Driving theory test books, videos, CD-roms, software and DVD’s

How can I decide what materials I need to buy to pass the theory test?
There are many publications that provide an aid to passing the theory test but few will provide you with everything you need to know and do to be sure of passing. The choice is bewildering. It is easy to spend far more than you need and end up reading and viewing far more than is necessary. Theory test publications come in a number of formats including books, video, DVD and CD-ROMs. We have listed the most popular publications below and grouped them according to media type and the purpose they serve. Hopefully the information provided will help you to determine what products are in the market and where they fit in. In this way you will be able to determine what products you should consider. For more details on any product featured please click on the products image to go to the authors web page.

Theory test CD-ROMs (i.e. PC Software)
PC’s are now proving to be the most popular, efficient and cost effective way to prepare for the theory test. This is hardly surprising considering that the theory test is taken on a PC and most of the following products simulate either one or both parts of this test (i.e. the multiple choice test and the hazard perception test). The PC offers the main advantage that with just one product you can potentially get everything you need to know and do to successfully pass the test.
 
i) Driving Test 3-in-1, by GSP (3 CD’s)
Covers all three tests, all official car and motorcycle questions, 100 hazard perception clips (6 unique HP tests). Free driving lesson offer.
price £9.99
click here to link to authors webpage
 
ii) Hazard Perception, by GSP (3 CD’s)
Covers everything about the Hazard Perception Test. Provides an extra 185 Hazard Perception clips (12 unique HP tests).
Price £9.99
click here to link to authors webpage

iii) LDC Theory Test (2 CD’S)
All official car & bike questions plus 100 hazard perception clips (6 unique tests)
Price £7.99
Click here to link to authors web page

iii) LDC Driving Test 3-in-1 (3 CD’s)
Official car and bike Theory Test questions plus 100 Hazard Perception video clips (6 unique HP tests). Bonus Practical Driving Test CD-ROM Guide. Awarded 5 stars Best Buy 2005 by Auto Express.
Price £9.99
Click here to link to authors web page

iii) LDC Hazard Perception eXtra (3 CD’s)
Interactive HP tutorial with an extra 185 HP clips (12 unique tests).
Price £9.99
Click here to link to authors web page



v) The Official Theory Test for Car Drivers CD-Rom (1 CD)
Official car theory test questions, no hazard perception video clips provided.
Awarded 3 stars by Auto Express for 2005.
Price £12.99
Click here to link to authors web page


vi) Driving Test Success Theory CD-Rom, by Focus Multimedia
(2 CD-ROM)
Official car and bike theory test questions plus several hazard perception video clips in test simulation. Awarded 4 stars by Auto Express for 2005.
Price £9.99
Click here to link to authors web page

vii) Driving Test Success HP CD-ROM, by Focus Multimedia (2 CD-ROM)
Contains 140 video clips. 40 learning / infomation clips. 30 HP practice clips and 70 HP test clips (5 unique HP tests). Awarded 3 stars by Auto Express for 2005.
Price £9.99
Click here to link to authors web page

viii) Driving Theory Test - the complete guide - CD-Rom, by BSM
Official car and bike theory test questions plus 24 hazard perception video clips in test simulation. Does not include the Official hazard test clips.
Price £18.99
Click here to link to authors web page

The alternative to buying a CD-Rom that covers everything is to buy, a copy of the Highway Code, one of the books containing the official questions, possibly one of the advice books for extra guidance and either the video or DVD for hazard perception. To do this would cost you about £25 and you still wouldn’t be able to simulate the actual pc test itself. One of the two CD-Roms that cover everything you need would cost you only £9.99. If you are on a real budget you could at a pinch get away with just buying the Highway Code and The LDC Theory Test Highway Code Workbook for a total cost of £6.48. Indeed, you could avoid buying the Highway Code as a copy is available on this web site.

Theory test books
There are basically three types of theory test book. Those books that contain the whole list of official multiple-choice questions for the UK theory test, those that are purely designed to provide advice and help, and those that contain the theory you need to learn.

1. Theory test books containing the official questions
To help you prepare for the theory test the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) provides a list of all the multiple-choice questions that can appear in the UK theory test in any particular year. Each year new questions are added and some are removed. Therefore make sure the book you buy has the current years questions. The new databank of questions usually comes into force at the end of July or the beginning of August of each year. The questions are grouped into 14 categories.

The DSA publish their own book that contains this list. This book differs from most of the other books that publish this list in that they show you the correct answer with a brief explanation directly opposite the question itself. Consequently, you need to remember to cover up the answer if you don’t want to know the answer before you read the question. 

