Official data · 2007–2026
The theory test pass rate has fallen by almost a third
The rate fell from 65.4% in 2007/08 to 44.8% in 2025/26 — a drop of 20.6 percentage points.
Car theory test pass rate by financial year
Official results for tests taken in Great Britain.
Pass rate (%)
| Financial year | Pass rate |
|---|---|
| 2007/08 | 65.4% |
| 2008/09 | 65.4% |
| 2009/10 | 63.8% |
| 2010/11 | 63.1% |
| 2011/12 | 60.8% |
| 2012/13 | 59.1% |
| 2013/14 | 51.7% |
| 2014/15 | 51% |
| 2015/16 | 49.3% |
| 2016/17 | 48.7% |
| 2017/18 | 48.7% |
| 2018/19 | 47.3% |
| 2019/20 | 47.1% |
| 2020/21 | 55.7% |
| 2021/22 | 50.1% |
| 2022/23 | 44.2% |
| 2023/24 | 45.2% |
| 2024/25 | 44.9% |
| 2025/26 | 44.8% |
Financial years run from April to March. The 2020/21 figure was heavily affected by COVID-19 restrictions, and 2025/26 is provisional.
Updated 25 June 2026
More attempts, passes and failures
The pass rate is only one part of the story. Annual attempt volumes have more than doubled from the pandemic low and reached their highest point in this series in 2025/26.
Tests conducted in 2025/26
2,924,430
Tests passed in 2025/26
1,311,480
Tests not passed in 2025/26
1,612,950
Every year in the official series
The complete annual table adds test, pass and failure counts to the headline pass rate. Change is measured against the preceding financial year.
| Financial year | Tests | Passes | Not passed | Pass rate | Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26provisional | 2,924,430 | 1,311,480 | 1,612,950 | 44.8% | -0.1pp |
| 2024/25 | 2,792,839 | 1,253,269 | 1,539,570 | 44.9% | -0.3pp |
| 2023/24 | 2,594,741 | 1,173,545 | 1,421,196 | 45.2% | +1.0pp |
| 2022/23 | 2,432,302 | 1,075,508 | 1,356,794 | 44.2% | -5.9pp |
| 2021/22 | 2,463,621 | 1,234,013 | 1,229,608 | 50.1% | -5.6pp |
| 2020/21 | 891,279 | 496,660 | 394,619 | 55.7% | +8.6pp |
| 2019/20 | 1,865,740 | 878,903 | 986,837 | 47.1% | -0.2pp |
| 2018/19 | 1,787,773 | 845,028 | 942,745 | 47.3% | -1.4pp |
| 2017/18 | 1,886,218 | 918,130 | 968,088 | 48.7% | 0.0pp |
| 2016/17 | 1,952,226 | 950,210 | 1,002,016 | 48.7% | -0.6pp |
| 2015/16 | 1,900,691 | 937,034 | 963,657 | 49.3% | -1.7pp |
| 2014/15 | 1,680,268 | 857,189 | 823,079 | 51.0% | -0.7pp |
| 2013/14 | 1,569,993 | 811,677 | 758,316 | 51.7% | -7.4pp |
| 2012/13 | 1,244,041 | 735,368 | 508,673 | 59.1% | -1.7pp |
| 2011/12 | 1,371,494 | 833,930 | 537,564 | 60.8% | -2.3pp |
| 2010/11 | 1,346,165 | 849,007 | 497,158 | 63.1% | -0.7pp |
| 2009/10 | 1,347,486 | 859,813 | 487,673 | 63.8% | -1.6pp |
| 2008/09 | 1,290,638 | 844,036 | 446,602 | 65.4% | 0.0pp |
| 2007/08 | 1,451,348 | 949,431 | 501,917 | 65.4% | — |
Results differ by age and recorded gender
DVSA publishes national theory-test outcomes by recorded gender and by single year of age. These figures describe test attempts, not the underlying ability of a demographic group.
Male candidates · 2025/26
43.0%
693,889 passes from 1,614,944 tests
Female candidates · 2025/26
47.2%
617,588 passes from 1,309,482 tests
The recorded female pass rate was 4.2 percentage points higher than the recorded male rate. A small number of tests have no male or female gender recorded, so these rows do not sum exactly to the national total.
Pass rate by age band
The latest detailed age table covers 2024/25. Single-year ages have been combined into readable bands using the published test and pass counts.
| Age band | Tests | Passes | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 2,405 | 903 | 37.5% |
| 17 | 644,250 | 322,221 | 50.0% |
| 18–20 | 527,653 | 220,249 | 41.7% |
| 21–24 | 399,412 | 188,339 | 47.2% |
| 25–34 | 736,950 | 324,464 | 44.0% |
| 35–44 | 357,855 | 149,526 | 41.8% |
| 45–59 | 116,313 | 44,444 | 38.2% |
| 60+ | 8,001 | 3,123 | 39.0% |
Age-band rates are recalculated from DVSA table DRT111C. The 16 and 60+ groups are much smaller than the other bands, so their percentages are more sensitive to small changes.
What the chart actually shows
20.6pp
A sustained decline, not a halving
That is a 31% relative fall. ‘Nearly halved’ overstates the official annual figures, but the long-term movement is still large.
44.2%
The low came after the pandemic
The lowest annual rate in the series was recorded in 2022/23. It has since recovered only slightly.
2020/21
The spike needs context
Only 891,279 tests were conducted during the COVID-affected year, roughly half the volume of the year before, so its 55.7% rate is not directly comparable.
What changed around the steepest fall
The published statistical release highlights three changes around the sharp step down between 2012 and 2014.
Jan 2012
The question bank was withdrawn
The published theory question bank was withdrawn, making simple memorisation of the live test questions less reliable.
Jan 2013
Unpublished questions entered the test
The first sets of questions that had never been published were introduced. The annual pass rate fell from 59.1% to 51.7%.
Apr 2014
Foreign-language support was removed
Foreign-language voiceovers and interpreters were withdrawn from theory and practical tests.
These changes line up with steps down in the chart, but a timeline alone cannot prove that any single policy caused the fall. Read the official statistical release
How to read this data
The published series covers Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — not Northern Ireland. Calling it a UK rate is common shorthand, but it is not technically precise.
The rate is calculated per test, not per unique learner. A learner who retakes the test is counted again, so this is not a first-attempt pass rate.
The latest 2025/26 figure is marked provisional and may be revised. Earlier figures can also receive small retrospective corrections.
Data and context: DVSA table DRT111A · original Reddit discussion · Open Government Licence v3.0 · Machine-readable JSON