Car theory test pass rates - Highway Code Tests

In case you were wondering, the theory test is no walk in the park. In fact, as the graph below shows, the car theory test pass rate has declined over recent years. So much so that it is only around half of the attempts at the test which result in a pass. So make sure you prepare yourself as best you can with our practise theory test.

Car theory test pass rates annual summary
	Total tests conducted	Passes	Pass rate (%)
2007/08	1,451,315	949,409	65.4
2008/09	1,290,614	844,022	65.4
2009/10	1,347,463	859,802	63.8
2010/11	1,346,140	848,992	63.1
2011/12	1,371,475	833,916	60.8
2012/13	1,244,021	735,356	59.1
2013/14	1,541,896	795,245	51.6
2014/15 YTD	857,675	440,724	51.4

And females are more likely to pass their test. As you can see from the table below they are consistently out in front year on year.

Car theory test pass rates by gender, annual summary
	Males (%)	Females (%)
2007/08	62.3	68.9
2008/09	62.6	68.7
2009/10	61.1	66.9
2010/11	60.4	66.0
2011/12	58.1	63.7
2012/13	56.2	62.3
2013/14	48.8	54.7
2014/15 YTD	48.6	54.5

The pass rates can also be broken down by location as shown below.

Car theory test pass rates (%) by location
Covers April - Sept 2014
Aberdeen	53.9
Aberystwyth	49.3
Aldershot	51
Ayr	52.7
Bangor	50.8
Barnstaple	51.4
Barrow	49.7
Basildon	48.1
Berwick	47.1
Birmingham	48.5
Blackpool	51.8
Bolton	51
Boston	45.1
Bournemouth	53.6
Bradford	47.1
Brighton	57
Bristol	51.6
Builth Wells	55
Bury St Edmunds	52.4
Cambridge	55.1
Canterbury	52.6
Cardiff	51.9
Carlisle	51.5
Chatham	50.2
Chelmsford	53.3
Cheltenham	53.9
Chester	52.8
Chesterfield	50.5
Coventry	50.2
Crawley	49.8
Croydon	50.4
Derby	52.2
Doncaster	48
Dudley	50.1
Dumfries	52.2
Dundee	54.5
Eastbourne	52.9
Edinburgh	56.7
Elgin	48.1
Exeter	53.4
Fareham	52.8
Fort William	55.7
Galashiels	54.1
Glasgow	54
Gloucester	50.8
Grantham	53.2
Greenock	52.3
Grimsby	50.2
Guildford	56
Harlow	49.2
Harrogate	54.1
Hastings	51.5
Haverfordwest	50.1
Helmsdale	68.2
Hereford	52.6
Huddersfield	50.7
Hull	49.7
Huntly	50.4
Ilford	47.8
Inverness	53.2
Ipswich	50.8
Isle of Arran	52.4
Isle of Benbecula	54.2
Kings Lynn	45.6
Kingston	54.6
Kirkwall	49.3
Kyle of Lochalsh	23.1
Leeds	51.7
Leicester	49.1
Lerwick	55
Lincoln	52.7
Liverpool	51.5
Lowestoft	47.4
Luton	46.8
Manchester	52.7
Mansfield	49.6
Merthyr Tydfil	49
Middlesbrough	50.5
Milton Keynes	50.3
Morpeth	51.1
Newcastle	53.8
Newport (Gwent)	50.6
Newport-Isle Wight	52.1
Northampton	49.8
Norwich	54.1
Nottingham	53.5
Oban	60.1
Oldham	48.4
Oxford	54.3
Penzance	50.7
Peterborough	50.7
Pitlochry	55.8
Plymouth	52
Portree	50
Portsmouth	49.8
Preston	52.7
Reading	53.1
Redditch	51
Rhyl	49.1
Salford	54.3
Salisbury	52.6
Scarborough	49
Scunthorpe	47.2
Sheffield	52.5
Shrewsbury	51.2
Sidcup	51.4
Slough	49.7
Southampton	52.4
Southend on Sea	51.8
Southgate	51
Southport	53.2
Southwark	55.1
St Helens	50.8
Staines	50.6
Stevenage	49.7
Stirling	52.5
Stockport	51.8
Stoke-on-Trent	50.5
Stornoway	44.9
Stranraer	48.9
Stratford uponAvon	53.7
Sunderland	52.4
Sutton Coldfield	51.1
Swansea	50.6
Swindon	49.5
Tarbert	50.6
Taunton	52.6
Torquay	51.3
Truro	54.2
Ullapool	64
Uxbridge	47.3
Watford	51.4
Weymouth	49.1
Wick	47.9
Wigan	51.5
Wolverhampton	49.7
Worcester	52.3
Workington	47.4
Worthing	50.9
Yeovil	50
York	56.3
National	51.4

Source: DVSA, December 2014.