DGSA Pass Mark and Pass Rates: Road Is Lowest in Most Sittings

Road had the lowest national pass rate of the three papers in four of the five sittings from March 2024 to March 2025, and was 51.5 % in March 2025. Across 2019 to 2023 it was 60 %, against 79 % for Core and 66 % for All Classes. The pass mark is 65 % in the syllabus and 32 marks out of 50 on the sample papers.

SQA FOI 23/24 146 and candidate performance reports; GOV.UK sample papers.

The GOV.UK syllabus says, for each paper, “The pass mark is 65%.” Each official sample paper says “You need to gain 32 marks to pass this paper.” Each paper is out of 50, so 32 marks is 64 % and 65 % is 32.5 marks. GOV.UK does not explain the difference, and it does not publish the marking scheme (the examiners’ reports refer to one).

In practice the half mark should not matter: if you are within a mark or two of either line on a practice paper, a few lost marks on the day could change the result. Treat 36 out of 50 as a working target (our suggestion).

From March 2024 the SQA (now Qualifications Scotland) published a candidate performance report after each sitting, giving a national pass rate per paper and examiners’ comments. These were on its DGSA exam site, which has since closed (the exam pages moved to GOV.UK); we read archived copies.

Neither source gives a single reason for Road’s lower rate. The examiners’ comments on the November 2024 Road paper name the areas: “Many candidates lost marks by providing an incorrect or incomplete reference”; placing panels and placards on transport units carrying tanks “under both the UK CDG regulations and the ADR Agreement”; parking and supervision; and “confusion between mixed packing and mixed loading requirements”. Road is also the only one of the three papers with a case study, worth 35 of its 50 marks on the sample paper. The method we suggest is in our Road paper guide.

The fastest way to know which side of the line you are on is to sit a full paper and have it marked. The DGSA practice papers are 9 timed papers (3 Core, 3 All Classes, 3 Road) where you write your answers and each one is marked point by point, with the ADR, CDG2009, emergency action code list or derogation reference for every point you missed. One Core question is free to try.

Rail (91 %) and Inland Waterways (90 %) look easier over 2019 to 2023, but they are small: in February 2024 there were 14 Rail-only, 52 Road and Rail and 15 Inland Waterways certificate holders, against 2,068 Road. On small entries a rate can swing widely: Inland Waterways went from 100 % in September 2023 to 50 % in November 2023.

The DGSA papers are open book in the sense that you take printed regulations in. GOV.UK’s guidance says that, “When asked”, you need to provide references to the regulations you used and show the steps you took, and each paper says where a reference is wanted. The examiners’ reports repeat it: “Unless otherwise stated, references are required to support answers” (November 2024), and “showing such steps is regularly part of the marking scheme” (September 2024). That makes four ways to lose a mark you could have had:

These are easy to miss when you mark your own practice against an answer you only partly remember. The DfT review recorded “longstanding complaints regarding the limited feedback that DGSAs receive on their exams”; it adds that the DVSA has since increased the feedback candidates receive, and that the Department will await feedback on those improvements before making further changes. The three sample papers come without answers. A practice mark is only as useful as the marking behind it: mark against the exact words of the regulation, point by point, and count a point only if your answer states it.

In the same review 56 % of the 268 DGSAs said they would prefer to take the exam on a computer and 44 % by hand. The Department said further research is needed on a switch, including accessibility. For now, practise writing answers by hand against the clock: references and steps take longer to write than to think.

Dates and deadlines are in our dates and booking guide.