5 Tips For Your Hazard Perception Theory Test

The HGV Training Centre is dedicated to helping our drivers learn the ropes of driving HGV’s, from the practical side to the theory behind it all. Driver safety, procedures, how to identify hazards. We cover all of it and more in our training. But lately, we’ve been getting a lot of enquiries about the hazard portion of the HGV theory test, so we thought we would pull together a few quick that could help you ace the theory test.

Understand Developing Hazards

First of all, there are 2 types of hazard – a standard hazard and a developing hazard. You will be asked to spot both of them during your test. But if you’re not sure what a ‘developing hazard’ is, you just need to check with the DVLA. They define it as ‘something that would cause you to take action, like changing speed or direction.’ As an example:

“A car is parked at the side of the road and isn’t doing anything. It wouldn’t cause you to take action, so it’s not a developing hazard. When you get closer, the car’s right-hand indicator starts to flash and it starts to move away. You’d need to slow down, so it’s now a developing hazard.”

Once you understand the definition, you can start to identify developing hazards as you go about your day. While you’re training, driving your car, walking or just sitting in a coffee shop watching the road. If you can train yourself you see these things out in the world, then identifying them on the screen will be a breeze.

Prepare Yourself

Your most valuable tool in this test is your brain, so you need to make sure it’s prepared. This means making sure you are sharp, well-rested and alert. In the run-up to your test, try to keep your diet fairly clean and filter out junk foods or too much coffee. Unplug yourself from social media, the TV or anything else the night before and make sure you get a good night’s sleep. Make sure you drink plenty of water in the morning and you’ll be at your best to take the test.

Take Practice Tests

Practice make perfect, and that goes double for tests like this. Unlike the test you take in school, you have the opportunity to practice for this test as much as you want to. If you’re training with us, you’ll be provided with practice tests to do, plus you can find all sorts of other hazard perceptions tests to try online. Do it. That way your fully prepared for how the test will go, and you get a feel for how the hazards work and what you need to do.

Don’t Randomly Click

If you’re unsure or just nervous, you might be tempted to just start randomly clicking on things on the screen, hoping for the best. But while this scattergun approach might seem like a good idea, but in reality, it will do nothing more than cost you points. The mote often you click, the worse your score will be. This is because the computer software used assumes that excessive random clicking means you’re guessing rather than knowing what to look for, and ultimately it will fail.

Leave Your Phone At Home

This is one of the hardest things for some people, but leaving your phone at home is your best bet for success. Your phone will provide nothing but distractions, and the last thing you want is texts and push notifications going off during your test. Now true, it might not be plausible for your to leave your phone at home (and we know for some people that is impossible), so at the very least you should be sure to turn it off before your take the test. That way, you can be sure that the test will have your full attention.

At the end of the day, the HGV theory test is not easy to pass if you don’t prepare for it. And that’s a good thing! It means we don’t have unqualified and unsafe drivers operating HGV’s on our roads. But it does mean that if you want to be able to drive one, you need to be able to take and pass this test. If you’re thinking about getting your commercial driving license, we can help. At Easy as HGV, we can help you through the entire process, from start to finish. Our expert trainers are on hand to deliver practical and theory training and support you through your hazard perception test. For more information, please just click here to get in touch with us.