Do driving examiners in Great Britain influence their pass rate? #drivingtest

[blisseyran-dom]

When I passed my test, in instructor told me afterwards my examiner was known for being a little more generous than others. During my post test feedback he said I was a little hesitant but didn't give me any minor or majors for it as he said that he expects learners and newly qualified drivers to not be as confident as experienced ones.

[marcashawable]

I was biking for years and 1st car test the instructor failed me even though I hadnt a single minor because 'I'd pulled out on a car and caused it to slow down', i asked if it was the silver Golf and then asked why he was lying or not paying attention. I joined the major road at the same time as the silver golf which was 400 yards up the road to me both from stand still. I was at 30mph doing speed limit and golf was still accelerating up behind me easily 50 mph and then broke... i had been on the main road for over 10 seconds... no way this should count as a fail. The examiner was lost for words but nothing you can do is there. He should have lost his job for lying.

[kurtsidwell]

They absolutely rob you, I had 3 minors and the reason they failed me was ridiculous. Luckily I've appealed and got another test for free (he was a new instructor)

[Wazszsa]

I was failed for only one apparent reason, I had supposedly been somewhat closer to the inner side of the road when going left around a tiny turn, down a quiet road with nobody around. My instructor was in the car, and was very frustrated. When he argued the issue at the end of the test, the Examiner said he won’t change his mind, and “it’s been a busy month” while he shrugged … :/
I don’t have access to any other car, so an instructors car is the only option, so I’ll have to save another £2500 for 30 hours of lessons, which I can’t book yet since I can’t get a damn driving test AT ALL!!
Honestly the driving training/test has been some of the worst organised experiences of my life.

[JasonSykesDTS]

I can tell you categorically there are no pass quotas (I’m a former examiner and wouldn’t have returned to instructing if there were. And I would have been straight to the press as they owe me nothing)
In my experience the only people who say there are figures to work to are people who think they’re better than they are, either learners or instructors. I know that will sound controversial be it’s usually the case.

[katherine]

On my first test the examiner was horrible. He took me to a really busy section of a carpark that my instructor had never known to be used in the tests and told me to forward park into one of about 3 available spaces (there were 3 or 4 in a row but it was a busy aisle right by the shops where people drive up and down). I managed that ok and the rest of the drive felt ok to me but then he said I’d got a serious fault joining the A1. At that junction you cross the southbound carriageway, stop in the middle and check then join the northbound one. I distinctly remember checking both ways, partly because I had never seen the road empty before so that struck me as unusual, and also I felt awkward looking past his head to check to the left before I moved out from the middle. He said I didn’t check to the left at all. I know I did and I distinctly remember not enjoying looking past his head and also the road being totally clear. There’s no way I’d have pulled out there without checking! But it was his word against mine. Then on my next one the examiner grabbed the wheel when I was about to pass some parked cars and at the end she said I was looking down and not at the road! I was actually checking my wing mirror to make sure I was ok to move out to pass them. She gave me a dangerous fault for that. I got 4 minors on each of those. Finally I did the test in another town and passed with one minor. The thing is I’ve been driving on and off for 20 years, I’d had 2 blocks of lessons with other instructors but had to stop for financial reasons, I’d done loads and loads of driving with my husband and then 6 months with my new instructor by the time I got a test date, and not once had anyone ever grabbed the wheel!

[nicholasdrivingacademy]

I've always said depends on the DE and the day but my moto is your well prepared right amount of lessons drive well, and above all get a good instructor you'll have great chance! Remember it's on the day your only one who can determine the result but nerves can play a part!

[leerabbetts]

It's a big money scam and considering how long you have to wait and how much learning to drive costs it's really bad!!!!

[ChaoticAphrodite]

Granted, I was an examiner stateside, but I was, by leagues, the strictest examiner in my state and one of the most highly rated by management and the public.

First time someone complained about me being unfair to them, I spent the next thirty minutes reconstructing their drive, segment by segment, in sufficient detail to demonstrate the fail was beyond justified, based on my recall of the just completed test and the scoring sheet in front of me.

Prior that point, management thought I was failing too many people. Never got that complaint after showing them this narrative I wrote to defend myself against a malicious complaint by an atrocious driver.

[QuantumNetwork]

This is the case for lots of things. In Ireland for our secondary school exams they will be more lenient or more strict in grades depending on how the average is going so they’ll refuse to give a high B grade an A if they have too many good results etc. it’s called the Bellcurve system

[SVV]

My test was so easy I didn’t do any parking and just did a roundabout and stopped to the side 3 times

[euanstokes]

This is a vicious cycle too. The more examiners do this, the closer everyone becomes to the average, narrowing the margins examiners try to get their pass rate into.

[timheywood]

The mathematical analysis of chance is interesting. Very few people would choose last week's winning lottery numbers, but in reality that sequence of numbers is just as likely to win as any sequence, even if it happened last time. A sequence of 100 passes in a row is not evidence of bias although, in reality it looks unusual and I imagine an inboard camera would be fitted as part of that investigation

[LateNightLaughs_]

I got a major for not giving way to a car because I just wanted to turn left, back into the test centre. I felt it was harsh.

[guitarguy]

As I've said before, you never hear anyone talking about passing their test because of quotas, so how can you fail due to them? You never hear anyone talking about how they only passed because the examiner failed too many people, so why would the opposite be true?

[Jack-]

‘The DVSA do not set goals!

Source: the dvsa 😂

[GalileoFigar]

Never thought of that before, but it would be true. And an examiner who is involved in fraudulent activity would be very much inclined to fail someone who was right on the cusp, or even someone who narrowly but definitively passed in order to artificially manipulate their pass rate which would be otherwise be a statistical outlier.

[Apocalypse..]

I found saying my mistakes out loud helped me pass I only made 3 mistakes but I was making sure the examiner knew that I knew I made a mistake

[alexrichardson]

I got to a roundabout, the car to my right couldn't go because they were giving way to the car on their right, so I went.

The car 2 to my right(blocking the one on my right from going before me) got off at the exit I came from, then the car on my right they'd been blocking floored it, speeding, got right up my arse and then i got failed because they had to slow down.

I was like "they had to slow down because they were speeding" no answer from the examiner, other than, if I went slightly earlier it would have been fine, I'd have passed, same with if I went slightly later. So they basically agreed I failed because of how someone else drives.

My instructor on the drive home tried saying how they have to be so strict as the examiner only knows how I drive from the test etc.

But regardless prior to that I'd drove really well, yes I had a few minor faults but other than the roundabout fiasco I would have passed.

I don't know how I was meant to know that guy in the silver bmw was going to speed, but apparently I should have?

That was my 4th test, honestly fair enough I failed my first 2, I was full of nerves, verge of tears etc. But test 3 and 4 were so dumb. Test 3 I was "very close" to a parked car because I had to parallel park in a very urban part of Cheltenham where cars were parked on both sides of the road, I was letting another car past. I went like 0.2 mph I didn't touch the car and I was going so slow if someone got out the clearly empty car I'd have had plenty of time to react.

I'm getting fed up of the DVSA taking my money, then it takes around 6 months to get another driving test in the area I live in because so many people are trying to learn due to backlog from covid.

[matty_________]

Tbf, if you’re 50/50 whether you should pass or fail someone. You should fail them.