Because of the way the pages in the book are laid out with questions on the left and answers on the right it does take up a lot of pages to list all 893 questions for car drivers – hence the reason why this book is 393 pages in size.

i) The Official Theory Test for Car Drivers and the Highway Code, by the DSA.
ISBN 0115524509 (2004/2005 version)
Price £11.99
Click here to link to authors web page


If a publication states that it has more than the 893 questions it may also include all the theory test questions for motorcyclists. If the book contains both it will list a total of 1,204 multiple choice questions. If you are a car driver you don’t need to learn the answers to these extra questions. Therefore their inclusion in any book may be a hindrance rather than an advantage.

The other books that list the official multiple-choice questions have adopted a different approach to save space and minimise cost. Instead of providing the answer and a brief explanation next to each question they provide a list of the correct answers at the back of the book. This saves considerable space enabling the other books to be half the thickness of the DSA book and therefore half the cost. It could also be argued that putting the answers at the back of the book makes them more useful for learning and testing purposes as you do not have the answer right next to the question.

Some of the other books that provide the list of official questions in exactly the same order as the DSA (i.e. by the 14 DSA categories) are: -

ii) AA Theory Test: The Official Questions and Answers
ISBN 0749537922 (2003/2004 version)
Price £5.99
Click here to link to authors web page


iii) BSM Theory Test Questions for Car Drivers
ISBN 0753508753 (2003/2004 version)
Price £4.99
Click here to link to authors web page


Unfortunately, none of the books above give much information about the hazard perception part of the test or how best to prepare for the theory test. You need to buy the accompanying advice books shown in the next section on theory test advice books or buy a book that features both such as the next book shown below.

iv) The LDC Theory Test Highway Code Workbook 2004/2005
ISBN 0952903598 (2004/2005 version)
Price £4.99
Click here to link to authors page


A new book called The LDC Theory Test Highway Code Workbook (see above) has adopted quite a different approach to the above books. Although this book also lists all the official multiple-choice questions for car drivers it does not list them by the 14 DSA categories, although a cross-index to the 14 categories is provided. It lists the questions in the order that you would find the answer in the Highway Code and breaks up the list into 12 study lessons/quizzes. The idea being that you read a section of the Highway Code and then you attempt to answer the official questions that relate to that Highway Code section in the workbook. Because not all the information necessary to answer the official questions can be found in the Highway Code the book also contains a set of supplementary notes to ensure the reader has all the information they need. It is the first book to restructure the official list to provide a proper structured learning programme of study and assessment in this way.

This book provids the help and advice that is found in the advice books shown in the next section – thus potentially saving the need to buy two books. Despite all the extra information this book is still the same size as the previous two books. They have achieved this by using a three column page format to list the official questions rather than a two column format.



2. Theory test books providing advice and help
There are now several books that are solely designed to provide you with tips, hints and advice on how best to prepare for the theory test. However, these books do not contain the official test questions and are therefore of no use to prepare for the theory test on there own. These include: -

ii) AA Driving Test: Theory Made Easy
ISBN 0749534516
Price £5.99
Click here to link to authors page



iii) BSM Pass Your Driving Theory Test
ISBN 0753508850
Price £4.99
Click here to link to authors web page


3. Theory test books providing the knowledge
The best-known and most highly regarded book that contains about 85% of the information you need to answer the multiple-choice part of the theory test is the Highway Code (see below). This is the book that the law courts consider when determining who might be at fault in the case of an accident. This book is not only very useful to help you pass the theory test it will also help you to pass your driving test and become a safe driver for life.

i) The Highway Code, by The Stationery Office.
ISBN 0115522905
Price £1.49
Click here to link to authors web page




Video and DVD for the hazard perception part of the theory test
Unfortunately, no matter how well a book describes hazard perception or shows photos of video footage etc it is still not a substitute for seeing real video footage with the types of hazards you can expect to see on the test. If you do not have a PC that will allow you to accurately simulate a hazard perception test then both the following products give you the next best thing. Both products give a very good introduction into what hazard perception is all about and what clues you should be looking for when you are driving down the road. Unfortunately these products only show you 10 hazard perception video clip examples. The CD-Rom products that follow can contain up to 100 hazard perception clips. This is one of the reasons why the CD-Rom products are far more popular.

i) Hazard Perception – Roadsense Video, by the DSA
ISBN 0115525785 Video tape version of product below
Price £11.50
Click here to link to authors web page



ii) Hazard Perception – Roadsense DVD, by the DSA
Includes only 10 hazard perception practice clips in test simulation. Most of the programme is dedicated to explaining what Hazard perception is.
ISBN 0115524940
Price £15.99
Click here to link to authors web page

Conclusion
Hopefully, the above information will help you to understand what products are in the market and where they fit in. Further details about each of the above products can be found by clicking on the above image of the publication. This will directly link you the authors web site and the publications web page. You should be able to find any of the materials feature above in any of the leading bookstores such as W H Smiths or Waterstones.