As a novice student, you’ll already have had around 10-15 hours driving tuition with an instructor or a family member. You would likely have practiced car control, steering, clutch control when moving away, stopping and some gear changing. The length of the course is 30 hours with the last hour reserved for the driving test. It can be spread over 5 to 8 days, or longer depending on your preference. On each day of the course, you’ll be driving between 2 and 6 hours, split into 2 hour sessions with short refreshment breaks in between each session.
Pre-requisites
- Be relatively comfortable driving on quiet, low speed roads.
- Know how to drive away from parked position.
- Able to stop the car safely.
- Using mirrors when turning.
- Basic command of the gears.
Course syllabus
This course is split into 3 stages which (in addition to the pre-requisites above) cover all the topics in the DSA syllabus for the practical test. Below is a general outline of the course. In reality however, your instructor will likely move faster on topics that you find easy and spend more time on areas where you require more practice.
Hours 1-10 -By the end of this stage, you’ll be expected to demonstrate a relatively good car control, being able to drive in medium traffic and move off at junctions and roundabouts.
- Starting on a hill
- T-junctions
- Crossroads
- Roundabouts
- Meeting situations
- Difficult turns
Hours 11-20 -You’ll now be focusing on the driving test manoeuvres, namely reversing around a corner, reverse parking, bay parking and making a three-point turn on the road. You’ll also spend considerable time practicing difficult turns, junctions, crossroads, roundabouts as well as learning to deal independently with meeting situations.
- Reversing round a corner
- Reverse parking
- Bay parking
- turning in the road (3 point turn)
- Pedestrian crossings
Hours 21-28 -During this final stage of the course, you’ll practice driving on dual carriageways, overtaking other vehicles and driving independently without any directions from your instructor. You’ll also learn how to stop the car safely in the event of an emergency. Much of your training time will be spent improving your existing driving skills and working off any bad habits you may have picked up.
- Dual carriageways
- Overtaking other vehicles
- Independent driving
- Emergency stop
Hours 29-30 -Test day. On the day of your practical test, the instructor will pick you up one hour before the test start time so that you can get some last-minute practice and refresh your skills immediately before the test. Good luck!
How to book
Before booking this course, we recommend you first complete an assessment lesson with one of our instructors. To book yourself in for the assessment, please contact us on free-phone 0300 111 6858 We’re open Monday to Friday 9am-8pm and Saturdays 10am-1pm.