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Having just waiting in the blistering sun, on my feet, for half an hour for a bus that hasn't arrived, I've decided I actually need to go for my driving theory test. Driving itself is a peice of piss, but the theory is nigh-fething-impossible.
Does dakka have any help? Preferably from someone young who's recently passed.

I wouldn't say impossible, but irrelevant. The stuff they ask is a complete piss take.

The DVLA do an interactive DVD that covers most of the questions, fire through that a few timesand you'll be fine.

Passed mine 5 years ago now, and now have my HGV1 to do in 2 weeks time.

Simply read through the books until you know them cover to cover.
Do a practice test on the CD or website once a day until your getting a good string of passes.

Other than a ton of revision, theres not alot you can do.

I can't do revision. Any more tips?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Medium of Death wrote:I wouldn't say impossible, but irrelevant. The stuff they ask is a complete piss take.

The DVLA do an interactive DVD that covers most of the questions, fire through that a few timesand you'll be fine.

It's not really a DVD. More like a textbook being read out.

Joey wrote:I can't do revision. Any more tips?

Man the hell up, nobody "can't do revision".

Corpsesarefun wrote:

Joey wrote:I can't do revision. Any more tips?

Man the hell up, nobody "can't do revision".

So literally all the people you know got A*s? Some people can memorise arbitrary data, some people can't.
The trick is to form patterns with the information, form a narrative. This is what I need help with.

Since when is the ability to remember things binary?

Try to revise, you're unlikely to get 100% but it will be better than nothing. Forming patterns with the information is a revision technique... What the hell did you think revision was?

Its fething easy, but everyone fails the first time cos they don't read the book.

Force yourself to sit and read the bastard thing for a few hours, piss it.

Corpsesarefun wrote:

Joey wrote:I can't do revision. Any more tips?

Man the hell up, nobody "can't do revision".

Agreed, some people dont do revision out of a combination of Laziness and arrogance though.

You can try the tests for free IIRC on you.gov.uk. You can also easily get ahold of the DVD tests from someone that has passed already for cheaps.

Aura, passed hers about two weeks ago, after using the DVD about seven times and passing everytime, and reading through the book a few times. She said it was pretty much common sense answers, the only iffy bit was the reaction test, and even that wasn't too big a deal.

It certainly seemed not as bad as I though it would be looking at what she was doing, and has been one of the reasons I put off driving myself for so long. Once she has passed the main test, I might have to look into it myself.

Joey wrote:

Corpsesarefun wrote:

Joey wrote:I can't do revision. Any more tips?

Man the hell up, nobody "can't do revision".

So literally all the people you know got A*s? Some people can memorise arbitrary data, some people can't.
The trick is to form patterns with the information, form a narrative. This is what I need help with.

So what you are saying is that you can't remember the rules of the Highway Code and what all the road signs mean. Because that's what the theory test is and what you have to learn. If you can't do that you shouldn't be on the road.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Joey wrote:

Corpsesarefun wrote:

Joey wrote:I can't do revision. Any more tips?

Man the hell up, nobody "can't do revision".

So literally all the people you know got A*s? Some people can memorise arbitrary data, some people can't.
The trick is to form patterns with the information, form a narrative. This is what I need help with.

So what you are saying is that you can't remember the rules of the Highway Code and what all the road signs mean. Because that's what the theory test is and what you have to learn. If you can't do that you shouldn't be on the road.

Disregarding that 95% of drivers, and every single driver I know, doesn't know what most of those signs mean? Driving is a piece of piss.


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mattyrm wrote:Its fething easy, but everyone fails the first time cos they don't read the book.

Force yourself to sit and read the bastard thing for a few hours, piss it.

I can't remember how many peices of information there are in the highway code but it's about 5 times as much information as the entire periodic table. I'm completely flumoxed how people are able to memorise it.

Joey wrote:

Corpsesarefun wrote:

Joey wrote:I can't do revision. Any more tips?

Man the hell up, nobody "can't do revision".

So literally all the people you know got A*s? Some people can memorise arbitrary data, some people can't.
The trick is to form patterns with the information, form a narrative. This is what I need help with.

Off-Topic : dyou mean GCSE or A Level?
On Topic: Memorising arbitrary data isn't really necessary, just try reading through a theory guide a few times, work out which bits you don't know too well (by taking a free test online) and focus your time re-reading those bits.
I Used to "not be able to revise" and got told to do that, it took my teacher informing me that that was what she'd meant by "revise" for me to find out I actually could revise.

I passed my theory test just after Easter, I read the highway code once, and got my parents to read me practice questions. A lot of it is easy and obvious answers, especially when they show the pictures. Mostly common sense.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/Doitonlinemotoring/DG_4017669

2 practice tests, easy as. Another alternative is to go for CBT go round on scooter for 2 years while learning to drive a car which is what I will be doing due to lack of funds. CBT is around £130.

I'm sorry but those tests are impossible. I don't see how anyone could remember so much information? How the feth do people do it? And why are they not all autistic savants?

