HGV Test: What Is It and How to Prepare for It?

The HGV test is a series of two tests for those individuals who want to take up heavy goods driving as a career. Here is what you should know about this exam.

What is HGV Test?

If you want to become a professional driver in the UK, you need to get your Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) after passing two parts of the HGV test. Note that the two parts included in the tests are the HGV theory test and the practical test. You need to prepare for both parts separately, but studying the first part should help with the preparation for the second part.

HGV Theory Test

This test, in turn, consists of two parts: multiple-choice questions and a hazard perception test. The first test presents 100 multiple-choice questions and candidates must score at least 85% marks to clear this part.

The other half of the test includes 19 videos that involve hazards to detection. Based on these 100 videos, you must answer 100 questions about hazards. Candidates must score 67% or higher to pass this test.

You can take these parts on different days within two years to get your provisional license. Once you have gotten this provisional license, you are allowed to start practical training.

HGV Practical Test

After completion of training, you will attempt the HGV practical test. This test will also have two parts. The first part will ask you to demonstrate your driving skills. The examiner will ask you to do different tasks including starting the vehicle, applying brakes, and moving to the corner.

The second part also requires you practically demonstrate your knowledge about the operations of a heavy goods vehicle. You have to demonstrate reasonable skills in five different modules under this test. These include cargo securement, emergency assessment, illegal immigration trafficking, vehicle loading, and walk-around safety checks.

You will pass if you have no serious faults and your minor faults are less than 15. During your assessment of the second part of this test, you must answer at least 80% of the answers correctly.

How to Pass The HGV Test?

Unlike a car driving test, the HGV test is a professional exam so you should treat it with the same rigor and effort. Allocate more time and seek help from trusted resources to pass these tests on the first attempt.

Here is the complete strategy to pass your HGV theory test without fail.

Get Quality Material

Use resources recommended by Driver Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). These preparation guides for heavy vehicle goods (HGV) drivers, mock exams from the agency, and case study guide for the same exam.

At the same time, don’t rush your process for finding a quality instructor. If your employer is sponsoring your training and exam, you will have to get the training from the instructor he will provide. If you are preparing for the test on your own, you must take your time reading the reviews and selecting the best instructor for the development of your practical driving skills.

Get Supplementary Resources

The official resources offer a good starting point to start your HGV preparation but don’t stop here. You need to make it a guaranteed pass and to do so, you must get help from quality preparation and revision resources.

To simplify learning, you can get help from digital learning partners for the HGV test. These resources will accompany you from understanding the concept to covering all areas of interest to revising the subject with ease. The best feature of these tools is the ease of use as you can study them on the go without worrying.

Plus, these resources offer lots of practice exams allowing you to pinpoint your challenges and help you decide the learning strategy as you move through the study material. You can also mark the difficult concepts on these apps for future reference.

Revise Backward

Start by studying the study material thoroughly as soon as you can and leave ample time for revision. Then, take a mock exam from your trusted revision tool and detect the areas you have performed reasonably. Rank all concepts and study areas according to how well you have performed.

You will give more revising and practice time to those concepts that are difficult for you. Start with the easiest topics, study, and revise one of them before moving to the next topics.

Once you have covered all the topics, it’s time to take complete mock tests. Aim for scoring consecutive passes in at least three of these before you conclude your revision.

Take Away

Taking an HGV test is an important career milestone for every heavy goods vehicle driver. Because of the importance of this exam, you must prepare well for it. This post talks about the exam and its structure as well as some tips that will guarantee a pass on the first attempt.