For learner drivers · Wilton test centre, Cork
Driving test at Wilton? Practise the real routes, and know what happens on the day.
Test Ready is a preparation pack made by a Cork driving instructor. It has nine routes recorded from real tests at Wilton, and it walks you through the whole test before you sit it.
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What happens on test day
The day has five parts. Most of the nerves come from not knowing them.
- 1
Before the day
Your learner permit, the car’s tax, insurance and NCT discs, the L plates, the tyres and the lights. Any one of them can stop a test from going ahead, and most take days to put right. Check them weeks out, not the night before.
- 2
Arriving at the centre
Nothing is marked yet, but this is where people rattle themselves. Know where you will park. There is nobody to check in with: you wait, and the tester comes to you.
- 3
The tester calls your name
From here you are being assessed. First your documents, then questions on the Rules of the Road and road signs, then out to the car for the technical checks and the secondary controls.
- 4
Out on the road
At least twenty-five minutes of driving, with the turnabout, the reverse around a corner and the hill start somewhere in the middle. Seventeen of the eighteen headings on the marking sheet are assessed once you are moving.
- 5
Your result
The tester marks faults as you drive and gives you a Statement of Driving Test Outcome at the end, pass or fail, with every fault on it.
What fails a driving test
Faults are marked Grade 1, 2 or 3. Grade 1 faults are minor and never fail a test on their own. A test is failed by any one of these:
- Any Grade 3 fault
- Something dangerous, or ignoring a traffic control. One is enough.
- 9 or more Grade 2 faults
- Across the whole sheet, however they are spread.
- 6 or more Grade 2 faults under one heading
- A pattern in one area, for example observation.
- 4 of the same Grade 2 fault
- The same mistake four times, for example clutch control.
So a handful of small mistakes will not fail you. What does is one dangerous moment, or the same habit showing up again and again.
Nine routes from Wilton
Each route was recorded from a real test driven out of Wilton test centre. The map shows the roads, and marks where the turnabout, the reverse around a corner and the hill start happened.
Go out and drive them before the day with whoever sits in with you. Or sit the simulated drive in the pack, which takes you along a different route each time.
A tester can take you anywhere, so the point is to know the area and the awkward junctions in it. It is not a list of turns to learn off.
What is in the pack
- Nine routes recorded from real tests at Wilton, with the turnabout, the reverse and the hill start marked where they happened
- A simulated drive along those routes, with the tester’s instructions as you would hear them
- The whole day in five steps, from your documents to your result
- Road signs, Rules of the Road questions and the under-the-bonnet checks to practise, drawn at random each time
- The marking sheet explained, heading by heading
€19.99
One payment. 30 days of access. No subscription.
You create a free RoadLy account first, then pay by card. It opens straight away.
Questions
- Does my instructor need to use RoadLy?
- No. Anyone learning to drive can create a free RoadLy account and buy Test Ready. It works on its own.
- Is it only for the Wilton test centre?
- The routes are from Wilton in Cork. Everything else, the day itself, the questions, the checks at the car and how the test is marked, is the same at every RSA test centre in Ireland.
- Are these the official test routes?
- The RSA does not publish test routes, and a tester can take you anywhere on the day. These routes were recorded from real tests driven out of Wilton. Use them to get to know the area and where the manoeuvres tend to happen, not to memorise a list of turns.
- How long do I have it?
- 30 days from the day you buy, which covers the weeks either side of a test. It is one payment of €19.99, not a subscription.
- Does it work on my phone?
- Yes. It runs in your phone’s browser, so there is nothing to install. The route maps stay open while you have the pack, so you can go out and drive the roads with whoever sits in with you.