The test centre was really easy to find. When I entered there was no one there but a voice sounded from down the hall instructing me to take a seat. I handed over my driving documents and was given a key to a locker to put all my belongings, you are not allowed to go into the test room with anything other than your provisional licence and the locker key. The lady guarding the test room also has to ask to make sure you are not smuggling anything into the test room but my jeans were typically skin tight so clearly there was no chance of me hiding anything.

In the test room there were quite a lot of people already there in the middle of their exams, it almost makes you feel like you’re late for school. You are sat at a computer in an individual booth. The computer guides you through everything showing you what to do and how to answer the questions, it is all self explanatory and very easy to understand, you also get a couple of sample questions to practice the process involved in answering them. Then the test begins, you get 57 minutes to answer the 50 questions in the multiple choice part of the exam. The pass mark is currently 43 correct answers.

Just like the countless mock exams I took on my iPhone the real test wasn’t much different, in fact it was exactly the same sort of thing just on a bigger screen. My approach was to read each question carefully and from that I would have an idea about what the answer could be, then I looked for the best answer and highlighted it by tapping on the touch screen. I was a bit surprised to discover that the same illustrations used on my iPhone App were the same as the real test, it was really comforting to see. In my preparation I learned from my mistakes and pushed nearly all the progress bars above 90% on each of the 14 topics so there weren’t many questions I hadn’t already encountered many times before. I didn’t doubt myself in what I chose for my answers, this was often my downfall in the mocks and I would kick myself for doubting my instincts. The last few questions included a case study where a situation is explained and then you answer a few questions about it, the case study aspect didn’t feature in my practice App but the questions weren’t anything unusual they were just more orientated around the case study. At the end you get a summary of your progress, I had answered all the questions, I didn’t skip or flag any. I felt pretty confident on nearly all the questions apart from 4 of them but as I had only taken 13 minutes of my time limit I decided to review all my answers paying particular attention to the few that I wasn’t 100% sure on. There were no better answers to these questions so I didn’t change anything and decided to end the test early. The guy next to me beyond the barrier must have been talking to himself, I could hear his mutterings, it was slightly off-putting, more so when he put his hand up to ask for help on one of the questions but of course the attendant couldn’t give him any help and I thought that he shouldn’t have put her in such an awkward position.

You then get an optional 3 minute break before the Hazard Perception side of the exam, this was the bit I was dreading the most. It was calm and well air conditioned in the test room which made for excellent conditions for me to take the exam and I was much more relaxed by this point but still anxious about what would follow. There was a video to introduce you to the test and then you’re shown a variety of 14 clips which were only slightly better quality than on the practice disc I was using. I really think the video quality in these HD days could have been a lot better, I found that some of the clips were making me feel a bit nauseous and that made them difficult to watch and affected my reactions to the hazards. You are aware that sometimes the situations are being staged and you could predict the hazard much better than the practice disc but then in other clips I momentarily forgot what I was supposed to be doing, I was so busy watching the clip that I was forgetting to click for the hazard; this was a common problem in the mock exams also. In the first few clips there seemed to be an excess of hazards and I don’t know which one was the one I was being marked on but I tried to click on all possibilities without clicking too many times. The same couldn’t be said for my faceless neighbour who behind the divide I could hear was clicking rapidly and by the sound of his grunting I would suspect he had clicked too many times. You don’t get a practice clip to try and see the correct manner to respond to the test but I think one would have been helpful.

After the Hazard Perception part was finished I felt a great relief that it was all over, I didn’t know if I had done enough to pass because it is impossible to know for sure with the second part of the exam. You then get the opportunity to try new test questions and take part in a customer satisfaction servey about the test centre which I gladly took part in.

The computer then instructs you to leave the room quietly. I did as the computer told me to and walked back down the hall to the reception and emptied the locker. As I was doing so I witnessed someone who had come to the test centre without the paper counterpart of their license, they were unable to sit the exam without it and would still be charged for it too, this was made very clear in the test confirmation letter and it was why I bothered to spend time finding mine before even booking the exam because I didn’t know for sure where it was. My locker key was exchanged for my results and left without reading them. I was tempted but I also wanted to wait until I got home to share the moment. I felt quite confident and I reckoned that the secretary probably already knows my result and I did get a good vibe from her when she gave me them.

I got home and revealed that I hadn’t peeked at the result. Anna filmed the moment when I found out. It was quite a long letter with small text so I was just looking for scores and totally missed the fact that the letter started with “Congratulations” for a moment I even felt like I hadn’t done it because at one point it says “make sure you are ready for your test” and kept talking about booking tests but this refers to the practical driving test and I eventually found the scores and was delighted to have scored a perfect 50/50 on the multiple choice part of the test and equalled my mock test’s average at 53 on the Hazard Perception test. I had PASSED!! I was so pleased with my result but it also felt like a bit of an anti-climax because I had taken so many mock exams that this didn’t really feel that much different from all the other times I had passed. Miraculously I didn’t score zero on any of the Hazard Perception clips whereas I nearly always had at least one zero in the mocks.

So that was it. With the Theory Test now passed the clock is set for my driving test. I now have two years to pass my test, I don’t think it will take that long but it is good to have any kind of a deadline to work towards, honestly though I want to pass as soon as I possibly can. Maybe in a couple of months if I am being optimistic about it. I aim to start doing lessons again straight after I return from my next adventure in July. With the light evenings I would like to be able to take lessons after work and if possible I think it would be great to do them up to three times a week, well that’s the plan anyway!

Using my iPhone to prepare for this test has to be the best use of my iPhone to date. I would highly recommend anyone in a similar position to purchase an App to help them to prepare for the test too. For more information on the App I used go to http://www.uktheorytest.com

Despite my initial nerves this was a really good experience. I don’t think that it is anything to be particularly worried about, I mean if you have studied enough and passed enough mock tests then the real thing should be a doddle.