You've sat your theory test and passed - well done. Now, it's on to the next stage - your practical test. When you're sitting behind the wheel with an examiner in the passenger seat, they will be marking you and testing you on your skills.
Whether it's how you park, how you handle the car, or whether you're paying attention to road signs, it all counts towards you passing or failing. According to guidance by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), there is a certain number of faults you can have before it's classed as a fail - and there's a 16th fault rule many may not be aware of.
It states that "the purpose of the guide is to explain the assessment criteria and recording of faults under the outcome/competency headings on the driving test report. Although an attempt has been made to explain assessment in theory, it should be remembered assessment is a knowledge and practical-based skill."
The driving experts explain all about the test and faults. There are three types of faults you can make:
The "16th fault rule of assessment" is a hypothetical benchmark that helps examiners decide whether a driving fault should be recorded, according to the DVSA. While a candidate may accumulate up to 15 driving faults before failing, this rule applies to every fault, regardless of when it occurs.
It explains: "The examiner must assess each fault individually by asking the question: If this was the 16th fault, could you justify it resulting in the candidate failing their test? The purpose of this rule is to help the examiner decide whether a fault is sufficient enough to be recorded as a driving fault, or whether it can be deemed as a not-worthy fault."
If it's good news, your examiner will tell you what faults you made, if any. They will hand over that long-awaited pass certificate and ask you if you want your full licence to be sent to you automatically. The DVSA is reminding people to "give the examiner your provisional licence if you want to do this".
