All About Intensive Driving Courses


What is an intensive driving course?

Intensive driving courses, also known as ‘crash courses’, are in some ways very similar to conventional weekly driving lessons. Whichever option you choose, what you learn is exactly the same: how to operate the car, how to complete the manoeuvres, how to drive on different types of road, and everything else you need to know to become a proficient driver.

However, while it could take you months to become test-ready with conventional lessons, intensive driving courses concentrate your lessons into a matter of weeks or even days. This means that they’re a great option for anyone who wants to get on the road fast!

intensive driving instructor

Do intensive courses work?

Put simply, yes! For many people, intensive driving courses offer a comprehensive, convenient and efficient way of learning to drive. There are a number of key reasons for this.

#1: You have enough time to properly learn your skills

One of the main problems with conventional hourly driving lessons is that, as a student, you can often spend nearly the whole hour struggling with a specific aspect of driving. Just as you start to get the hang of it, you then find that you’ve come to the end of your lesson!

Now, you have to wait a whole week until the next lesson, where you effectively start again from scratch. Intensive and semi-intensive courses help massively with this. With longer lessons, you have the time to work over the aspects of driving that you struggle with, making sure you perfect them before moving on.

#2: You retain information better

A common complaint that students have with individual weekly lessons is that they find it difficult to retain information between lessons. This is a real issue, particularly if you don’t have the ability to practice in a parent or relative’s car outside of lesson time. In effect, your driving abilities just fade away!

This is due to a combination of factors, one of which is muscle memory. Leaving a week between lessons is a long time, and it’s easy for your body and brain to forget the complex movements that it learns during an hour-long session. We find that more concentrated lessons allow learners to retain information much more thoroughly. Hopefully, getting in the car and driving will feel like second nature by the end of your course!

#3: Everything is sorted out for you

With an intensive or semi-intensive driving course, the lessons and tests are all arranged for you in advance. This takes much of the hassle out learning to drive compared to organising hourly lessons on a week-by-week basis. Also, because the practical test is typically booked before lessons start, you get a definite date to work towards. This often motivates learners to pull out all the stops when learning to drive, which in turn leads to a greater likelihood of passing!

What you need to do to be successful with an intensive driving course

Intensive and semi-intensive driving courses do provide noticeable advantages over conventional driving lessons, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be easy! There are a few things you’ll need to do to be successful on an intensive driving course. Firstly, you need to be committed. It’s important that you’re well prepared mentally and ready to spend extended periods of time concentrating. This can be tiring—you’ll certainly appreciate being able to go home and put up your feet! It’s a good idea to try and judge what kind of schedule is going to be the most productive for you before you book onto a course. Thankfully, both intensive and semi-intensive courses are available, so there are different options to suit everyone.

Secondly, you need to plan your time accordingly. To get the most out of an intensive driving course, you need to be able to dedicate your time to learning.

Aside from commitment and time management, all you need to succeed on an intensive driving course is a positive mental attitude and a provisional licence! So, if you’re learning to drive, don’t rule out an intensive course. You could save yourself time and money!

This article was contributed by PassMeFast, one of the leading driving schools in the North of England.