What do driving test examiners look for? Safe, controlled driving and sound decisions without an instructor’s help. You can pass with up to 15 driving faults, but no serious or dangerous faults. The useful question during preparation is: can you recognise what is happening and respond safely, consistently and independently?
Sitting beside a driving examiner can make familiar tasks feel unfamiliar. You might start wondering whether a mirror check was obvious enough or whether a pause at a junction has cost you the test. Understanding what driving test examiners look for in 2026 helps you focus on the road instead of trying to guess your result.
This guide explains the published DVSA assessment framework for car tests in Great Britain, including Nottingham. The practical examples are learning advice from NGPass Driving Academy, not promises about how an unseen incident would be marked.
Driving Faults, Serious Faults and Dangerous Faults
The official DVSA pass criteria distinguish three levels. “Minor” and “major” are common learner terms, but the official categories are more useful when discussing feedback.
An error that is not potentially dangerous. Repetition can show a more serious weakness. No more than 15 are allowed for a pass.
Something potentially dangerous. One serious fault means the test is unsuccessful.
Actual danger to people or property. One dangerous fault means the test is unsuccessful; an accident does not have to happen.
Repeated mistakes can become serious. Do not treat three or four faults as a universal threshold or an allowance to use up.
The distinction matters because the same short description, such as “missed a mirror check”, leaves out crucial information. What movement followed? What could you see? Who was nearby? Was the problem repeated? Discuss those details with your instructor rather than comparing isolated fault totals with friends.
Does One Serious Fault Immediately End the Test?
It means a fail, but it does not automatically mean an immediate return to the test centre. GOV.UK explains that you can continue after a mistake and that the examiner stops the test if they consider your driving a danger to other road users. See the current driving-test format and mistake guidance.
If you think you have made an error, keep concentrating. Replaying it while approaching the next junction creates a new distraction. You may also have judged the incident more harshly than the examiner. Wait for the feedback rather than deciding the result for yourself.
The Skills the Examiner Is Assessing
DVSA’s guide to understanding your test result covers areas including junctions, moving off, judgement, parking and control. These overlap in real driving: one turning can involve several skills. The following groups make them easier to practise; they are not a replacement marking sheet.
1. Observation that changes your decisions
A look only helps if you understand the information. Before moving off, check mirrors and blind spots and make sure there is a safe opportunity. During the drive, check mirrors in good time before signalling or changing speed or direction. These principles are set out in Highway Code rules 159 to 161.
For practice, ask yourself what you learnt from the last check. Did you notice a cyclist, a close-following vehicle or an emerging car? Avoid turning observation into a performance of exaggerated head movements. Your next decision should make sense in light of what you saw.
2. Junction approach and judgement
The result guide identifies approach speed, effective observation, positioning and avoiding cut corners. Arriving too quickly can leave too little time to assess approaching traffic. Looking in both directions does not make a decision safe if you then misjudge the gap.
In lessons, separate two problems: not seeing enough, and seeing traffic but misjudging its arrival. They need different practice. Discuss where your view first becomes useful and what would make you wait. This produces a clearer improvement target than simply saying “be more confident”.
3. Signals and communication
DVSA’s mock-test assessment guidance considers whether signals are necessary, correct and timed appropriately. A signal should help another road user understand the intended movement.
Practise explaining why you signalled at a particular point. Could it suggest an earlier turning? Has it cancelled before the movement is complete? Is it still on afterwards? Thinking about the message received by other people is more useful than remembering to operate the indicator mechanically.
4. Speed, space and anticipation
Build a habit of identifying what might change ahead. A parked delivery vehicle, a narrowing road or a person near a crossing should prompt thought before you reach it. Ask your instructor to review moments when you felt rushed: what earlier information could have given you more time?
Do not use a single speed as a recipe for every junction or roundabout. The available view and the situation change. Equally, if you repeatedly wait despite clear opportunities, explore whether the cause is uncertainty about priority, difficulty judging speed or fear of making a decision.
