The Theory Test
about the test
To get a Full UK Driving Licence you must pass a theory test followed by a practical test.
The theory test is taken on a computer at a theory test centre. It’s made up of two parts: Multiple Choice followed a few minutes later by Hazard Perception. You must pass both parts to pass the theory test.
The theory test currently costs £31.00 to take and around half of all people fail it so it’s well worth joining up at our partner PassYourTheory to make sure you don’t have the cost and hassle of having to retake. Wouldn’t you prefer to tell everyone you passed?
multiple choice
The multiple choice test is made up of 50 questions and you have 57 minutes to answer them. To pass, you must get at least 43 questions right.
With each question, the question itself appears at the top followed by a series of options. In many cases, there is more than one correct answer so you’ll be asked to select 2, 3 or 4 options. You must get all the options correct to get the question right so be very careful with this sort of question.
The questions are drawn randomly from a total pool of over 1250 questions and this is why it is essential that you practice beforehand.
hazard perception
The hazard perception test is the one that worries people the most. But there’s really no need as long as you practice beforehand!
During the hazard perception test, which is also on computer, you’ll see 14 video clips one after the other. The idea is for you to spot hazards as they develop. For example, a pedestrian walking along a street and suddenly changing direction: could they be about to walk into the traffic?
When you see a hazard, click the mouse. You don’t have to click on the hazard, just click anywhere. Remember to click each time you think there’s a hazard developing as, although most clips only have one hazard, you are not penalised for clicking when you see others. However, do not over-click or click regularly as the hazard perception software might think you are cheating.
So, when you see a hazard, click. We also recommend clicking again a second or two later just to be sure.
If you click at exactly the right moment, you will score 5 points. If you’re a little late, you’ll score 4 and so on down to 1. If you’re too early, you’ll get zero which is why we recommend clicking twice for each potential hazard. You need to get 44 or more out of 75.
The main reason that people are worried about hazard perception is because it is an unfamiliar type of test. We’ve all done multiple choices before but this is a video test. However, with a little practice (which you can get by signing up with Passyourtheory!) you can take all the worry away and guarantee a hassle-free pass.
