Independent driving lasts 20 to 35 minutes and takes up most of the test. You follow either a sat nav the examiner sets up or a series of road signs. Going the wrong way is not a fault. How you drive while going the wrong way is, and that is where people lose tests.
Independent driving is the longest single part of the practical test and the part that most resembles driving after you pass. For 20 to 35 minutes you drive without being told when to turn, which on a 35 minute test means the majority of it.
It is not a navigation test. Nobody has ever failed for getting lost. It exists because an examiner giving turn-by-turn directions is doing part of your thinking for you, and the DVSA wants to see what happens when nobody is.
Sat Nav Or Road Signs
You get one of two versions and the examiner decides which.
| Version | How it works | What makes it awkward |
|---|---|---|
| Sat nav | The examiner provides the device, mounts it and sets the route. You follow the spoken and on-screen directions. | Instructions arrive later than you would like, and the screen tempts you to look at it |
| Road signs | You are asked to follow signs to a named destination, for example Ilford or the A12. | Signs on London roads are cluttered, and the one you need is often on the far side of a junction |
Both formats as described by the DVSA at gov.uk/driving-test.
If you are following road signs and the signs run out or are obscured, the examiner will give you a direction. That is not a black mark, and it is not a hint that you have gone wrong. They are just filling a gap the road left.
You Cannot Use Your Own Sat Nav
The examiner supplies the device and enters the destination. You do not touch it, you do not set it up, and you cannot bring your own or use your phone. If the voice is too quiet or the screen is angled badly, say so before you move off. That is the moment to fix it, not five minutes into a route.
You are allowed to ask the examiner to repeat an instruction, at any point, as many times as you need. It is not marked and it does not count against you. Candidates who would rather guess than ask are choosing the option that can actually cost them.
A Wrong Turn Is Not A Fault
This is the one thing to take from this page. The DVSA states it plainly: going off the route does not affect the result. The examiner will re-route the sat nav or redirect you, and the test carries on as though nothing happened.
What is still marked is the driving. Every fault available anywhere else on the test is available here. So the sequence that ends tests looks like this: the candidate realises they have missed the turn, decides in the last second to take it anyway, swings across a lane without a mirror check, and collects a serious fault. The wrong turn cost nothing. The reaction to it cost the test.
What Gets Marked Here
The categories that fill up during independent driving are the ordinary ones, but the section produces more of them because you are doing two jobs at once.
- Late lane changes. The instruction arrives, you are in the wrong lane, and you move without a full mirror and blind spot check.
- Missed observation at junctions. Attention on the screen or the sign instead of the road.
- Speed. Drifting over a limit while concentrating on directions, or slowing to a crawl to read a sign.
- Hesitation. Stopping at a green light or an empty junction because you are still deciding where to go.
- Positioning. Straddling lanes on a multi-lane approach while you work out which one you want.
Almost all of these come from the same root: making the decision too late. Which is why the useful skill is not following instructions accurately, it is committing early and accepting a wrong turn rather than a rushed correction.
How To Handle It On East London Roads
Two local features make this section harder here than the DVSA's description suggests.
Multi-lane approaches
The A12, the A406 and the approaches to Charlie Brown's Roundabout give you very little distance between the sign and the junction, and the lane you need is often not the one the arrow first suggests.
Read the lane markings on the road surface as well as the overhead signs, and pick a lane before you are in the queue rather than after. Lane discipline on this kind of junction is covered in roundabout lane discipline.
Bus lanes
The nearside lane on a lot of main roads is a bus lane during its operating hours, which means the lane the sat nav appears to want is sometimes a lane you cannot legally be in.
Being in a bus lane inside its hours is a breach of the law, and that puts it straight into serious fault territory rather than the minor column. The hours and the markings are set out in London bus lanes explained.
Routes out of Wanstead in particular put both of these in front of you within a few minutes of leaving the centre, and the timed bus lanes on Cambridge Park are a known source of marks.
The Screen Is Not The Road
The most reliable way to collect faults in this section is to look at the sat nav for longer than a glance. It is mounted where you can see it, which means it is mounted somewhere your eyes want to go, and every second spent reading it is a second not spent reading the junction you are approaching.
Two habits fix most of this. The first is to listen rather than look: the spoken instruction contains everything you need, and the screen is only there for confirmation. The second is to take your confirming glance early, while the road ahead is straightforward, rather than at the point where the turn is arriving and the junction needs your attention.
If you genuinely need a proper look at the screen, the answer is the same as it is for anything else on the test. Deal with the road first, then look, then act. An examiner will never mark you for taking a turn later than you might have. They will mark you for looking down while a pedestrian steps off the kerb.
When The Sat Nav Is Wrong
It happens. A device can be a road layout out of date, or route you into a turn that a sign prohibits at that time of day, or announce a turn you have already passed. London changes its road layouts often enough that this is not rare.
The rule is simple and absolute: the road wins. Signs, markings and the actual layout of the junction override anything the device says.
Turning into a no-entry because a screen told you to is a breach of the law and therefore a serious fault, and the sat nav is not a defence. If you follow the road rather than the device, you have gone off route, which as established is not a fault at all.
The same applies to the box junction on your route, the bus lane the device wants you in, and the right turn that is banned between four and seven. The device is a set of directions. The signs are the law.
What The Examiner Will And Will Not Say
They will tell you when independent driving starts and when it ends. They will repeat an instruction if you ask. They will give you a direction if signs are missing. They will re-route you without comment if you go the wrong way.
They will not tell you that you have gone the wrong way in a tone that suggests it matters, they will not tell you how you are doing, and they will not warn you that you are about to be marked. Silence during this section is neutral and should be read as nothing at all.
Practising For It
The section is difficult to rehearse in ordinary lessons, because an instructor sitting beside you talking is exactly what it removes. The way to practise is to be driven somewhere unfamiliar and then asked to find your own way back, with the instructor saying nothing unless it is unsafe.
Do that a handful of times and the section stops being novel. You also discover something useful about yourself: whether your driving degrades when you have to think about two things, which is the actual thing being tested.
The three fault grades are explained in what the examiner is actually marking, and where the line falls between a minor and a major is in serious and dangerous faults. The whole process from start to test day is in the guide to learning to drive in East London.
The only realistic way to practise this is to be sent somewhere unfamiliar with someone marking, which is what a mock test is.
Book a mock testQuestions about independent driving
How long is the independent driving section?
Between 20 and 35 minutes, according to the DVSA. On a test lasting around 35 minutes in total, that means independent driving takes up most of it.
Do you fail for going the wrong way on the sat nav?
No. The DVSA is explicit that going off the route does not count as a fault. The examiner will re-route you and the test continues. What is still marked is how you drive while it happens, so never make a late or unchecked correction.
Can I use my own sat nav on the driving test?
No. The examiner supplies the device, mounts it and enters the route. You do not set it up and you cannot use your phone.
What if I miss an instruction?
Ask the examiner to repeat it. You can ask as many times as you need and it is not marked. If you would rather keep driving, do that and let the device re-route you. Guessing is the only genuinely poor option.
Does everyone get the sat nav?
No. Most candidates do, but some are asked to follow road signs to a named destination instead. The examiner decides and you will be told which before the section starts.
If you have only ever driven roads your instructor talked you through, a mock test at £50 is where you find out how you handle being on your own.
Book a mock testMore in The practical test
Published 1 September 2026. Prices and DVSA figures are checked when this page is revised. If anything here has changed, ring us and we will confirm it.