DGSA Exam (UK Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser)
The dangerous goods safety adviser (DGSA) exams qualify you to act as a business's DGSA under ADR 1.8.3 and CDG2009. To qualify you pass three written exams: the Core module, All Classes, and one of Road, Rail or Inland Waterways, and you pass them again every 5 years to stay qualified. The exams are taken in person at venues in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, administered by Qualifications Scotland and booked on GOV.UK. They are open book: you may take printed copies of ADR (or RID or ADN), CDG2009, the emergency action code list and the approved derogations. Core is 1 hour 15 minutes; All Classes and Road are each 1 hour 45 minutes.
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DGSA Past Papers and Sample Questions: What’s Official, How It’s Marked
The three official sample papers, the four worked examples GOV.UK publishes, what earns marks in a written DGSA answer, and one Core-style question with a model answer.
DGSA Pass Mark and Pass Rates: Road Is Lowest in Most Sittings
The pass mark in the syllabus (65 %) and on the sample papers (32 of 50), official pass rates for every sitting from 2019 to March 2025, what examiners say loses marks, and what it means for you.
DGSA Road Paper: Case-Study Method and an ADR 1.1.3.6 Worked Example
How the Road paper is built (35-mark case study, 15 marks of questions), a method for reading the scenario, and the 1,000-point small-load rule worked through for a mixed van load.
DGSA Course Cost vs Self-Study: £405 in Exam Fees, Then What You Choose
The only fixed cost is £135 per exam. What else you pay for, what the free official texts cover, what a course adds, what to ask a provider, and what a resit costs.
DGSA Exam 2026–27: Dates, the 3 Papers, Booking, Fees and Venues
The five sittings from November 2026 to November 2027 with every application deadline, how to book and pay, the £135 fee, the ten exam locations, changing a booking, results and appeals.
DGSA Qualification Explained: Who Needs One and Renewing Every 5 Years
What a Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser does, which businesses must appoint one and the exemptions, the three exams that qualify you, and how renewal in the fifth year works.
Leave with a plan for today.
- 21 min
Study: Core
- 6 min
Review what you missed. Write down the reason behind each correction.
- 3 min
Close your notes and recall the main ideas in your own words.
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