We don't train you, so we have nothing to sell you after a bad result.
Driving Answers sets out what DVSA examiners actually mark on the ADI standards check and the part 3 test, taken from the guidance examiners work to.
Why this exists
Almost everything written about the standards check is written by somebody who sells training. That is not a conspiracy, it is just who has the motive to write it. But it means the advice tends to arrive as opinion about what examiners like, rather than as what the marking guidance actually says.
DVSA publishes that guidance. It names the 17 competencies, and for fifteen of them it lists, in its own words, what counts as a lack of competence. That is the closest thing there is to being told what loses marks, and it is sitting in public where hardly anyone reads it.
The stakes deserve better than hearsay. Score 7 or less across the five risk management competencies and you fail whatever your total. Fail three times and you come off the register.
How we write it
Traced to the source
Every rule points at the DVSA guidance or GOV.UK page behind it, with the date we checked it. You can go and read it yourself.
Silence stays silent
Where DVSA says nothing about a competency, we say so rather than filling the gap with somebody's theory and presenting it as the standard.
No course to sell
We are not a training provider and we are not affiliated with DVSA. Nothing here is a funnel into a paid retake session.
Scope
Great Britain. Northern Ireland runs the ADI part 3 test differently and has its own rules, so we leave it alone rather than guess.
This is information, not legal advice, and guidance changes. Check the current version on GOV.UK before you rely on anything here.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.