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Struggling with theory test - in 2 days time!

I have been reading the Highway Code and taken the two theory tests provided on direct.gov.uk

The first I failed, the second I passed by one mark.

The first test I felt had questions I don't remember being covered in the Highway Code. They weren't so general-knowledge type ones either.

I'm not sure how I am going to pass. The test is on Monday, I haven't even looked at hazard perception yet (anywhere to practise online?)

Please help. I really don't want to put over £30 down the drain.

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I didn't start revising until a couple of days before and just did it pretty intensively and did really well. I just put online hazard perception test etc in to google and found useful things as well as using my handbook. In the actual exam the hazard perception was easier than the practice tests I'd done.
Reply 2
Original post by SillyRodent
I didn't start revising until a couple of days before and just did it pretty intensively and did really well. I just put online hazard perception test etc in to google and found useful things as well as using my handbook. In the actual exam the hazard perception was easier than the practice tests I'd done.


Thanks. I normally am good at last minute tests but I think it's questions like, speed limits for cars towing trailers on the motorway and when the national speed limit applies that I don't happen to remember reading in the highway code!

Also when seeing an injured person, the airway, bleeding question - I don't seem to remember acronyms! But after getting it wrong I remember it's the physical things.

I'm worried other questions like that may pop up which include specific figures or something that I may not remember. I suppose the questions on the direc.tgov.uk website don't cover all the questions that may come up in the real theory test?
Get a DVD and spend 6 hours the day before boring yourself stupid answering every available question. I must have answered a thousand questions in my cramming and the test was fine. Hazard perception is a little weird but they do explain it well on the day - basically you have to make sure you click more than once as a potential hazard develops (anything that might cause you to take evasive action) but don't click so frantically that you fail the clip. It's fine when you get the hang of it.
Reply 4
I found the AA disk really helpful, although i kept failing all the hazard perceptions on it, but in the end i passed my theory thinking i would fail miserably :P
Reply 5
Original post by Ivorydawn
I found the AA disk really helpful, although i kept failing all the hazard perceptions on it, but in the end i passed my theory thinking i would fail miserably :P


I used the AA DVD too. The hazard perception clips in it are much more difficult than the ones in the real test so you're well prepared for it.
Reply 6
Do you have a CD-ROM/DVD for it? They are far more useful than the highway code. I didn't even look at the highway code and I got 49/50 in mine. Try and get one from your local Tesco or ASDA, they aren't expensive - I got mine for £6. They have hazard perception on them too. Or if you have an iPhone or an iPod touch get the 'driving test success' app, you can do unlimited mock tests on it and its only 99p if I remember correctly. No hazard perception on the app though!
Reply 7
Hmm, I think I will pop to the shops today and buy the AA DVD! Is the DSA one not any good? I thought I had a DSA one but it doesn't seem like it has practise questions on it.
Reply 8
Okay, this is another example of a question I have no clue to (unless this practise test online gives me the answer):

When travelling at 60mph on a dry road the shortest overall stopping distance is what?

Mark one answer.

73 metres
83 metres
55 metres
95 metres

I don't remember reading that.
Reply 9
Original post by Handbag
Okay, this is another example of a question I have no clue to (unless this practise test online gives me the answer):

When travelling at 60mph on a dry road the shortest overall stopping distance is what?

Mark one answer.

73 metres
83 metres
55 metres
95 metres

I don't remember reading that.


http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_188029.pdf
Original post by Handbag
Okay, this is another example of a question I have no clue to (unless this practise test online gives me the answer):

When travelling at 60mph on a dry road the shortest overall stopping distance is what?

Mark one answer.

73 metres
83 metres
55 metres
95 metres

I don't remember reading that.


It's in the highway code - you need to memorise the thinking, braking and stopping distances because they're quite likely to come up in one form or another.
Practice for 2 weeks, one hour per day and youll pass like me
Reply 12
Thank you for the link and the advice. I must have skipped those pages.

My test is on Monday - no two weeks to revise! I will have to write down the ones I can't remember.

Does anyone have a link for the theory test book and answers online? I have the instructor version!
Reply 13
I used the learning theory a week before the test, and the hazard perception a day before the test on the AA app on the iPhone. Worked well for me.

Good luck for Monday :smile:
Reply 14
Is there an easy way or a calculation to remember the distances?

I have worked out stopping distances and thinking, but braking?
(edited 12 years ago)
Just get the official DSA CD with all the possible test questions and maybe the DVD for Hazard Perception practice. You could learn the whole highway code but for the theory test itself it's a lot easier just to do all the possible questions and memorise the answers.
Reply 16
Original post by Handbag
Does anyone have a link for the theory test book and answers online? I have the instructor version!


You don't need a book.

You need to buy one thing: Driving Test Success DVD

It has all the questions, all you need for HPT, and the Highway Code. Plus you can put it on your smartphone for when you're on the bus or something.

It costs about a fiver at the moment:

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&xhr=t&q=driving+test+success&cp=14&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1072&bih=972&wrapid=tljp1310197641422022&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=4936949304890740935&sa=X&ei=boMYTuGGFZG1hAeu7-nMBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CE8Q8wIwBA#

Yes, you can calculate the distances involved but it is more trouble than it's worth. Far easier to come up with a way of remembering the table in the Highway Code.

The way I do it is to remember the speeds involved - 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70. That's easy.

Then memorise the total distances - 12, 23, 36, 53, 73, and 96 metres.

Now remember that the thinking distances go up in threes from 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 metres.

If you need the braking distance you can work it out from that:

braking distance = total distance - thinking distance
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 17
That sounds good. Seems much easier now!
Reply 18
Original post by Handbag
That sounds good. Seems much easier now!


I am just like you! I have my test on Tuesday and JUST STARTED! Yet, I keep on failing esp when it comes to : you are parking facing uphill, you should apply the handbrake and ...? The correct answer is put in first gear and turn the steering wheels away from the kerb!!!!!
I just bought the Driving test success because they have official questions. I keep on failing and since 2008, they changed the questions and included some which I did not expect.

:frown: I am sooooo panicking right now!
Reply 19
Don't read the highway code! Buy the CD and just keep doing the questions over and over, all the questions I got asked in my theory were from the CD so I got full marks, don't waste your time with the highway code honestly.

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