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Sitting a theory exam in Gibraltar
After you are ready to take the exam you will book a theory exam, a pre-requisite for the practical driving test and the driving license. So how does the theory exam work and what shoudl you be aware of? While it may be a bit intimidating, do not worry - think that everyone in that takes the theory exam goes throug the same experience: it is all new to them and they have the same questions that you may have, so we will try to cover the process of sitting the exam with as much detail as possible so that you are as little anxious as possible.
Theory exams in Gibraltar are conducted at Bleak House and are computer-based.
On arriving at Bleak House you will be directed, the exams start at the time of your booking, so be there 10-15 minutes beforehand to ensure you have enough time to complete the exam. If you arrive late for your session the examiner may prevent you from sitting the test.
The exams are conducted in a room on the first floor with 8-10 other people at the same time as well as an instructor that supervises the test. When you arrive you will be allocated a desk which has a touch-screen computer on it. The instructor will explain how the computer and the exam works, here are the key items:
Pass rate
The exam is composed of 40 questions, you must answer correctly at least 80% (xx questions) to pass the test
Duration
- You have 45 minutes to pass the test, this is plenty of time to take the test. Some people may finish earlier than that, you should focus on your own test and take all the time you need to answer, double-check and triple-check the answers. Remember there is no prize for the first to finish, only for passing the test.
Practice exam
To familiarise yourself with the exam you can run a practice exam, which runs a set of sample questions, but does not count towards your grade
We strongly recommend you spend a few minutes with the practice exam, so that you understand how the computer works - however after 2-3 minutes move to the real exam. Ensure you are running the real exam during the test, otherwise your score will be zero if you by mistake use the practice exam.
Exam interface
The computer is a touch screen, there is no mouse of keyboard attached - you just press the screen to interact with it (it's just like a big iPad).
The instructor will be clear on this, but just in case: DO NOT CLICK ON THE SUBMIT EXAM BUTTON until you are ready to finish the exam. Once submitted there is no going back, so be careful.
The questions
The questions are the same ones you find in the drive.gi theory exam practice tests, randomly selected for each test, so each person in the room will be answering different questions - do not be tempted to copy or check what others are answering, it will only get you disqualified.
The test
You cannot take notes, cheat sheets or any other material to the test - your mobile must be switched off and put away, make sure you do that or the instructor may disqualify you fromn taking the test.
The interface for the test is very sinmilar to the drive.gi theory exam practice, e.g. there is a question with a number of options you can choose from available. You have buttons to move to the next or previos questions (you can leave questions unanswered and come back to them later on). If the question requires multiple options to be selected (e.g. if there are two valid answers you must select) the computer will highlight it and mark the question unanswered.
Our recommendation is that you first answer the questions you are confident of answering and skip those for which you may have doubts, as you progress through the exam another question may help you to answer the questions you left unanswered. Focusing on the easy ones first ensures that you will not run out of time before the exam is over.
Once you have answered all the easy questions come back to the questions you left unanswered and focus on one at a time, taking enough time and using common sense to answer it to the best of your knowledge. A question left unanswered is a fail, so answer all the questions to the bnest of your knowledge. You win nothing by leaving questions unanswered.
After you have answered all questions, go back to the beginning and review the answers provided to every single question, just to make sure you did not make silly mistakes. While you may want to try to answer the questions again do not be tempted to redo the whole exam, most of the times the first responses are the correct ones.
Once all questions are answered and you have double-checked your responses, it is time to submit the exam. There is a big 'Submit button' at the bottom of the screen, once you are ready (and not before) click on the button to finish the exam. The button will allow you to submit the exam even if you have not answered all questions, so make sure there are no unanswered questions before submitting it.
After you submit the exam, this will be immediately scored and the instructor will handle you a printout with your results - and whether you have passed or not:
[IMAGE OF EXAM RESULTS]
If you have passed the exam, congratulations - you are now ready to book your practice exam and ocntinue on your journey to a driving license.
If you have failed the exam, do not despair, it is only a matter of practice. Head to the drive.gi practice exams and spend time until the application tells you that you are now ready for the exam. This may take 20-25 practice tests, but once drive.gi tells you you are ready to take the exam, there is a 95% confidence you will pass the exam when you sit it. So practice as much as you can!
If you have not yet booked a theory exam you can find here how to book them.