IN an ideal world it shouldn’t matter where you live when it comes to learning to ride – you should be able to get the same standard of tuition and a fair go at passing the tests anywhere – but official figures show that pass-rates actually vary wildly from area to area.
We’re looking specifically at the ‘Module 2’ test here – the on-road part that, when you pass it (having already passed your theory and off-road ‘Module 1’ test) allows the L-plates to be ripped up.
In the last measured period, April-September 2015, the national pass rate stood at 71%, showing that there’s a constant improvement over the last few years. In 2012/13 the pass rate was 68.9%, rising to 70% in 2013/14 and 70.2 in 2014/15. Over the spring/summer of last year 14,674 people took their Module 2 test, and 10,419 passed. The ratio is good, but the overall figures are weak; we haven’t got precisely comparable data but during the 12 months from April 2014-March 2015 49,194 tests were taken, with 34,556 passes – more than triple the spring/summer 2015 numbers in just twice the time (so unless there’s a massive spike in tests during the autumn and winter, the year-on-year numbers will be down.)
The overall 71% pass rate is good, but rates at individual test centres during the period ranged from 94.7% to just 52.1%. There’s no immediate evidence why there’s such variation. It doesn’t appear to be connected to volume of tests – the lowest scorer of all, Livingston test centre near Edinburgh, had only 96 candidates, of which 50 passed, while the second lowest was Basildon (52.5% pass rate) with 756 candidates and 397 passers – or location; the very highest pass rates were largely outside large urban areas, but there were plenty of city test centres above the average pass rate.
Perhaps it’s down to the candidates – the data isn’t available by area, but the most recently available figures (for 2014/5) show that nationally the pass rates of particularly young candidates (18 and below) are notably lower than average, as are those for candidates past their mid-50s. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best pass rate is for 24 year olds (74.1% pass) – also the age where there are the most candidates – since these will be the guys and girls who have been specifically waiting for their 24th birthday to take the direct access route to a full category A licence. Oddly, 27, 29, 44 and 45 are also ages with particularly high pass rates. Maybe the test centres with the highest pass figures happen to get a lot of riders in those age groups, while those with the lowest rates are swamped with 18-year-olds (who had a national pass rate of just 54.8% in 2014/15).
Alternatively, maybe the differing pass rates around the country are a reflection of the quality of training available, or simply the leniency of particular examiners.
Whatever the explanation, if you want the best chance of passing your test, it might be an idea to move to one of the areas in this list.