The Sat Nav Part of the Driving Test: How It Works and What to Do If You Miss a Turn

For roughly 20 minutes of your UK practical test, you follow directions from a sat nav that the examiner brings, mounts and programs. You cannot use your own. It checks whether you can drive safely while a device talks at you – not whether you can navigate – so going the wrong way is not, on its own, a fault. About four in five candidates get the sat nav; the other one in five follow traffic signs instead (GOV.UK).

That last line is the bit that catches people out, so let me say it plainly before we go deep: a wrong turn does not fail your test. The sat nav simply recalculates and carries on. What can fail you is how you react to a wrong turn – swinging across a lane, braking hard, or grabbing at the screen. Get your head around that and the whole section stops being scary.

This guide walks through the exact device, how the examiner sets it up, what happens minute by minute, and precisely what to do when (not if) it tells you something confusing. I have sat in the passenger seat for hundreds of these, and the learners who relax are always the ones who already knew what was coming.

What is the sat nav part of the driving test?

The sat nav features in the independent driving section of the practical test. For about 20 minutes you drive without turn-by-turn help from the examiner, following either a sat nav or a series of traffic signs to a set of destinations. The examiner tells you which one you are doing before you start.

Independent driving was extended from 10 minutes to 20 minutes on 4 December 2017, the same day the sat nav was introduced (GOV.UK). The point is realism: modern drivers use sat navs constantly, so the test now checks you can use one without getting distracted or making mistakes. If you want the fuller picture of the whole section, we have a companion guide on what independent driving actually involves on the UK test.

One thing to be clear on: the sat nav does not replace the rest of the test. You still do your manoeuvre, you may still get an emergency stop, and general driving is assessed throughout. The 20 minutes of independent driving simply sits inside the roughly 38 to 40 minute test.

Which sat nav does the examiner use?

The DVSA provides a TomTom Start 52. It is the examiner’s own device, kept in a mount that fixes to the windscreen or dashboard, and it is set up the same way in every car (GOV.UK).

You do not choose it, buy it or bring one of your own – and that includes your phone. Even if your instructor’s car or your own car has a built-in sat nav or Apple CarPlay, it stays off for this part. The examiner uses the standard TomTom so that every candidate across the country gets an identical, consistent test.

Here is what that means in practice:

Question	Answer
Who supplies the sat nav?	The examiner (DVSA)
Which device is it?	A TomTom Start 52
Do I program the route?	No – the examiner enters it
Can I use my own sat nav or phone?	No
Do I need to have used a TomTom before?	No – it is very simple to follow
Can I adjust the volume or angle?	Yes – just ask before you set off

Because you never touch it, you genuinely do not need to have owned a TomTom or practised on that exact model. Any sat nav practice – a phone on a short journey with a supervising driver, or your instructor’s device – teaches the skill that matters: glancing briefly and getting your eyes straight back on the road.

How does the examiner set up the sat nav?

The examiner does all of the setup while the car is stationary, usually before you move off from the test centre. They will:

1. Mount the TomTom on the dashboard or windscreen where you can see it.
2. Enter the route themselves – you never type a destination or touch the screen.
3. Tell you that you are following the sat nav (or, in one in five tests, traffic signs).
4. Reassure you that going off-route is fine and that they will not try to catch you out.

If the sat nav sits somewhere awkward – glare on the screen, blocking a bit of your view, too quiet – ask the examiner to move it, tilt it or turn the volume up before you drive off. They would far rather adjust it than have you squinting or leaning across mid-drive. Asking is not a weakness; it shows good preparation.

Once you are moving, the device is off-limits. The examiner controls it. If it ever needs touching mid-route, that is their job, not yours.

What do I actually do when I am following it?

Treat the sat nav exactly like a passenger giving directions – one you listen to but never stare at. The routine is simple:

• Listen for the spoken instruction. “In 300 yards, turn left.” That is your cue to start thinking, not to act instantly.
• Glance, do not gaze. A quick look at the screen confirms the road layout and which lane you need, then eyes back up. The blue line shows your route.
• Trust the road over the screen. Physical road signs, markings and traffic lights always win. If the sat nav and reality disagree, obey the real road.
• Apply mirrors, signal, manoeuvre as normal. The sat nav tells you where; your normal routine handles how. Nothing about MSM changes because a device is talking.

The commonest wobble I see is lane choice at big junctions, where the spoken instruction lags a fraction behind a quick glance at the screen. At a complex roundabout, the voice might say “take the third exit” a beat late – the screen’s blue line often makes the lane clearer, sooner. One controlled glance sorts it.

And the speed limit reading on the screen? Ignore it. Sat nav speed data is not always current. Follow the physical speed limit signs, every time. Getting caught out by an out-of-date on-screen limit is an avoidable way to pick up a fault.

Can you fail your driving test for going the wrong way?

No. You cannot fail simply for taking a wrong turn or missing one, as long as you do it safely. The sat nav recalculates within seconds and gives you a new instruction (GOV.UK).

This is the single most reassuring fact about the whole section, so let it sink in. The examiner is not marking your sense of direction. They are marking your driving. Miss the turn, stay calm, keep driving safely, and wait for the device to redirect you. No harm done.

What does cause a fault is a poor reaction to the mistake:

• Braking sharply or stopping suddenly because you realise too late.
• Swerving or changing lane without checking, to grab a turn you nearly missed.
• Cutting across other traffic or a solid white line to correct.
• Ignoring priority or a road sign in a panic.

