The answer options
- Give an arm signal
- Choose a higher gear than normal
- Do a final check over your shoulderCorrect
- Check road markings to ensure U-turns are permitted
Why the other options are wrong
- “Give an arm signal” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which do a final check over your shoulder does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
- “Choose a higher gear than normal” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which do a final check over your shoulder does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
- “Check road markings to ensure U-turns are permitted” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which do a final check over your shoulder does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
Why that is the answer
Before making a U-turn, you must check your mirrors and perform a final check over your shoulder into your blind spot. This ensures no cyclists, motorcyclists, or overtaking vehicles have entered the area you cannot see in your mirrors. The Highway Code recommends selecting a low gear for slow, precise control, not a higher gear. Checking road signs happens during planning, but the final safety action immediately before turning is always the shoulder check.
What alertness covers
- · Mirror–signal–manoeuvre and when each mirror is checked
- · Blind spots and life-saver shoulder checks
- · Correct signalling, including when not to signal
- · Tiredness, breaks on long journeys and the 15-minute rest rule
Mistakes learners repeat on this topic
- · Signalling so early that other drivers act on the wrong junction
- · Checking mirrors after starting a manoeuvre rather than before
- · Opening a window as a cure for tiredness instead of stopping
- · Answering a hands-free call and assuming it is a safe alternative
Instructor tip: If a question offers 'stop somewhere safe and rest' for a tiredness scenario, that is almost always the marked answer.
How this comes up in the real test
Questions from alertness appear throughout the 50-question multiple-choice section, and the wording changes between versions. Learn the rule rather than the sentence: the DVSA can ask the same point from the opposite direction, and a memorised answer falls over the moment the phrasing moves.
The pass mark is 43 out of 50, so seven wrong answers is your entire margin. If a whole category is shaky, run the topic practice below until you are getting every question right for the right reason, then go back to full mocks under the clock.
More alertness questions
- Before slowing or stopping your vehicle, what is something you must do?
- How can you make sure that a satellite navigation (satnav) system doesn’t distract you when you’re driving?
- How should you pass the cyclists?
- Something is hanging from your rearview mirror. Why might this pose a risk?
- The windscreen pillar is restricting your view when waiting to emerge from a junction. What should you be especially cautious of?
- There is a hazard ahead. Why should you use your mirrors?