How many lessons to pass the driving test?

[Shalaalaa]

I did it in eleven, my three sisters had a similar number and my two brothers had one each! We all passed first time. I notice the average is 45 lessons with 22 hrs of practice, that seems like a lot!

How many did it take you/your dcs?

I think they say 1.5 for every year of your life? I had about that I think but used to get quite a lot of practice too. Can’t begin to put a miner of hours on it, it was nearly 30 years ago.

*number not miner

Mine was 9 lessons, but i drove my own car every day to and from school with my mum to practice

@Lazypuppy

Mine was 9 lessons, but i drove my own car every day to and from school with my mum to practice

Yes I did the same, my Mum worked in the town I went to school in.

I started learning in 2010. Passed in 2012. That was...
12 hrs Summer 2010
Week long intensive course in Spring 2011
20hrs in Spring/summer 2012

I was not a natural driver... And still surprised I passed my test that summer. I'm a lot better driver after 8 years obviously (but still have no sense of direction)

Here in Ireland you HAVE to have 12.

I started drive in mid-20s, I think it took 12 lessons? I was lucky to pass!

Also remember that the test has changed a lot over the years... Mine was very different to my brother's a few years before.

About 80-100 lessons in 2005. Didn’t get to do any practice in between.

I was 19 and have about 10 lessons but I did buy a car for when I took my first test.... I failed and drove my own car daily as a L and passed my next test without any minors so it's worth driving your own car.

I had 6 lessons and passed first time. This was in 1977 when lessons cost £2 per hour. I also had my own little car that my cousin would come out in with me, to give me driving practise.

About 100 hours of lessons and 3 tests. Everyone is different. Some are naturally suited to it. Some are the opposite.
The roads are much busier than they were 20 years ago and the standard of driving required to pass is much higher.

I failed six driving tests before finally passing on my seventh. I'm not as hopeless as that actually sounds:

I done a weeks intensive driving lesson course and failed the first test - and rightly so, I was 100% not ready.

Second test followed a couple months later and I hand on heart feel like I got a monster tester who was having a hard day and was nasty and put me on edge. I feel I done well in that test but I was failed, and could never understand why. After that, my nerves were shot and I failed over and over again, actually having a panic attack during my fourth test.

Seventh test, when I finally passed, the doctor prescribed me some beta blockers and I was able to keep it together.

I like to think I'm a competent, confident driver and that the many, many lessons have been beneficial. In comparison, my sister also done the weeks' intensive course and passed first time - but she was a terrible, frightened driver for years!

I believe driving instructors say that ~40 hours of lessons should prepare you for your first test. But there is no rule, and everyone should do it at their own pace. It shouldn't be about learning enough to scrape through the test, it should be about taking lessons until you are confident that you will be a safe, courteous, competent driver of a multi-tonne weapon.

I had 5 double lessons, but went out with friends for uncountable hours.

DH had 1, just for pointers like obvious mirror checking, but he used to do banger racing as a child.

My sister had weekly lessons for 2 years.

Surely it's not about paid for lessons, but about hours practice with a sensible adult?

DD1 had 4 lessons but did 70+ hours with DH.

My dds both took 3 goes to pass, and had God knows how many lessons.

Expensive! - but OTOH I was confident that by the time they passed, they’d had loads of practice on our busy local roads and were competent to be let loose.

A friend of a dd took her t

(Went too soon). ...took her test in a very quiet area where her folks had a holiday home. Passed first time after just 12 lessons in that area. But she’d never driven on our much busier roads and consequently was petrified of driving on them - and hardly ever did although she had her own car - for a long time.

I passed at 46. It took approximately 2 million lessons to achieve this

Roughly 1.5 hour weekly lessons for a year with no practise inbetween and 2 tests. It's what I could afford and I also wanted to have experience driving in a variety of conditions as I was going to be driving with Dd from day 1.

I didn't learn until I was around 35. Probably had 30 lessons and passed my test on the second attempt. However, I had no extra practice at all as our insurance company would not insure me as a learner driver. When I passed, they added me to dh 's policy at no extra charge!
So, in terms of actual lessons, yes, I had more than you. But overall, probably about the same amount of driving time taking into account the practice you had outside of actual lessons.

And yes, I agree with those who say that having lessons in a variety of weather conditions, on a variety of roads - major A roads, around town roads and country lanes, was very beneficial.
DS had slightly fewer lessons than me , but again, had the variety of conditions and roads over that time. He passed first time with no faults at all , not even a minor one. His examiner had been doing the job for fifteen years and ds was the first 'perfect' test they'd ever experienced.

I learned in Cyprus aeons ago, with an instructor who’d be calling out of the window to ask whether his new suit was ready yet, and would then say, ‘Put three gear after stop.’

I passed first time, but that didn’t mean much - I did hear of someone who went through a red light and still passed - examiner just said, ‘Remember next time!’

After a year back in the U.K. I had to take a U.K. test. Had some lessons with an ex policeman, who once made me do a hill start over and over, when I’d thought it was perfect anyway.

He eventually said, ‘You didn’t look over your shoulder - that would have failed you instantly.’
I never forgot again! And I did pass first time.

Watching with interest. I'm on my 8th lesson and am having 2 lessons a week. I'm 36. I have a feeling that it will take me a very long time to be ready to take my test so it's interesting to hear how long others took.

I had over 100 lessons. Can’t remember the exact number. I was not a natural driver by any means but got there in the end.