Cambridgeshire · East of England
Cambridge driving test centre
53.8% of car practical tests taken at Cambridge passed in 2025-26, from 13,689 tests. Pass rates, local road types and how we prepare you for this centre.
Cambridge pass rates
Pass rate 2025-26
53.8%
7,366 passes
National average
50%
+3.8 points here
Tests conducted
13,689
about 1,141 a month
Best published year
53.8%
2025-26
13,689 car practical tests were taken at Cambridge in 2025-26. 53.8% passed, 3.8 percentage points above the national average of 50%. It is up on 2019-20, when 47.6% passed.
Over the published years the rate has moved between 47.6% in 2019-20 and 53.8% in 2025-26, so a single year's figure is a weak guide on its own. In 2025-26 the rate was 55.5% for male candidates and 51.9% for female candidates. That works out at roughly 1,141 tests a month, which is what waiting times at Cambridge depend on more than the pass rate does.
- Cambridge
- National average
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate | National | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 13,689 | 7,366 | 53.8% | 50% | 55.5% | 51.9% |
| 2024-25 | 13,610 | 6,877 | 50.5% | 48.7% | 53% | 47.8% |
| 2023-24 | 13,690 | 6,896 | 50.4% | 47.9% | 52.3% | 48.3% |
| 2022-23 | 10,759 | 5,399 | 50.2% | 48.4% | 52.3% | 48% |
| 2021-22 | 9,534 | 4,583 | 48.1% | 48.9% | 49.4% | 46.6% |
| 2019-20 | 10,698 | 5,097 | 47.6% | 45.9% | 51% | 44.8% |
Source: DVSA table DRT122A, car practical driving test pass rates by test centre, published on GOV.UK. Figures are financial years running April to March.
Where Cambridge test centre is
Arrive ten minutes early and park where you can pull out easily. The waiting room is small at most centres, so your instructor will normally wait in the car park while you take the test.
Driving out of Cambridge
Instructors who teach out of Cambridge report the same road mix on most routes: cycle-heavy city roads, ring road and rural lanes. Learners who have only driven quiet estate roads tend to find the pace higher than they expect.
Cyclists appear on virtually every route — mirror discipline is essential.
Cambridge covers learners in and around Cambridge, and it is where most of our Cambridge course students sit the test. If you are choosing between centres, practise the road types listed above rather than picking on pass-rate figures alone.
Most learners who retake at Cambridge say the driving was fine and the pressure was not.
Roads you are likely to meet
Cycle-heavy city roads
Ring road
Rural lanes
- Cyclists appear on virtually every route — mirror discipline is essential.
Test routes are no longer published by the DVSA, and examiners vary them. Treat this as a guide to the local road types rather than a route list. Book your test and check availability on GOV.UK.
Where marks are lost at Cambridge
Restricted lanes and signage
Read the operating times on the plate before committing. Straying into a live bus, cycle or tram lane is marked as a serious fault.
Looking further ahead
Crossings, delivery vans and doors opening: the examiner is judging whether you saw it coming, not how quickly you braked.
One-way systems and box junctions
The fault here is almost always a late lane change under pressure, forcing someone else to brake.
Speed for the conditions
The national speed limit is a limit, not a target. Examiners mark both excessive speed into blind bends and undue hesitancy on clear stretches.
How we prepare you for this centre
Practice where you will be marked
Your instructor works the roads around Cambridge in the sessions before your test — cycle-heavy city roads included — not generic estate roads.
A marked mock run
Run silently and scored properly — no coaching mid-drive — then debriefed fault by fault.
Manoeuvres to standard
Bay park, parallel park, pull up on the right and forward bay — rehearsed on live roads near the centre rather than an empty car park.
Everything around the drive
Paperwork, show me / tell me questions and the independent drive, run through in advance.
Courses that suit test-centre prep
Cambridge test centre FAQs
What are the test routes like at Cambridge?
The DVSA stopped publishing official routes, and examiners vary them. In practice, routes from Cambridge draw on cycle-heavy city roads, ring road, rural lanes, so those are the conditions to rehearse rather than a fixed sequence of streets.
What do learners most often fail on at Cambridge?
restricted lanes and signage, looking further ahead, one-way systems and box junctions, speed for the conditions — all of which come directly from the road types on the local network.
Can I take an intensive course and test at Cambridge?
Yes. We match you with a DVSA approved instructor who teaches on these roads day to day, and we look for the earliest practical slot at Cambridge or a nearby centre serving Cambridge.
How do I book a practical test at Cambridge?
Practical tests are booked through GOV.UK with your provisional licence and theory certificate numbers. We can check cancellations for you once your course dates are set.
What happens when I get to Cambridge?
Arrive with your provisional licence and a car that is legal, insured for the test and has no warning lights showing. We handle that side if you use one of our instructors' cars.
Is Cambridge an easy test centre?
Pass rates are published by the DVSA, but they say more about the mix of candidates than the difficulty of the routes. Practising the road types above will move your odds more than switching centres.
Not sure how many hours you need?
Answer four quick questions and we will recommend a course based on your experience, not a sales target.