Real questions. Straight answers from real instructors.

The honest test is one question: will you ever need to drive a manual? If the family cars, your likely first car and your work are all automatic — which is more and more of Ireland — automatic is the faster, calmer route: no clutch, no stalling, all your attention on the road. But passing in an automatic puts code 78 on your licence, which means automatic-only; you'd need a second test to drive manuals. If a manual is realistically in your future (older family cars, vans at work), learn manual once and be covered for both. Our automatic lessons page covers it in full — and if you're undecided, say so in the booking form and we'll talk it through before lesson one. — Kris, RSA-approved ADI (teaches both)

More than 12, almost always — and anyone who promises you a number before meeting you is guessing. The 12 EDT lessons are the legal minimum, designed to be combined with practice between lessons with a sponsor. Learners with regular practice often go to test with EDT plus a handful of extra lessons; learners with no practice car usually need more. What we promise instead of a number: after your first lesson your instructor will tell you honestly where you stand, and we never sell lessons you don't need. Full honest breakdown: how many lessons do I need? — Kris, RSA-approved ADI

It depends on where your licence is from. If it's from the EU/EEA or a country Ireland has an exchange agreement with (Australia, Canada in most provinces, South Africa and others), you don't do EDT at all — you exchange the licence. If it's from a non-exchange country (for example the US, India, Brazil, Nigeria) and you've held the full licence for at least two years, you qualify for reduced EDT: 6 lessons instead of 12 (lessons 1, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10). We run the 6-lesson programme for €280 — eligibility details on our reduced EDT page. — Kris, RSA-approved ADI

Your learner permit, a car that's roadworthy, taxed, NCT'd and insured — and here's the one that catches people out in 2026: your motor insurance certificate. Since 9 March 2026 the examiner checks the certificate itself; if you're driving someone else's car and you're not named on their cert, you also need a letter from the insurer confirming you're covered. Digital copies are officially accepted, but we tell everyone to bring the physical cert to be safe. L plates front and back, working lights, legal tyres. Full checklist with the details: the test-day checklist. — Tony, pre-test specialist

First: don't cancel yet — three weeks is more time than it feels like. Book a mock test this week; it converts "I don't feel ready" into a specific list of what actually needs work, which is usually shorter than the fear says. Then targeted lessons on exactly those faults, and a final run near your test centre in week three. If the mock genuinely says you're not close, then we talk about rescheduling — an informed decision beats a panicked one, and you'll know either way instead of paying the fee to find out. — Tony, pre-test specialist

Yes — please do, it's how EDT is designed to work. The rules: your accompanying driver must have held a full licence for at least 2 years, you display L plates front and rear, and you never drive alone or on motorways on a learner permit. Practice works best when it rehearses what your last lesson covered — your EDT logbook has a "practice goals" section for exactly this, and your instructor will tell your sponsor what to work on. The legal fine print (including insurance for the practice car) is in our accompanying driver guide. — Liam, RSA-approved ADI

Progress faults mean the examiner judged you were driving below the road's reasonable pace — hesitating at junctions that were clear, sitting under the limit on an open road, waiting for gaps that were big enough. It feels unfair because you were "being careful", but examiners read excessive caution as not being in command of the situation. The fix is usually confidence and decision practice, not car control: mock tests to rehearse decisions under pressure, and building acceleration sense so moving off and joining traffic gets crisp. How all the fault categories work: our test faults guide. — Tony, pre-test specialist

Five instructors cover South-West Dublin & Kildare, West Dublin / Dublin 15, North County Dublin, and Navan & Meath — the full town-by-town list is on our areas page. If you're between zones or don't see your town, don't self-reject: pick "Not sure / flexible" in the booking form and we'll match you to whoever genuinely covers you fastest. We'd rather tell you honestly that you're outside our range than have you not ask. — Kris, RSA-approved ADI