5. Vehicle control and moving off
Moving off is assessed for control and safety, including on slopes and from behind parked vehicles. DVSA lists problems such as rollback, inadequate blind-spot checks and entering another vehicle’s path.
For an automatic learner, practise your own car’s response to the brake, accelerator, parking brake and any auto-hold system. Removing the clutch does not remove the need for precise low-speed control. Our automatic driving lessons in Nottingham support the development of these skills alongside observation and planning.
6. Parking with continuing observation
DVSA assesses parking through control and observation. A tidy final position does not tell the whole story if the driver has ignored people around the car.
Practise pausing to reassess when something changes, then checking again before continuing. Learn how your steering affects the car’s path so that you can make purposeful adjustments. Our parallel-parking guide explains that learning sequence in more detail.
Independent Driving in 2026
The current GOV.UK guide specifies 20 to 35 minutes of independent driving, following a sat nav, traffic signs or a combination. The examiner tells you which to follow and sets up the sat nav when used.
Taking a wrong turning is not itself a fault. How you drive still matters. If a direction becomes impractical to follow safely, continue safely instead of making a sudden correction. See our Nottingham test-day guide for the wider sequence.
A useful lesson exercise is to follow directions somewhere less familiar, then discuss where navigation competed with your attention. Perhaps you read a sign late or concentrated on a screen while approaching a junction. Work on the cause, not just the missed turning.
Why the Circumstances Matter More Than the Label
The DVSA mock-test guide illustrates different grades of mirror faults. A late exterior-mirror check before changing direction appears as a driving-fault example; omitting an essential check before a significant direction change appears as serious. Neglect that creates actual danger can be dangerous.
Those examples explain assessment, not a guaranteed result for every superficially similar event. They also show why “nobody sounded their horn” is a poor way to judge your own performance.
After practice, describe the event before naming the fault: “I moved towards the parked cars without knowing what was alongside.” That description gives you something concrete to improve. A mark on its own does not.
Turn the Marking Criteria Into a Preparation Plan
The DVSA’s Ready to Pass? checklist highlights independent driving without prompts, avoiding serious or dangerous mistakes, passing mock tests, managing nerves and agreement from your instructor that you are ready.
- Identify recurring situations. Note where help was needed, rather than recording only the total faults.
- Choose a specific practice goal. For example, improve how early you recognise the correct lane.
- Vary the setting. Repeat the skill on different roads so success is not dependent on a familiar landmark.
- Check it without coaching. Use a mock driving test in Nottingham to see whether the improvement holds when you make the decisions.
- Review readiness honestly. Discuss remaining support needs before committing to the test plan.
For preparation around Colwick or Chilwell, aim to transfer skills between different junction layouts and traffic conditions. Knowing an area can help orientation, but learning a supposed route cannot replace judgement. If being watched disrupts otherwise reliable driving, discuss that during nervous-driver lessons so practice includes the pressure you find difficult.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many driving faults can I get and still pass?
Up to 15, provided there are no serious or dangerous faults. Repeated errors can be assessed as serious, so the total is not the only consideration.
Do four faults in the same category automatically mean a fail?
Do not rely on a fixed four-fault rule. DVSA says repeated faults can become serious. The nature and pattern of the driving matter, not a universal allowance for each category.
Will I fail for taking the wrong turning?
The wrong turning itself is not a fault. Keep driving safely and let the examiner help you return to the route. An unsafe attempt to correct your direction can still be marked.
Is the assessment different in an automatic car?
GOV.UK says the test is the same for manual and automatic cars. The controls you use differ, but you still need safe observation, judgement and vehicle control.
Does the examiner touching the controls define a dangerous fault?
A dangerous fault is defined by actual danger. DVSA’s result guide separately records “examiner took action” when intervention was needed to avoid an incident. Read that entry alongside the fault category and the examiner’s explanation.
Official sources checked 12 September 2026. DVSA and Highway Code guidance is linked above. Teaching examples support practice and do not predict the marking of an individual incident.
Know What to Work On Before Your Test
Tell NGPass Driving Academy your postcode, any booked test date and the situations you find difficult. We can discuss focused driving test preparation in Nottingham and check availability.