I have been studying the case study questions so I can offer help and support to new drivers that will be taking the test and came across a few questions I thought were a little bogus. I have been using the DriverTheory4all online service.
I have been told the first time pass rate is below 50% for Module 2- don’t know how true that is but here is an example of a question that for some reason I can’t answer. I am sure the answer must be staring me in the face but I just can’t see it. There have been a good few others where I believe the answer given is either wrong or so ambiguous it is unfair.
Here is an example of one I thought was a bit tricky.
CASE STUDY
Henry drivers a 30 tonne articulated car transporter throughout the United Kingdom and he often sleeps in his cab.
Henry has several collections and deliveries to make today and has already worked two 10 hour driving shifts this week.
He is due to make his first collection at 08:00am and intends to start his shift at 06:00am but he did not get much sleep last night. Henry still wakes up at 05:00am and performs a 30 minute walk-round check of the vehicle before he starts his shift. Henry also has to plan his journey carefully because the top deck of his transporter overhangs the cab, which can make it difficult when turning.
After an hour of driving, Henry is still tired so decides to take a 15 minute break, which he records on his analogue tachograph fitted to the vehicle. During his break, Henry consumes two sugary cans of drink.
Henry arrives at 08:00 to collect the goods and is on time for the rest of his collections and deliveries.
QUESTION
If Henry has a rest of 11 hours after his shift, what is the earliest time he can start his shift tomorrow?
Select the BEST option below.
A. 02:45am
B. 02:30am
C. 03:45am
D. 04:30am
Now then - for a start I don’t like the way it says he does a walk-round check for 30 minutes BEFORE he starts his shift - that sounds like working without recording it to me. Apart from that - is it just me being stupid or would I be right to say there is not enough information to answer the question? I have pondered and pondered and although I claim to know my drivers hours inside out - I can’t get it.
I’ll admit - I answered the question and GOT IT WRONG!!!
So what am I missing? Where is the information I need? I hope it isn’t something flaming obvious and I am just stupid!
Pete
The missing piece of info is … what time did he finish the shift - No way it can be answered without that
0530 is deffo the time that the shift started not 0600
The 10 hours driving and the rest of the info are all useless info in regards to getting to the answer
a 30 minute walk-round check of the vehicle before he starts his shift.
Assuming “Henry” hasn’t done his route planning etc as well before 0600, then his shift starts at 0530. There is no way can walk round checks be done “before” a shift. It will always be part of it, recorded as such and checked by VOSA if required.
As ROG said (and I’m agreeing with him far too much recently!!) it is impossible to answer the shift start question without knowing the finish time of the first shift.
Some of the Mod 2 questions are a bit like this and always have been. But the pass rate is rather more than 50% I would think. Yes, we have to book retests sometimes, but certainly not in that proportion.
Pete 
Shep, I think the answer is 04:30 (Option “D”)
Try it and then post up the answer.
If I’ve got it right, I’ll explain how I got there, …
… but if I’m wrong then maybe somebody could explain it to me. 
dieseldave:
Shep, I think the answer is 04:30 (Option “D”)
Try it and then post up the answer.
If I’ve got it right, I’ll explain how I got there, …
… but if I’m wrong then maybe somebody could explain it to me.
To get 0430 as the answer you would need to know that the shift finished at 530pm and there is no way to determine that
Now, if it has stated that the driver did a 12 hour shift then that would be correct
dieseldave:
Shep, I think the answer is 04:30 (Option “D”)
Try it and then post up the answer.
If I’ve got it right, I’ll explain how I got there, …
… but if I’m wrong then maybe somebody could explain it to me.
Dave - that was the answer I chose. WRONG!!! I actually got a fail on 7 questions
I’ll post the answer later
Pete
shep532:
dieseldave:
… but if I’m wrong then maybe somebody could explain it to me.
Dave - that was the answer I chose. WRONG!!! I actually got a fail on 7 questions
I’ll post the answer later
Pete
Oh well, I’ll await with interest so I can live and learn.
Oh go on then … To save you all the stress of waiting …
The answer given was A. I have no idea how they got that answer. He clearly must have finished early that shift.
I’ve gone through about 40 of these case study tests and failed a couple where I found the answer was impossible to get or very vague and I disagreed with the answer they gave.
Peter - I got the figure of 43% pass rate from someone who sits on some group or other that meets with DVSA/DVLA periodically to discuss such things. I’m not sure how accurate it is but I’d have thought is from a good source.
I GOT IT !! but only because I now know the answer
shift starts at 0600
9 hour driving day = 1500
add 45 break = 1545
11 hours off = 0245
ROG:
I GOT IT !! but only because I now know the answer
shift starts at 0600
9 hour driving day = 1500
add 45 break = 1545
11 hours off = 0245
What no unloading? Lucky driver
shep532:
What no unloading? Lucky driver
Yes, but it’s worse than that cost the question clearly said his “first” collection, which implies that there were other collections to do in that shift.
A poorly written question IMHO. Grrr!!
I can see Rog’s point though. Out of all the answers available I should have been able to find the BEST - but not necessarily right - answer.
I’m disappointed in myself 
In truth this is fairly vague question but there is something you should understand about drivingtheory4all. The example scenarios provided are DEFINATELY NOT the same as you will get on the actual test. This is because the DVSA has not released the scenarios or questions (unlike the theory test). Every answer can be found in the driving goods vehicles book but this is over 300 pages long.
What drivingtheory4all has done is work through that book and created example questions as a learning tool for candidates. Not perfect but by far better than anything else out there, which is very little.
The problem is that anybody not requiring that test is not allowed to take it and even if we were it would be impossible to remember the wording of even a single scenario and all the various questions associated with it and all the possible answers to those questions.
In saying that we find that most people who actually take the time to work through all the case studies provided do usually pass 1st time.