Hoot guide to passing your driving test

At Hoot Car Insurance Services, we specialise in finding you one of the cheapest car insurance quotes you'll be offered, without compromising on cover. But after a few years talking car insurance for young drivers, we couldn't help finding out about all those other issues affecting you - the driving tests, the cost of repairs, the best car makes, stuff like that.

Once we realised how useful all this experience could be, we put together the Hoot Guides, a handy series designed to get you driving as quickly, safely and cheaply as possible. This one is about passing the UK driving tests, and offers lots of practical tips you might not have heard elsewhere.

When you're done here, why not check out one of the other Hoot Guides for inspired tips on everything from buying a second hand car to the search for cheap car insurance.

We haven't set out to cover everything - there are plenty of thick books written on the subject if that's what you're after - but it ought to provide a useful supplement to the advice your parents, friends and your driving instructor are probably giving you if you're learning at the moment.

1. Choosing a driving instructor
It's really important to get this right, bearing in mind you'll be spending between 20 and 30 hours sat next to this person! The most important qualifications a driving instructor can have are an agreeable personality and the respect of his or her students.

There are two routes to go down when choosing an instructor - either sign up with one of the driving agencies or hunt one down yourself.

The first is akin to a dating agency, and you should treat it as such. Don't be suckered into accepting the first guy they send if you don't get on very well. Instead, call up the driving school and ask for a different instructor. Very often, you'll find you can specify an age, gender, or any other quality that'll help you find the kind of mentor you can relate to.

When looking for instructors by yourself, vet them as thoroughly as you can (over the phone, or if possible arrange to meet up) before agreeing to a lesson. Remember what your folks used to say about getting into cars with strangers? Well, it's as true here as ever before.

Also, be aware that the benefits and costs of lessons vary wildly from one instructor to the next. Some driving schools offer discounts for block bookings, membership of a motoring organisation or money off young driver car insurance after you pass as an incentive for you to sign up. With independent instructors there's often the potential to strike a deal on lesson prices if you play your cards right.

Remember: you pay your instructor's wages, and in essence that makes you their boss. If you've got a problem with the way you're being taught, say so and you can expect it to be fixed.

2. Driving lessons
At about £20 a pop, it's important to make sure you're getting the most out of your driving lessons. There's a few things you can do to help speed up the process of learning.

First, think about the interval between your lessons. Try to book a regular weekly slot or slots with your instructor - spaced far enough apart to allow new skills to sink in, but not so far that you start to forget things. Crucially, avoid the situation where the first half-hour of each lesson is spent struggling to replicate something you'd mastered the time before.

Similarly, decide what length of lesson suits you best. An hour is the standard, but you should experiment to see if increasing that time by 30 minutes or more allows you to get more done without losing concentration. A good instructor should quickly get a feel for what lesson length suits you best.

Another great way of maximising your learning efficiency is by using a driving skills progress card. Many driving agencies issue these direct to their instructors, but if yours doesn't have one they are readily available for printing online.

The card charts your progress from total beginner to accomplished motorist, by breaking driving down into a number of key skills and giving you a score to build on for each one. Hand the card to your instructor at the end of each lesson, and they'll mark you up for the progress you've made. The card makes it easy to keep track of the rate at which you're learning, and makes for a confidence-boosting reminder of your progress to date.

3. The theory test
Most people you ask will tell you to book your theory test as early as possible - generally at about the same time as you start driving lessons. This is sage advice but rarely taken, and it's more common to end up putting off your theory for the first few months while you get to grips with the actual driving.

Until the introduction of the Hazard Perception part of the test, the theory was commonly considered something of a formality - and the multiple choice part of it still is.

The trick to acing it is to get hold of an official, up-to-date theory test book from one of the bigger agencies such as the AA or BSM, or from the DSA themselves. These books reproduce every one of the questions you might be asked, complete with identical multiple choice answers. Read it over a few times, ask your friends to test you if possible, and you'll do fine on the day.

The Hazard Perception part is trickier, and requires a peculiar blend of mousing skills and blind luck which many believe has more in common with playing a PC game than it does with driving a car. The answer? Go online and practice, using one of the many theory test emulators that have sprung into existence since the hazards test was introduced.

4. The practical test
Discuss with your instructor when and where to take your practical, bearing in mind you'll need to book their car for the hour of the test and probably the hour before, too, for a warm-up.

There's no doubt about it - this one is scary, and adopting a PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) is crucial to success. If you think you're going to fail, chances are you will! You can rely on two things to boost your confidence though: your instructor and your driving progress card.

Reassure yourself with the thought that your instructor is an experienced professional, and wouldn't have put you forward for the test unless they were confident you could pass it. Then take a look at your completed progress card, which proves as well as any pass certificate that you're a safe, confident driver. Keep these two thoughts uppermost in your mind and you'll avoid the pre-test nerves that plague many other learner drivers.

During the test itself, remember to keep an open mind about your chances. Try not to let mistakes get on top of you (bear in mind that you can make 15 minor faults and still not fail) and don't demonise your examiner - they would genuinely much rather pass than fail you.

Also, take comfort in the fact that you'll only be driving for 37 minutes rather than the hour minimum you spend on a driving lesson. And under test conditions that time will seem even quicker!

Get a low-cost cheap car insurance quote from Hoot
At Hoot, we all really want you to pass your driving test - and not just because we want to sell you some of our fabulously cheap car insurance (though that does come into it).

While we're on the subject, though, it might interest you to know how Hoot can offer such cheap motor insurance quotes without sacrificing on cover or useful features.

So if you're just about to take your driving test, or even if you've been driving for twenty years, you've got to click that quote button below and find out just how cheap our young driver car insurance policies are.