Part one: multiple choice
You answer on a touchscreen, one question at a time, drawn from the Highway Code, traffic signs and essential driving knowledge. Three of the questions are based on a short, silent video clip of a normal driving situation — you can replay it as many times as you like before answering.
The interface is on your side: you can flag any question and come back to it, review your answers at the end, and change anything before you finish. Most people don’t need anywhere near the full 57 minutes — use what’s left to re-check your flagged questions.
Instructor tip
Read the question twice before the answers once. Most wrong answers in mock tests come from misreading “what should you NOT do” style wording, not from missing knowledge.
Part two: hazard perception
After an optional break of up to 3 minutes, you watch 14 computer- generated clips filmed from a driver’s point of view. Each contains at least one developing hazard — and one clip sneakily contains two. You click when you spot a hazard starting to develop.
A developing hazard is something that would make you change speed or direction: a car edging out of a side road, a pedestrian stepping towards a crossing, a cyclist pulling round a parked van. A parked car is a potential hazard; a parked car with its door opening is a developing one — that’s the moment to click.
Score up to 5 points per hazard
Each hazard has an invisible scoring window. Click the moment it starts developing and you score 5; the longer you leave it, the fewer points, down to 0.
Wrong clicks cost nothing
You don’t lose points for clicking at something that turns out to be harmless — so if in doubt, click.
But patterns score zero
Click continuously or rhythmically to game the system and the software voids that clip entirely. Click when you see something, not on a timer.
One attempt per clip
Unlike the multiple choice, you can’t review or retry a clip. Miss one, take a breath, and reset for the next — 44 out of 75 leaves room for a bad clip or two.
Instructor tip
A habit that works: give every hazard a double-click a second apart. Two spaced clicks aren’t a pattern, and they cover you if your first click was a touch early in the scoring window.
How to revise (without cramming)
Use the official materials
The DVSA’s own revision question bank and the free official practice test mirror the real thing exactly. Third-party apps are fine too — just make sure they say they use licensed DVSA questions.
Little and often beats a weekend binge
Ten to fifteen minutes a day for three or four weeks comfortably beats two frantic days. Spaced practice is how the answers stick.
Practise hazard clips separately
Hazard perception is a skill, not knowledge — you can’t read your way to it. Do a few official practice clips every session until spotting the developing moment feels automatic.
Let your lessons do half the work
Talk through what you see while you drive — your instructor does this with you on every lesson. Real junctions around Norwich and real tractors outside Long Stratton teach hazard perception better than any screen.
Book when your mocks say so
Passing full mock tests consistently at 46+ (not scraping 43)? You’re ready. Book, and keep ticking over with short sessions until the day.
Common questions
£23, booked directly on GOV.UK. Be careful with search results: unofficial booking sites charge extra fees for nothing. The official page is gov.uk/book-theory-test.
Two years from the date you pass. You must pass your practical test within that window, or you’ll have to take the theory test again — so don’t leave a huge gap between the two.
Yes — you’ll be given your result at the test centre shortly after finishing, with a breakdown of how you scored in each part.
You have to pass both parts in the same sitting. Score brilliantly on the multiple choice but miss the hazard perception mark and it’s a retake of the whole test (and another £23), at least 3 working days later.
Theory tests are run at dedicated centres, separate from practical test centres — for most of our learners the nearest is in Norwich city centre. You’ll see your options when you book on GOV.UK with your postcode.
Shaky on signs? Go back over road signs and the Highway Code first — it’s the biggest single topic in the question bank. Theory passed? See what’s waiting for you on test day.