“Hi, Ged & Claire. Like most ADIs, I really enjoy all your articles and posts, so keep it up! I was, however, wondering if you could offer some advice on improving driving test pass rates…
I’m scratching my head at the moment: I qualified a little under a year ago and started very positively with my pass rate – 8 out of the first 10! However, of late, I have had several unsuccessful attempts in a row. I prepare all learners in exactly the same way, and always ensure they pass a mock test before booking a real one. I am slightly concerned for my reputation, both with learners and with examiners, and am working hard to arrest the slide. Is it my fault? The learner’s? Or are peaks and troughs like this normal? Any advice would be appreciated, as I’m sure I’m not the only one who stresses about their pass rate!”
Well, first, what an achievement. 8 out your first 10 tests passed – that’s great! My first ever learner to test failed, and it was an awful feeling. Yes, peaks and troughs are normal and I’m sure many excellent instructors have had their fair share of ‘bad runs’. No matter how good we are, expecting to have a 100% test pass rate is unrealistic. We can, however, do everything we can to improve. It’s worth mentioning that this is no one’s fault or failure. You’re just learning from experience. After all, a FAIL is just the ‘First Attempt In Learning’ and if they do fail it’s not a matter of life and death. To put it into perspective, it’s just a test! And they can take it again until they do pass.
How to Improve Driving Test Pass Rates
10 Top Tips which I hope you will find useful in improving your driving test pass rate.
Tip 1 – Monitor
If you want to know what you’re good at and what you could improve on, measure your results. Taking a photo of the driving test report or copying a test report onto a blank one will allow you to keep records of what your learners are picking up faults on. Is there a trend? When I did this, I found that I was getting quite a few driver faults on mirrors, including the odd serious one. I decided to remove my eye mirror, and the learners became aware of when I was watching them. This prepared them for being watched by the examiner, and also became a subliminal prompt. After that, my mirror faults decreased significantly!
Tip 2 – Shut up (in the nicest possible way!)
This has always been a particular challenge for me. Even on ‘mock’ tests, and certainly in the lessons on the run up to the test, it’s easy to overlook how much help you are actually giving your learners. Getting them used to total independence for set periods of time will not only prepare them for the test conditions, but also give you insight into how much you actually help them without thinking about it!
Tip 3 – Use records
A common question after around 8 lessons is, ‘When can I book my test?!’ If you use records, it’s much easier to show the learner what they need to be able to do BEFORE they book their test and what standard they need to reach for all the topics listed. ‘When you have covered all these topics and can do them without my help, shall we crack on and get that driving test passed?’
Tip 4 – Syllabus
Sounds simple, but do make sure your learner can deal with everything required for the test and much more! Allow your learners to experience a wide variety of areas, types of road and traffic situations – the more variety, the better. They will become better all-round drivers, and much more capable of dealing with situations on their test. That said, if there are any tricky bits or junctions where ‘local knowledge’ is needed on test routes, it’s best to make sure they can deal with them confidently, too.
To download a copy of the DVSA’s ‘Safe and Responsible Driving Syllabus’, click here.
Tip 5 – Say NO!
We have all had the learner who books a test when you know you have more chance of winning the lottery than getting a pass from them. Some learners deteriorate after booking the test, some come to us with a test already booked. If they’re not ready, say NO and stick to your guns. It’s your car, and your reputation. If they can’t meet the requirements for the test, don’t take them. Make sure your terms and conditions cover this.
Tip 6 – Pick the best time
Some people work best in the morning, some in the afternoon. Find out what works best for your learner and book a test to suit. I also used to avoid the rush hour test times and the school kicking-out times. The kids from the school round the corner from my local test centre used to play ‘chicken’ with learners: not great when your learner is already under a lot of stress!
Tip 7 – Does your learner feel ready?
Irrespective how how ready YOU think they are, confidence in their own ability will help your learners deal with test day nerves. If they don’t want to do their test just yet, let them decide when they do want to do it. What do they want to achieve before they take their test? Can you help them achieve that first? Having goals will help create a sense of confidence. ‘When I can do Manchester Street roundabout, I know I will be able to deal with anything on my test’.
Top 8 – Deal with test day ‘nerves’
Learners will naturally have some degree of nervousness on their test day. What helps them relax? Is there relaxing music that they can listen to before the test? Do they need a cigarette (assuming they smoke, of course!)? Accommodate their needs and make sure you allow sufficient time to do so. Some won’t want to drive beforehand. If that’s what works for them, then great. Learn some basic breathing techniques to help them relax. Make them laugh. Encourage them to have a brisk walk to the end of the street and back. Have some Rescue Remedy in the car, even if you don’t believe it works. If they think it will, then it will! Ask them to tell you again what passing the test will give them. Motivation is a powerful force!
Tip 9 – Eliminate negative language and self-talk
Be positive, and encourage your learners to do the same. This applies not only to the test day but also to the days leading up to it. Those who have trained with me will know that ‘if’ is banned in my car, as is ‘hopefully’. They are equal to swear words! ‘If I pass my test’ becomes ‘WHEN I pass my test’ and ‘Hopefully I’ll do it’ becomes ‘I WILL do it’.
Also, be aware of and eliminate any negative body language. Walk to the test centre with your learner proudly, smile and say ‘hello’ to your fellow colleagues and the examiners. Present a positive environment to your learner (even if you have to fake it!) 😉
Tip 10 – Be positive about all the examiners
Learners are influenced by what their mates tell them. ‘I hear one of the examiners never passes anyone there’. A simple reframe will quell any fears. ‘Really? I have an 80% test pass rate with him!’ People see what they expect to see. It’s much more useful for your learner to go in thinking that the examiners are all nice and looking to give out a pass than to believe they’re all evil and waiting for the chance to fail them – which, of course, they aren’t 😉
Have you any further advice that you would like to share? What has helped you improve your driving test pass rate?
