After years and years of talking about wanting to ride a motorbike, I’ve finally taken the plunge and started on the road to getting my licence. For those of you not from the UK, getting your licence over here is pretty in-depth. There are essentially four tests you need to take before you’re allowed to ride anything you want, and there are also a few different routes you can take to get there. To start with you’ll need to take a CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) course which will allow you to ride a moped up to 125CC. To ride anything with more power you’ll need to take a series of further tests. First you’ll need to take your theory test, followed by the module 1 test which is held in an empty carpark, then the module 2 which involves practical street riding. The DSA release their pass rate statistics and it seems that for the theory and practical tests, the pass rate hovers around the 70% mark, which is pretty good considering the car test pass rate is 45%. I would assume that the majority of people taking the motorcycle test have a fair bit of road experience from driving, making it easier to pass.

I passed my theory test on Friday. The test is made up of 50 multiple choice questions and a hazard perception test which requires you to watch a video and click on potential hazards. The multiple choice section was pretty easy as really it’s just common sense. I do feel however that some questions are slightly misleading, marking a particular answer as “incorrect” when personally I  would consider it to be a legitimate answer and not technically incorrect. The hazard perception test was okay. My only gripe with it is that it’s hard to know if you’re being under/over perceptive and clicking more than you should be. You’re not given a real opportunity to try the system and to see if you are doing it correctly. You’re shown a sample video and when you should click, but it would be better to give you a good practice run with hints.

Next up is my CBT which sadly is not until the 12th of August, then I have my module 1 on the 17th and module 2 on the 24th. With it being summer, places for tests are severely limited as everyone is dreaming of hitting the open road on two wheels. I really should have booked this all in sooner, but I honestly thought I could call up and practically take my tests the week after. I’ve learnt my lesson and will do my research a little sooner in future.