This is a mandatory step for those who wish to obtain their driving license: the highway code exam, or officially the general theoretical exam (ETG). According to Road safety statistics nearly 1.26 million people took this exam in 2022, with a pass rate of 56.6%.
This year, it’s getting a new look! Indeed, the bank of questions for the general theoretical exam (in other words, “the highway code exam”) is “entirely renewed” from Tuesday September 12, 2023, announced the Ministry of the Interior and road safety. This is a whole new test that now awaits apprentice motorists. Here is what this new Highway Code consists of.
Highway code exam: 1,037 new questions
The last modification of the highway code exam questions dated from 2016 and turned into a fiasco. The introduction of 1,000 new questions caused the success rate to drop sharply, from 70 to 17%. This year, the question bank for the general theoretical exam (ETG) now includes 1,037 questions. These were written “in consultation with professionals in the sector” but also with a “language simplification professional”specifies the interministerial delegate for Road Safety, Florence Guillaume, during a press point, Monday September 11, 2023.
If you still need 35 correct answers out of 40 to pass the exam, the questions asked have changed slightly, both in substance and in form.
Clearer questions
The main objective of this update is to “to forget the idea of trick questions” and make them “clearer and more intelligible”, ensures Florence Guillaume recalling the primary ambition of Road Safety which is “to save lives.” According to her, “The difficulty should not be in the question, but in the answer to it.”
In order to avoid confusion among candidates, complex terms have been removed from the questions. Word “ring” to designate a roundabout, sometimes used in old questions, has for example been deleted.
Multiple choice questions made simple
Another new feature regarding multiple choice questions: rather than having a simple indication “several correct answers possible”, the number of expected responses is now indicated. A real boost that candidates should appreciate!
New Highway Code: more realistic visuals
In terms of the visuals which illustrate the questions, there is also evolution. The new examination of the highway code separates from synthetic images and replaces them with real shots captured from drones. In order to help candidates answer better, the vehicles used as examples in the questions “are now circled in yellow in the visual or image”indicates Road Safety.
Taking into account new mobility in the examination of the highway code
In 2022, 759,000 scooters were sold in France, according to figures from the Federation of Micromobility Professionals, while the bicycle represented in 2022 the most sold means of transport in France, according to the Observatory of Union sport & cycle. Faced with the growth of these new forms of mobility, the Highway Code adapts and now puts itself in the shoes of a pedestrian, cyclist or even scooter rider with around ten new questions in which the candidate must analyze the situations at hand. from the view of another user. This change of point of view is indicated by a yellow icon in the upper right corner of the image, in which the symbol “pedestrian”, “motorcycle” or even “child” is indicated.
Now that you know everything new about the highway code exam, discover our 5 tips for getting it right the first time.
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