How to practise driving test routes near your test centre

Why practise near your test centre

Your test starts and ends at the test centre, and most of it is spent on the roads within a few miles of it. Every centre has its own mix: some have large multi-lane roundabouts, some have fast dual carriageways nearby, some are mostly 20 and 30 mph residential streets. Driving those roads beforehand means the hard parts are familiar, and your attention can go on driving well rather than working out where you are.

Pass rates vary a lot between centres. Each of our test centre pages shows that centre's DVSA pass rate next to the national average.

What to practise

• Roundabouts: the big ones near the centre, in every direction you could be sent. Lane choice and signalling on exit are where most mistakes happen.
• Junctions with poor visibility, and crossroads without traffic lights.
• Speed-limit changes: places where a 40 or 50 drops to 30, often with the sign easy to miss.
• Dual carriageways, if there are any nearby: joining at speed and leaving in good time.
• Pedestrian crossings, bus lanes and school areas on the main roads out of the centre.
• Quiet side streets where you could be asked to pull over, pull out from behind a parked car, or do a manoeuvre.

How to practise them

1. Start with your instructor. They know the area and which junctions catch learners out.
2. Practise at different times of day, including the time of your test. School-run traffic and rush hour change a route completely.
3. Follow a sat nav for some of it, and road signs for some. Between 20 and 35 minutes of the test is independent driving, following a sat nav, road signs or both (see what happens on the test).
4. Drive each loop more than once, from a different direction each time, so you aren't learning one fixed order of turns.
5. Note where you hesitated or made a mistake, and go back to that spot on your next drive.

Using Drive Round's practice routes

The Drive Round app has practice routes around test centres across the UK. Each one is a loop that starts and ends at the centre and covers the roundabouts, traffic lights and main roads nearby. You open a route in Google Maps and follow it turn by turn, as you would follow the examiner's sat nav. They are practice routes we built, not DVSA's routes: they cover the kinds of roads you are likely to drive, not the exact roads on your test.

You can see the route summaries for each centre, without the app, on our test centre pages.

Questions

Are driving test routes published?

No. DVSA doesn't publish test routes, so you can't check them before your test. Practice routes, including ours, cover the kinds of roads you are likely to drive, not the exact roads on your test.

Should I learn the test routes by heart?

No. You can't know which roads you will be given, and part of the test is following a sat nav or road signs you haven't seen before. Aim to be comfortable with the roads around the centre rather than one fixed route.

How long before my test should I practise near the centre?

Start a few weeks before, once you can drive without your instructor's help most of the time. Several drives around the centre at the time of day of your test are worth more than one long one the day before.

Can I practise test routes with a family member?

Yes, if they meet the legal rules for supervising a learner and the car is insured for you. Practising between lessons is one of the best ways to get used to the roads near your centre.