Are Intensive Driving Courses Any Good?
When people decide to start driving, like a lot of things these day’s, they want it (their licence to drive) like, yesterday! There may be a lot of reasons for someone wanting to pass their test quickly; a new job, going abroad, during college/university holidays etc. These are known as Driving Crash Courses (Intensive Driving Courses).
So, what is an intensive driving course?
Every person is unique so the number of hours practice required to reach the required standard for the UK driving test will vary from between individuals. In my experience, the number of hours necessary for the average person varied between 25 to 35. Obviously, some people will do this quicker and others may take longer. Much depends on any previous road experience (had driving lessons before, driven a moped), their level of spatial awareness (the the skill of judging distance, speed and angles) and any private practice they may undertake. Some may take to driving like a duck to water, others do not!
Intensive driving courses are simply having that number of hours of driving lessons over a quicker period. That could be over a few day’s a few weeks or longer. “Great! My driving licence in a week!” – not necessarily so. If you try and get say, forty hours of driving lessons done in 7 day’s, the 7 day’s will be very intense and possibly stressful for you. Now, some people can cope with this and others not. If you are someone that might struggle with that pace of learning and stress, then you may not be ready for the driving test at the end of that week.
Most people adopt a ‘middle of the road’ approach and have say, ten hours in a week (two hours per day). That way, as the training is spread over 1 month, they have more time to take in and digest the new information and driving skills they are learning. Still, one month is better than 1 lesson per week over 40 weeks!
What Intensive driving courses are not
They are not a ‘magic pill’ to gaining a driving licence. There is no such thing as a guaranteed driving test pass – nobody could guarantee that! At the end of the day, it is you and you only that will be taking the test. Mistakes can happen and nerves may play a part in that. If you see driving schools claiming this, be wary. The guarantee could simply be that if you fail your driving test, they will provide another test at the driving school’s cost.
If you do need to pass your driving test quickly, it is best to talk to a number of driver trainers to see what deals they offer and how they relate to you during your first conversation. Also, before booking and paying for your driving crash course up-front (most driving instructors will require this to confirm such a courses) you should have a lesson or two from your shortlist to see how you actually get on with them and that their training methods tie in with your style of learning.
The Driving Schools Directory offers an Intensive Driving Courses Pupils Enquiry Service that, after you have completed a few basic details, they will contact all the driving schools in the area that you require to take your course in and those driving instructors will contact you. This takes out a lot of the trawling around for you and makes the process of organising your driving crash course far easier.