Every car driving test in Great Britain includes two vehicle safety questions, commonly known as “show me, tell me” questions, and while most learners have heard of them, the way instructors prepare candidates for this part of the test varies more than you might expect for something based on a fixed, published list.
Why this part of the test exists at all
Vehicle safety knowledge might seem like a strange thing to test alongside actual driving ability, but the underlying logic is straightforward: a driver who does not know how to check their own tyre condition, top up screen wash, or recognise a warning light on the dashboard is less likely to notice or respond appropriately when something genuinely goes wrong with the vehicle on the road. The questions are a deliberately small, low-stakes part of the overall test precisely because their purpose is establishing baseline awareness, not testing mechanical expertise, which is why a single wrong answer only costs one minor fault rather than threatening a pass outright.
What the questions actually are
DVSA publishes an official list of vehicle safety questions for the car test, split into two types: “tell me” questions, which are asked before you start driving and simply require a verbal explanation of how you would carry out a particular safety check, and “show me” questions, asked while you are driving, which require you to physically demonstrate an action, such as how you would operate the windscreen wipers or demist the rear window, while continuing to drive safely. You are asked one of each type during your test, drawn from the official published list rather than invented by the examiner on the spot, which means the full range of possible questions is genuinely knowable and practisable in advance, unlike some other parts of the test.
For most tell me questions, you are describing what you would do rather than actually doing it, with a small number of exceptions where the examiner asks you to physically open the bonnet to check something like the engine oil or coolant level.
How the answers are actually scored
Getting a show me or tell me question wrong is scored as a single driving fault, the same weight as a minor fault elsewhere in the test, rather than an automatic serious fault or test failure. This surprises some learners who assume any wrong answer to a “test question” is more consequential than it actually is. The exception that does matter significantly: if your driving itself becomes unsafe while you are carrying out a show me action, for example if you drift out of your lane while reaching for a control, that unsafe driving is assessed as a fault in its own right, potentially a serious one, separately from whether you answered the underlying question correctly. The question is testing vehicle safety knowledge; it is not meant to be an excuse to stop driving safely while you answer it.
Why instructors approach teaching this part differently
Because the full list of possible questions is published and fixed, some instructors teach it as a straightforward memorisation task close to test day, treating it as a small, low-stakes box to tick given it is only worth one fault if missed. Other instructors integrate the questions into everyday lesson routine from much earlier, having a learner explain or demonstrate a safety check naturally as part of getting into the car for a lesson, on the basis that genuinely understanding why each check matters, rather than just memorising an answer, makes for a safer long-term driver rather than just a better test candidate for one specific day. Neither approach is wrong for passing the test itself, since both can produce a correct answer on the day, but they reflect a genuine difference in whether an instructor is teaching purely to the test or building habits intended to last beyond it.
If you are choosing between instructors, asking how they handle this part of preparation, briefly at the end versus built into ordinary lesson routine, is a small but genuine signal of their overall teaching philosophy, and worth factoring in alongside more obvious comparison points like price and availability.
Why the list being public sometimes causes overconfidence
Because the full question list is published and searchable, some learners treat it as something to cram the night before a test rather than genuinely understand, on the logic that any of the fixed questions can simply be memorised word for word. This mostly works for the verbal “tell me” questions, but it is a weaker strategy for the “show me” questions specifically, because those require you to actually locate and operate a control correctly while still driving safely, which a purely memorised verbal answer does not prepare you for in the same way. A learner who has only memorised answers rather than practised the physical actions can be caught out fumbling for a control mid-test in a way that a learner who has practised the actual movements during lessons will not be.
It is also worth knowing that the published lists are occasionally updated, including the addition of newer vehicle-relevant questions as car technology changes, such as questions relating to features that were not common a decade ago. Checking you are working from the current version of the list, rather than an older one copied onto a third-party revision site, is a small but worthwhile check before test day.