In other words, the wrong turn is free; the dangerous recovery is not. If you miss it, you simply carry on to the next safe opportunity and let the sat nav catch up. That is genuinely what the examiner wants to see. Reacting calmly to a mistake is exactly the behaviour that keeps you safe on the road, and they know it.

What if I miss a turn – a simple step-by-step

1. Do nothing dramatic. Keep your speed and position steady.
2. Do not brake hard or lunge for the turn you have just passed.
3. Let the sat nav recalculate – it takes a few seconds and will give you a fresh instruction.
4. Follow the new directions as normal, with full mirror and signal checks.
5. Forget it. One missed turn, handled calmly, is a non-event. Dwelling on it is what leads to the next mistake.

Should you ever touch the sat nav during the test?

No. Do not touch the sat nav while you are driving. The examiner owns and controls the device; adjusting it yourself mid-drive is a distraction and a control issue, and it is the kind of thing that turns a calm test into a serious fault.

If something genuinely needs changing – it has slipped, the volume is wrong, the screen is glaring – the safe options are: ask the examiner to sort it, or if it is safe and appropriate, that is a decision for them, not you. Your hands stay on the wheel and the controls that drive the car. This is why sorting the position and volume before you move off matters so much.

Does the sat nav talk during the driving test?

Yes. It gives spoken turn-by-turn directions out loud, just like a normal sat nav, alongside the on-screen map and blue route line. You get both the voice and the visual, which is deliberate – you can listen and confirm with a quick glance.

If you did not catch an instruction, or you are not sure which of two turnings it means, just ask the examiner to clarify. They are allowed to help with the directions – that is not a fault and it does not affect your result. Asking “was that the next left?” is completely fine. It is far better than guessing and committing to the wrong lane.

What are the 1 in 5 tests that use road signs instead?

About one in five candidates follow traffic signs rather than a sat nav for their independent driving (GOV.UK). You do not choose which you get; the examiner decides and tells you at the start.

If you are following signs, the examiner names a destination – often shown on the green or white local direction signs – and you drive towards it by reading the road signs. The same rules apply: if there are no signs at a junction, you carry on in the direction you were already going until you see the next one, and going off-route is still not a fault.

Because you cannot know in advance which version you will get, prepare for both. In lessons, practise following a sat nav and practise reading direction signs to a named place. If signs are missing or hidden by a tree or a lorry, the examiner will help – you will not be penalised for a sign you genuinely could not see.

Common sat nav mistakes (and how to avoid them)

Over the years the same handful of errors come up again and again during the independent driving section. None of them are about the device itself – they are about how people react to it.

Mistake	Why it costs marks	Do this instead
Staring at the screen	Eyes off the road = missed hazards	Quick glances only; road comes first
Panicking after a wrong turn	Leads to harsh braking or a swerve	Stay calm; let it recalculate
Following the on-screen speed limit	It can be out of date	Obey physical speed limit signs
Last-second lane changes	Unsafe, unchecked manoeuvres	Read the screen early; plan the lane
Touching the sat nav	Distraction and loss of control	Leave it to the examiner
Suffering in silence	Guessing the wrong turning	Ask the examiner to clarify

If you want the wider view of what trips people up on test day, our guide to the most common reasons people fail the driving test puts the sat nav section in context – and reassuringly, the sat nav itself is rarely the villain. It is almost always observation, junctions and control that decide the result.

How faults are marked around the sat nav

It helps to know how the marking works, because it takes the fear out of the device. Examiners record three grades of fault: a driving fault (a “minor”), a serious fault, and a dangerous fault. You are allowed up to 15 driving faults and still pass, but a single serious or dangerous fault fails the test.

Nothing about the sat nav changes that structure. A wrong turn, taken safely, is not marked at all. A slightly wide line while you glanced at the screen might be a driving fault at most. It is only a genuinely unsafe reaction – cutting someone up to grab a turn, say – that reaches serious or dangerous. If you want the detail, we break down the numbers in our guide to how many minor faults you can get on the driving test.

The takeaway: the sat nav gives you more room for error, not less, because the navigation itself is not being judged. Drive as you always do and let the device be background noise.

How to practise for the sat nav section

You do not need a TomTom Start 52 at home. You need the habit of following spoken directions while keeping your eyes and attention on the road. A few ways to build it:

• On lessons, ask your instructor to run sat nav practice – most set up a device and give you routes exactly like the test.
• On private practice with a supervising driver, put a phone sat nav on a proper mount and follow it on a quiet route, focusing on glance-and-return, not staring.
• Deliberately take a wrong turn on purpose during practice so that recovering calmly becomes automatic rather than a shock on the day.

This is bread-and-butter on an intensive course, where you get concentrated, back-to-back practice in the weeks before your test. If you are close to test-ready and just want to sharpen the test-specific skills like independent driving, a short Provisional intensive course is built for exactly that – focused hours to polish what you already have. Our how to pass your driving test first time guide covers the rest of the day.

If nerves are the real issue rather than the sat nav itself, that is very common and very fixable – we have a whole guide on calming driving test nerves that works well alongside this one.

The bottom line

The sat nav part of the driving test is one of the easiest sections to demystify. The examiner supplies a TomTom, sets it up and controls it. You follow it for about 20 minutes, glancing not gazing, and you obey the real road over the screen every time. A wrong turn is not a fault – only an unsafe reaction is. Around one in five of you will follow road signs instead, so prepare for both.

Sort the volume and angle before you move off, ask if you are unsure, and let the device fade into the background while you drive the way you have been taught. Do that and this section becomes a formality rather than a fear. If you are ready to lock in focused, test-ready practice, you can get started with GetMyPass and build the calm, confident independent driving the examiner is looking for.