This is a VERY old post – one of the oldest on the site. Somewhere along the way, sat navs were introduced and the subject matter here is no longer relevant.
I’m getting a lot of hits on this search term at the moment. As I’ve pointed out several times, test routes are no longer published by the DSA.
When I first qualified as an instructor I had it in my head that knowing the routes would somehow be beneficial to my lessons (new instructors tend to be anally retentive like that, collecting useless acronyms and making mountains out of molehills), so I downloaded them all. But when I started teaching I quickly realised it was absolutely pointless.
To start with, trying to do lessons on the routes was almost impossible because of all the other instructors arseing about on them, not to mention those learners out on their tests during the day. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t be very happy if my pupils on their tests had to dodge other learners whose instructors were too stupid and arrogant to either realise or care that they were getting in the way. So I decided I wouldn’t do it to them (although that hasn’t stopped other driving schools repeatedly getting in the way of my pupils – both on lessons and on test).
Another thing was that it didn’t really matter if you drove down road A, turned left on to road B, then took road C second left on the test – you could do the same thing with roads X, Y, and Z on the other side of town during lessons in order to teach the principles. If the instructor did his or her job properly then the pupil would be able to apply what they’d learnt to any road they went down, whether it was on the test route or not. They’ve got to do it when they pass, haven’t they?
And yet another problem was that to teach people new things you often wanted quiet areas with not much traffic, and test routes are definitely neither quiet or free from traffic (they’re clogged with other learners, for a start). The first foray on to a roundabout definitely did not need the Nottingham Knight Ruddington-to-Wilford-Hill route which was almost mandatory on tests conducted from the now-closed West Bridgford Test Centre.
As time went by, I picked up things from my pupils and registered certain “problem” areas like No Entry roads, STOP junctions, or very steep hills that they’d done on their tests. I’d make sure I covered these – or any similar ones – on my lessons.
Until recently I’d not sat in on any tests. Even now – after many hundreds of tests – I’ve only been out on two, and those were with the same pupil who has certain issues that made me worried in case the test was abandoned. My presence is generally of no benefit to the pupil, although I make it clear to all of them I will go with them if they really want me there.
I’m not going to give specific details of the routes taken on those tests I went on (because they wouldn’t be accurate). If any instructor is so desperate to know – even after my advice above about it being an utter waste of time – all they have to do is accompany (or ask) their pupils like I did and find out. And if a pupil is desperate to know, they just need to ask their instructor.
All I will say is that they can show the pupil a line map (like the one above), with the instruction “we are here. I want you to go to the end of this road and turn left, then take the second turn right. At the end of that road, turn right.” They can also say “turn right, third exit, at the rounadbout and follow the signs to Nottingham and Colwick” or “follow the signs to Stapleford.” However, knowing this is useless unless the pupil is capable of negotiating the junctions and other obstacles in between.
What are the test routes in Nottingham?
As I have said elsewhere, these are NOT published anymore. If you search around on the web, you’ll find that some driving instructors have been stupid enough to try and identify the routes and publish them themselves (presumably because it’s considered “cool” to oppose the DSA in these things). It’s your lookout if you trust these idiots or their routes.
It’s also worth noting that examiners can deviate from “official” routes as it suits them (or if the test candidate takes a wrong turn, which they often do).
The DSA stopped publishing routes quite a while ago. Too many instructors were just teaching pupils to drive on those routes (presumably, the same poor-quality ones who are trying to publish their own routes even now), and if the pupils passed their tests they were often just incapable of driving safely anywhere else.
You DO NOT need tests routes. You need to learn how to drive, then the route doesn’t matter.
When I first qualified as an ADI I think I made a couple of attempts to follow precise test routes based on what other instructors had said – but gave up, because it was more trouble than it was worth. I have never taught anyone on published routes. I naturally cover the same general areas as the test, but I also drive tens of miles from the test centre to train people properly. I make sure that any special features can be driven competently by pupils (extremely steep hills, city centre, fords, etc.). Then, anything that comes up on test is just another road.
I can promise you that someone’s chances of passing the test when they can drive properly are MUCH higher than when they can only handle fixed routes.
Bad drivers – not roads – fail tests.