5 reasons people fail the Irish driving test according to popular expert

Irish driving test, reasons why people fail.

You will statistically fail your driving test.

The Irish driving test has one of the highest failure rates with 47% of people failing in 2023.

Nobody can control what exactly will happen on the day of their test.

Will the tester be in a bad mood? Will it rain? Are other motorists going to honk at you or even be overly nice and let you take the turn when it isn’t strictly your right of way.

Gary Digva, founder of Road Angel said: “It can be easy to make a mistake on the day of your driving test which can cause you to fail.

“Some of these common errors may be considered obvious but under the pressure of a driving test, it’s easy for even the best learners to make mistakes.”. The following are the top 5 reasons people fail their driving test.

Incorrectly Responding to Road Signs

“Learners must understand and quickly react to all traffic signs when driving, or else risk failing their test.

Some of the most common signs that learners do not respond to are ignoring ‘stop’ or ‘no entry’ signs, speed limit changes and incorrectly driving in bus lanes when the time is displayed”. Dublin Live

Anxious  & Stressed

Everyone gets test anxiety. It is normal if you are going to take a test. The problem comes when you allow yourself to become overly anxious and fail to get enough rest before the test. Anxiety can make it challenging to think through questions logically and this can lead to poor performance. If you have studied and given enough hours to your learning then, like any exam, you will feel better prepared psychologically and will be calmer going into the exam. Knowing you are unprepared or insufficiently prepared will greatly add to the stress of the day.

Unanswered Questions

Some drivers will encounter a question they cannot answer and, instead of making their own best guess and giving themselves a chance to correct it, they will simply skip the question and not answer it. Although this alone is not the reason why people fail their tests, it is a contributing factor that can lead to failure if a learner skips too many questions or misses a certain number before the exam finishes.

Complex Questions Read Slowly

It is extremely common for test-takers to fail an exam because they underestimate how difficult the questions will be. The best and most recommended way to avoid this is to study everything that has the potential to be on a test so that no crucial information is missed or avoided. The best way to prevent a test result is to be more complicated than you would think you would know less than you actually know. Some questions are similar and if you read too fast and try and rush you will get caught out. There is loads of time so don't rush to finish quickly. Read the questions a few times. If you still don't know the answer then flag it and go back to it at the end. Lady Bird School

Hand Signals

In the driving test, you will be asked to demonstrate a series of hang signals to the driving tester as if your car lights and indicators did not work. It is easy to forget this section of the test and they are action questions and not verbal or physical road signs. It is important to know how to correctly act out all the actions on demand as testers love to fail people before they have even driven the car.

Study solutions to not fail

The best way to prepare for all driving theory and driving test questions is the Irish card game Road to Success.