Passing the HGV Theory Test: 4 Tips to Help You Ace It the First Time

All that studying has taken so much time, you’ve put so much effort in, and now the big day approaches as your HGV theory test is now just around the corner. First of all, congratulations on learning to drive an HGV and displaying the hard work, skills, and strong handle on qualifications that you need to even get to this point. But maybe theory has you a bit worried. Does “theory test” break you out in a cold sweat?

There’s no denying it can be stressful. You might even be having flashbacks of those early driving tests when you know that you were thoroughly out of your depth. The good news is that your actual HGV theory test doesn’t have to be like that. Follow these tips to prepare and you’ll be positioned perfectly to ace it on the first go through!

Learn the Format Ahead of Time

Preparation matters and the first thing you can do to inspire confidence in yourself is to understand the setup so you don’t have to worry about any unexpected and unwanted surprises. Nailing the format is just part one of this process. This isn’t like a standard driving test, and you should be prepared for a long test.

There will be 100 multiple choice questions covering about everything under the sun when it comes to safely operating an HGV. There is a written test section all about safety and hazards, as well as 19 videos you will need to watch to spot 20 potential hazards. The videos come with another 100 multiple choice questions.

While this can feel really intimidating the good news is that by being ready for it, you won’t be nearly as overwhelmed and will be mentally prepared to nail the grind and hammer it through.

Take Advantage of Practice Tests

Very few things can help you prepared better than a good practice test with The LGV Training Company. This simulates the pressure of taking a test, the format, and puts you in a great position to be ready for whatever challenges you might run into. Things are also always the most nerve-wracking the first time through. By taking a practice test you eliminate that initial nervousness.

Don’t feel like you have to restrict yourself to one. Take two or three, whatever it takes for you to get fully comfortable with the gruelling and challenging aspects of the test so you’re not nervous about the setup when it actually counts. There are many different practice tests out there that simulate the types of questions you might run into, all set up in the challenging style you can expect.

And there’s no record of the test scores on the practice tests, as well as no limits to how many you can take. So there’s no reason to worry about limiting yourself. Take advantage of these until you can go into the theory test fully confident about what to expect when the real one comes around.

Hazard Perception Is Challenging

This is often considered the most challenging or difficult parts of the technical test, and for good reason. This section isn’t necessarily the hardest because of what it is about, but sometimes with HGV, telling apart normal activity versus hazardous activity can be a bit tricky.

Multiple practice tests can help you hone in on these skills and learn from any mistakes you make before diving into the real thing. Understand what real hazard are and which ones they’re looking for and you will be much better prepared to take on this section of the test.

Don’t Just Randomly Click

Never use the “scattergun” approach to randomly click on the screen and hope to get a few right answers. They’ve thought about this and every wrong click is recorded. The more you click on wrong answers the worse you’ll be. Better to under-guess than scattershot and mark a lot of things wrong that aren’t.