It is preferred that lessons are taken for two hours during the initial learning period. There are three main reasons for this:
- Firstly, the time required to get to test standard can range from 20 hours of tuition to 50 hours (in a few instances less time has been known and in some cases many more hours may be required). The DSA has published on its website (as at Jan 06) that pupils passing their test have had, on average, 45 hours of professional training, combined with 22 hours of private practice. This being the case, if lessons of one hour duration were taken once a week it will take a long time, in most instances, to get to test standard.
- Secondly, it is uneconomical for an instructor to give hourly lessons on the basis it takes between 15–30 minutes to travel between lessons (8 one-hour lessons would take about 10 hours and 40 minutes whereas 4 two-hour lessons would take about 9 hours 20 minutes) Also to be considered is the increased petrol consumption encountered in eight different pick ups.
- Thirdly, it can sometimes take up to 15 minutes to drive to a test area. Therefore, with one hour lessons only about half an hour might be spent practicing on test routes, this is not as beneficial as with two hour lessons where the time spent practicing would be one and a half hours.
However with some pupils concentration can wane after about 90 minutes of tuition and in these instances 1½ hour lessons are recommended.