Please let us know in the comments below.
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In the first part of this article, we explored how to effectively develop our learner drivers’ mirror use. If you missed it, we’d strongly advise you read that part first – 
It may be that they are arguing with a passenger, distracted by their children, bopping away to a really good tune, lighting a cigarette, picking their nose (ewww!), texting/chatting on the phone, putting on makeup (okay, some women are distracted sometimes, too!). I’m sure we’ve all seen what other drivers do while at the wheel.
Meanwhile, the learner and instructor had both failed to realise was that there was an enormous quarry lorry close up behind them. Needless to say, when the learner driver slammed on the brakes the lorry couldn’t stop in time. The lorry crashed heavily into the back of the instructor’s car pushing it through the zebra crossing. Fortunately the pedestrian hadn’t started crossing – imagine the outcome if they had 🙁
So what happened next? He continued to the roundabout, failed to stop and drove straight into the lamp post on the other side of the roundabout!
Sometimes, thought-provoking questions relating to the behaviours of drivers behind can highlight your learner drivers’ poor attitudes towards other road users. Your learner may scold the driver behind for using his mobile phone or for driving too closely, or for whatever other bad habit the driver behind is displaying. Instead of displaying similar levels of aggression by rebuking the other drive, think how you could use the other driver’s behaviours as a valuable learning opportunity.
Let’s look back at the example questions we provided in Part 1 of this article when encouraging your pupils to LOOK and SEE what’s there…
Other bottom-up approaches include encouraging the pupil to routinely apply the right signal when moving off for the first time (“just for practise”), rather than to 
Although this is an example of an instructional approach, a coaching conversation would work really well, too. Yes, top-down approaches will take a little longer in the short-term, but the long-term benefits definitely outweigh this.
“Hi Ged and Claire, I’m getting really frustrated with my pupils not checking their mirrors, they do it sometimes when I ask or tell them to, but then go right back to forgetting again when I stop helping them. What can I do?”
For the most part, the reason for this is that the learner has no idea what they are specifically looking for. They’ve simply been told or asked to check the mirrors (as in the examples above).
Appropriately phrased questions will help bring these higher priority things to the learner’s attention – things which they may not have even considered paying attention to, or were ‘blind’ to due to overwhelm.
Finally, it’s important to notice that the diagram at the start of this article is 
ADI Diary Management and Diary planning is an art form in itself. Learning to plan your diary efficiently can help maximise your time, boost your profits and reduce your fuel costs. It also enables you to ‘work to live’ rather than ‘live to work’. Many new instructors struggle with diary management, so here are 7 tips on how to manage your diary more effectively, based on our own experiences. We hope you find the ADI diary management tips useful!
So what day(s) off do you want? What time do you want to start and finish work? Ok, so you may have to make the odd exception to fit in that new pupil on their birthday but having strict parameters will help you keep work contained within the times and days YOU want.
Try to narrow down your coverage area, where possible. Yes, that’s easier said than done for some people. If you’re a new ADI, you’ll probably have to start with a wide geographical area and narrow it down as you get busier. Or it may be that you live in an area that’s not densely populated.
I know what you’re thinking… “Say NO? You’re kidding right?!”
Time is precious. And for driving instructors, lost time equals lost income. Using the top ten tips to Reduce Driving Lesson Cancellations can save you time and money. Yes, it’s great to be able to catch up on other essential business matters when last-minute lesson cancellations arise, but we all have bills to pay. So what can we do to minimise cancellations and loss of income? Here are 10 top tips:
Outline the conditions for cancellation (see below) and end the conversation by simply asking for their verbal understanding, “so are we OK with that, or do you need me to clarify anything?” 
Make your terms and conditions easily available, have them on your website and appointment cards. Go through cancellation policies at the time of booking and/or on the first lesson. Even so, it can be hard to enforce and if reliable customers have a genuine reason for cancelling, waiving the cancellation on that occasion can make good business sense. You don’t want to lose an otherwise reliable customer all because you charged her for a lesson when she was in hospital with her son.
“Yes Ged, I tell them that they have to give me 48 hours’ notice of any cancellations, otherwise I’ll charge them. But obviously if they’re ill, I don’t want their germs, so it’s fine to cancel then” When I asked him what the pupils’ reasons for cancelling that week was, can you guess what his reply was? Yes, you got it – “they’re all ill”. Hardly surprising, was it? It’s a good idea to waive the lesson fee if your pupil is genuinely poorly, but don’t tell them in advance that this will be the case, or else the same excuse will be used every time they just can’t be bothered with their driving lesson!
When lessons are moved around a lot it’s easy for the pupil to ‘forget’ when their lesson was or double book that lesson time with some other commitment. Also, bear in mind that if you keep changing their lesson time around from week to week, they’ll expect you to allow them to do the same. Having said that, do bear in mind that learners will benefit from experiencing driving at different times of day, so moving a lesson time to another ‘regular slot’ for a few weeks should work well.
It’s much easier to charge for cancellations when you have the money up front. Block booking discounts offer an incentive for customers to pay for 10 hours at a time, but is your incentive enough? We noticed a big difference in the amount of pre-payments for blocks of 10 hours when we put our hourly rate up but kept the block booking the same. Instead of a £10 discount, customers get £20 discount (almost the price of a 1 hour lesson!). Now customers are much more likely to take advantage of the £20 saving.
