the same make and model for mock tests.