Changes to UK driving theory test?

[Deleted User]

Hi can anyone please advise what changes have been made to the UK driving test in the last 5 years or so?

I understand a Case Study element was introduced on 28th September 2009 however I'm just wanting to know if there have been any other changes since then or a couple of years prior to then.

I'm about to start learning my driving theory and basically want to establish if I can use a PC revision programme I have from 1997/1998 or if I will need a newer version to cover new elements that may have been introduced?

Many thanks.

gaz_jones

I doubt the software you have will have a Hazard Perception test on it which is a big part of the theory test nowadays.

Trebor16

It has changed dramatically since 97/98. There are more questions now (50 instead of the orignal 35) and there is the hazard perception element of the test. I would get a new version or do a search online as there are some mock tests which can be accessed for free.

dibuzz

It's definitely changed since my son passed 4 years ago, my daughter is learning now and I bought her the latest disc.
It's false economy to save a few quid now and have to pay for another test.

mluton

Might be of use:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4017669

Lum

I took my theory in 1998 and there was no hazard perception and the questions were laughably easy and these days they are a lot harder.

For example I would have got a question like:

Which of the following vehicles are allowed to display flashing blue lights: Police, Ambulance, Breakdown truck
The modern version of that question, that my stepbrother got, had the options: Coastguard, Mountain Rescue, Bomb Squad.

I'm also told that it is that it really is important to practise the hazard perception test as the simulation they use bares little resemblance to reality, to the point that IAM members who take the test fail due to spotting too many hazards!

gaz_jones

Lum wrote: »

I'm also told that it is that it really is important to practise the hazard perception test as the simulation they use bares little resemblance to reality, to the point that IAM members who take the test fail due to spotting too many hazards!

That was the problem I had with my first theory test. I got 34/35 on the questions on both of my theory tests, but I failed the hazard perception part the first time because I clicked too much.

Lum

From the complaints I read about it, you can't click to say "this child is a hazard" while they are waiting to cross, you have to click after they enter the road.

Bloody stupid and discourages anticipation. Somebody waiting to cross is a hazard that you need to keep an eye on and be ready in advance for if they do step out.

Elle7

Lum wrote: »

From the complaints I read about it, you can't click to say "this child is a hazard" while they are waiting to cross, you have to click after they enter the road.

Bloody stupid and discourages anticipation. Somebody waiting to cross is a hazard that you need to keep an eye on and be ready in advance for if they do step out.

They've updated this now. You'd score maximum points for the hazard if you click before they start crossing, middle points if you click as they step off the kerb, and minimum points if you click just as they start walking. If the hazard is too close, you score nothing.

It's complicated, but like someone linked, there is online tests. Just remember that there is only two, and the questions on mine were nothing like them, which was a bit of a shock. A theory test book is a good idea!

Lum

I'd still end up clicking every time a pedestrian or vehicle came on screen, every corner, speed bump, pot hole, speed camera*, traffic island etc. etc.

*Can cause other drivers around you to behave erratically or have worse observation

duchesspink1

when i sat my theory two months ago, I only used the theory book. I sat out in my garden, learnt it inside and out then the night before sitting my test, realised there was the hazard perception and panicked as i'd not practiced it.
I found a few online for free, did them, realised its not an exact science and went on ahead next morning to sit my test, I passed my theory with 50/50 and the hazard perception with a 92% pass rate. The actual hazard tests were 14 clips, each 1 minute long, it tells you at the start that you will find one hazard in each clip and in one clip you'll find two. The hazards were very easy to spot and as soon as i'd seen the hazard and clicked, I could relax and not click everything else in the clip as I knew i'd already spotted the proper hazard. so for example, you see a horse in the clip and you assume that is the hazard they are talking about so you click as soon as you see it, click when you are level with it and click as you are passing it, then a few seconds later, a motorbike flies out of a side road.
The motorbike was the hazard they were looking for and you will get marked down for clicking 4 times about the horse etc.

so my advice is, don't waste your money on the hazard dvd's. Invest in an updated highway code and theory question and answer book and forget the hazard bit. You get plenty of opportunity to practice it at the theory test centre before taking the actual test and once you read their instructions, you will see exactly what kind of hazards they are looking for.
I was def under the impression that I had to click for every emerging hazard and that was actually wrong.

I hope you understand what I mean lol