What the Irish Driving Test Marks
The test is more than the drive. Knowing the running order and what's being marked takes a lot of the surprise out of the day.
What happens on the day
- Questions on the rules of the road, including road signs and hand signals.
- Technical checks on the car.
- A drive of about 8 km, with a hill start, a turnabout and a reverse around a corner.
The whole appointment takes between 50 and 100 minutes depending on the category. The car test costs €85. Check the Road Safety Authority's page before you go, because fees and requirements change.
What the tester is watching
The Rules of the Road lists the skills tested, and they fall into a few groups:
- Reading the road: observation, and reacting properly to hazards.
- Telling others your plan: using mirrors in good time and before signalling, and giving correct signals.
- Placing the car: position, and clearance from pedestrians, cyclists and other traffic.
- Keeping things moving: reasonable progress, without undue hesitation when moving off, at roundabouts and when changing lanes.
- Following the rules: traffic lights, signs, road markings, speed and right of way.
- Handling the car: vehicle and secondary controls.
How faults add up
Faults are graded by how serious they are. A dangerous fault, or ignoring a traffic control, can fail you by itself. Less serious faults add up, and repeating the same one can fail you even if your total is low. So one habit, like skipping a mirror check, matters more than a scattering of different slips.
The exact limits are set out in the Road Safety Authority's Fault Marking Guidelines, linked below. Read them directly, since they're updated from time to time.
Makes Perfect is practice only. It doesn't grade you the way a tester would, but it does show which areas you keep missing, grouped the way the test report groups them.