If you’re weighing up where to book your practical test around Nottingham, the only figures worth trusting over local chatter are the ones DVSA actually publishes. Here’s what the DVSA’s own data shows for Colwick, Chilwell and Watnall, and a couple of things the headline percentage doesn’t tell you.
What the DVSA’s figures actually show
DVSA publishes car practical test pass rates for every test centre in Great Britain as open data on gov.uk, broken down by month. The most recent period for which comparable figures are available across all three Nottingham-area centres is the 12 months from April 2024 to March 2025. Over that year:
- Watnall: 702 tests conducted, 343 passes — a pass rate of 48.9%
- Nottingham (Colwick): 11,849 tests conducted, 5,395 passes — a pass rate of 45.5%
- Nottingham (Chilwell): 10,561 tests conducted, 4,639 passes — a pass rate of 43.9%
For context, the national average car practical pass rate across Great Britain for the same 12 months was 48.7%, according to DVSA’s published statistics. So Watnall sat close to the national figure, while Colwick and Chilwell both came in a few points below it. None of these numbers are dramatically out of line with each other, and all three sit within the normal spread you’ll see across DVSA’s test centres nationally.
Why the numbers aren’t the same at every centre
DVSA doesn’t publish a breakdown of why pass rates differ by centre, but the pattern is a familiar one to instructors: centres with busier, more built-up test routes tend to see lower pass rates than centres running quieter or more rural routes, largely because there’s simply more going on for a learner to get right — roundabouts, pedestrian crossings, cyclists and heavier traffic all add points where a test can be lost. Chilwell and Colwick are both busier, higher-volume centres serving Nottingham’s built-up suburbs, which local instructors commonly point to as one reason their pass rates typically sit a little lower than a smaller, lower-volume centre like Watnall. This is a general pattern rather than a guarantee for any individual test — your own result depends far more on your preparation and familiarity with the local roads than on which of the three centres you’re booked into.
A note on Watnall’s figures
Worth flagging: Watnall’s test volumes were consistently smaller than Colwick’s or Chilwell’s throughout 2024/25 — some months saw so few tests that DVSA suppressed the exact counts in its own published data, which it does for very low monthly volumes. A smaller number of tests means a single month’s pass rate can swing more sharply than at a high-volume centre, so treat Watnall’s percentage as a fair year-long average rather than something that holds steady month to month. It’s also worth checking gov.uk directly before you book, since DVSA’s most recently published test-centre data (covering April 2025 to March 2026) doesn’t show the same level of car test activity at Watnall as in previous years — so its current status is worth confirming rather than assumed.
What this actually means for choosing a test centre
- A few percentage points’ difference in pass rate is not a reliable reason to pick one centre over another — your instructor’s assessment of your readiness matters far more.
- Pass rates move year to year and centre to centre, so always check the current DVSA figures on gov.uk rather than relying on a number you saw once, including the ones in this article.
- Practising the actual routes local to your chosen centre, alongside general readiness, is what local instructors most commonly point to as the difference-maker — not which centre has the marginally higher published percentage.
- Availability and how easily you can get to a centre are often more practical deciding factors than a small gap in pass rate.
Our Nottingham driving test centres guide covers what to expect at each of the three centres in more detail, from routes to parking near the test centre itself.
None of this is about finding the “easiest” test centre — DVSA’s routes and examiners are designed to test the same standard everywhere, and a percentage point or two shouldn’t change where you book. What matters far more is going into your test properly prepared, on roads you’ve had a genuine chance to get comfortable with.