Alertness theory test questions

26 questions in this topic

Alertness is about noticing things early enough to do something about them. It covers how far ahead you should be looking, when to check your mirrors, and how to judge what another driver is about to do before they do it.

It also covers the things that stop you paying attention. Tiredness, a phone, a conversation that has taken all of your concentration. A lot of these questions are less about the rules and more about being honest with yourself about when you should not be driving.

Practise alertness

Questions come from the DVSA revision question bank, used under licence. You will not see whether an answer is right until you have committed to one, which is the point. A sample of every topic is free and needs no account.

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Paying attention is a skill, not a mood

Everybody thinks they are paying attention. The trouble is that a lapse does not feel like anything from the inside. You do not notice the three seconds you spent reading a notification, or the half mile of dual carriageway you cannot remember driving. This topic is about the habits that keep your attention on the road when your brain would quite like to be somewhere else.

Phones, passengers and everything else

The law on phones is blunt. Holding and using a phone or sat nav while driving can cost you six penalty points and a £200 fine, and for a new driver six points within two years of passing is enough to lose the licence altogether. Hands-free is not a loophole either: if the police think a call has taken your mind off the road, you can still be prosecuted.

Phones get the headlines, but they are not the only distraction. Setting up a playlist, eating at the wheel, a friend in the back who wants to show you something funny. The fix is mostly done before you set off: route programmed, music sorted, phone out of reach and on silent.

Tiredness

Tiredness is harder, because the person least able to judge how tired you are is you. Long, straight, familiar roads are the worst for it, and so are the hours when you would normally be asleep. Yawning, drifting towards the white lines, or missing a junction you meant to take are signs to stop, not to open a window and push on. On a long run, the Highway Code's advice is to stop for a quarter of an hour or more every couple of hours.

Looking further ahead

The other half of alertness is where your eyes go. Learners tend to stare at the bumper in front. Experienced drivers look over it, through the glass of the car ahead and well down the road, so that brake lights two cars up or a bus pulling in are already on their radar. The earlier you see something, the less dramatic your response needs to be.

In the test

These questions are mostly about what a careful driver does before a problem arrives. If an answer involves planning ahead or removing a distraction, it is often a strong candidate.

How this topic appears in the real test

The car theory test is 50 multiple choice questions in 57 minutes, and you need 43 correct to pass. The questions are drawn from every topic, so you cannot skip one and hope. There is a hazard perception part as well, and you have to pass both on the same day.

These are revision questions rather than the questions you will be asked on the day.