I hate revising for exams, but the tests are easy. I am not street smart nor school smart, and will struggle to tell you something that I learnt 20 minutes ago. But the majority of the tests are pure common sense. With little revision and some common sense and I passed, first time, in a fraction of the allotted time.

Joey wrote:I'm sorry but those tests are impossible. I don't see how anyone could remember so much information? How the feth do people do it? And why are they not all autistic savants?

If Joey can't do it then only gods can.

I literally zoomed through the test book a couple times and tried out the 'Hazard perception' 4-5 times. I glanced through the highway code once. Tbh anyone that fails the theory test is either too cocksure about their intelligence/driving ability or someone with an IQ below 70. (There are also people that 'freeze' during any type of exam).

If you're such a great Driver then the hazard perception section should be a 'piece of piss', so you can tick that one off. The questions are just a case of going through the book and reading the answers for the ones you get wrong.

Yeah, I passed first time and hardly revised at all. It's just a question of paying attention in one's driving lessons and glancing through the highway code gak in order to familiarise yourself with some of the symbols and terminology. It's mostly common sense stuff.

My advice would be to drive a lot, just not anywhere near me, thanks. Particularly if you consider stuff like stop signs and speed limits to be 'arbitrary information'!

Just took the first of those car practice tests; 42 out of 50.

I don't even intend to drive yet and i've never even seen a handbook or DVD on these things, yet I was 1 mark off passing my theory test, at 3am.

Joey wrote:Disregarding that 95% of drivers, and every single driver I know, doesn't know what most of those signs mean? Driving is a piece of piss.

Please don't go for your license. I know people in England that I don't want to see run over and what you've written there is very scary.

Joey wrote:
Disregarding that 95% of drivers, and every single driver I know, doesn't know what most of those signs mean? Driving is a piece of piss.

There are two elements to driving: the mechanical operation of the vehicle (being able to turn the steering wheel, change gears etc) and the safe piloting of a vehicle through an environment. It sounds like you might be able to manage the first part but not the second if you can't understand the instructions given to you by various road signs. Driving is far more than being able to make a car go forward.

Driving is about more than controlling the operation of the car.
It's about using the road, the very thing the theory test is testing you on.
If you can't pass the theory test then you have no business driving a car.
You need to read the Highway code and learn the contents until you are able to pass the test.

sebster wrote:

Joey wrote:Disregarding that 95% of drivers, and every single driver I know, doesn't know what most of those signs mean? Driving is a piece of piss.

Please don't go for your license. I know people in England that I don't want to see run over and what you've written there is very scary.

I know more signs than my parents and they can drive fine.


These are the UK road signs. Most of them tell you things you could see just by looking (you are supposed to be checking your mirrors when you drive, they don't like it when you survey your surroundings), or are self-explanatory.
I even asked a friend who passed about 4 years ago what they meant, he couldn't tell me. No one knows any of the stuff on a theory test.

Practical advice: Read through the book once. Go make a cup of tea. Look at the title of each section, and write down as much as you can remember. Check this against the actual book. Highlight the bits you don't know. Read through these, write them down, and say them aloud.
Look, cover, write, check. Its how people learn.

When you're doing reasonably well, take some practice tests using the CD. When you are consistently scoring well on there, sit the test.

No-one 'cannot revise', although there are different ways of doing so which suit different people. Learning how to do so will help you much later in life.

Clearly people do "know stuff on the theory test"
I know this because people actually pass.
I've got bad news for you, you're not a special snowflake.
You're going to have to man up, study the material, and learn it if you want a driving licence.
That's all there is to it.

The driving theory tests are easy - most of the questions and scenarios given are common sense and obvious answers. I never bothered revising for any of them and I passed mine first time; granted I did the car theory 15 years ago and the HGV one about 8 years ago however, so they may have tightened them up a bit but I doubt they are massively more difficult. As for your assertion that some of your friends don't know what the signs mean, they must either be blind or stupid. If you have been driving for 4 years and still don't know what some signs mean then you don't belong on the roads, simple as that. Not being able to operate a car properly pushes up insurance premiums for those of us that can and are able to drive properly.

I got myself a couple of DVDs for the PC: one for theory, and the other for hazard perception.
If I recall correctly the theory practice was just a random selection of questions from the general pool; I'd spend half an hour or so per night doing sample tests in the months leading up to the real one, and before long I'd gotten a handle on the stuff that was likely to trip me up. I managed to pass and it wasn't too monotonous.

EDIT: my strategy was to only take the theory test once I had achieved a consistent run of passes in the mock tests.

The fact as well that it is multiple choice makes it that much easier, the answer is in front of you. If you can't do that then you need to think hard on driving being right for you.

WTF is the world coming to when multiple choice tests of information that is readily available in a little book is considered hard?

I learnt to drive a bit late so had to do these tests and found the most difficult thing (if that be the right term?) was the Hazard Perception test. It was more of a case that I felt I was identifying to many risks (damn you H&S training at work!) and felt I was pressing the button too much whan I did the free practice programmes you can find on the web. No worries though.

If you do struggle with them then its with good reason that you do not have a license. There are enough numpties that have passed the test making things dangerous, we don't want more of them!