I hope it does not bother you I write in English on here. I am going to rant a bit about the questions in English and the Swedish system to obtain a driver’s license in case someone is up to some discussion during their study breaks. I passed my driving test a couple of weeks ago with no problems. The person who handled it said ”good enough, you pass” which is probably the highest grade.
The quality of the translations to English is terrible both on this website and on the actual test. Or else, my American English is too different than what standard English is because some of the questions are extremely awkward. Also, I do not see the point of tricky questions with tricky answers for a knowledge test. The correct answer is correct whether it is tricky or not, so why make it tricky? We are training for a test on driving rules and the clearer something is, the better right? The test is not on reading comprehension (guessing, with such terrible English) but on driving!
It seems to me these types of companies together with trafikverket are plainly trying to get more income. I would like to see what the percentage of Swedish speaking vs. English speaking people that pass the test the first time they take it is. That could prove or demystify the things I am expressing.
I hope it does not bother you I write in English on here. I am going to rant a bit about the questions in English and the Swedish system to obtain a driver’s license in case someone is up to some discussion during their study breaks. I passed my driving test a couple of weeks ago with no problems. The person who handled it said ”good enough, you pass” which is probably the highest grade.
The quality of the translations to English is terrible both on this website and on the actual test. Or else, my American English is too different than what standard English is because some of the questions are extremely awkward. Also, I do not see the point of tricky questions with tricky answers for a knowledge test. The correct answer is correct whether it is tricky or not, so why make it tricky? We are training for a test on driving rules and the clearer something is, the better right? The test is not on reading comprehension (guessing, with such terrible English) but on driving!
It seems to me these types of companies together with trafikverket are plainly trying to get more income. I would like to see what the percentage of Swedish speaking vs. English speaking people that pass the test the first time they take it is. That could prove or demystify the things I am expressing.
I am sorry
Hello DZ,
Actually its kind of interesting to have people from abroad writing here, and to get their perspective on it all. So I dont mind the english at all Oh and btw, congratulations on passing the test.
Now I cant really comment on how the translations from swedish to english are, as I did my test in swedish. But I can however tell you that the way the questions and answers are phrased, are indeed very akward, even on the swedish test. So its probably not about poor translation. That would be rather embarrasing.
While it may seem a bit strange to do it like that, Im asuming the reasoning behind it is just to make it a bit more difficult. And as you stated, we are there to show that we know the rules, and the rules are ofcourse the way the rules are. So why phrase the questions in a way just to make it more difficult then?
Well, the reasoning behind it is most likely to make people prepare more for the test, as if its an easy pass, no one would really bother that much. And this would probably also lead to alot of people forgetting important parts of it after passing the tests.
If they just wanted to milk more money they could simply increase the fee by quite a bit, as its not all that expensive compared to the other costs involving the drivers license.
Ive read that around 40% pass the swedish test on their first attempt, no idea what the numbers are with the english one.
Actually its kind of interesting to have people from abroad writing here, and to get their perspective on it all. So I dont mind the english at all Oh and btw, congratulations on passing the test.
Now I cant really comment on how the translations from swedish to english are, as I did my test in swedish. But I can however tell you that the way the questions and answers are phrased, are indeed very akward, even on the swedish test. So its probably not about poor translation. That would be rather embarrasing.
While it may seem a bit strange to do it like that, Im asuming the reasoning behind it is just to make it a bit more difficult. And as you stated, we are there to show that we know the rules, and the rules are ofcourse the way the rules are. So why phrase the questions in a way just to make it more difficult then?
Well, the reasoning behind it is most likely to make people prepare more for the test, as if its an easy pass, no one would really bother that much. And this would probably also lead to alot of people forgetting important parts of it after passing the tests.
If they just wanted to milk more money they could simply increase the fee by quite a bit, as its not all that expensive compared to the other costs involving the drivers license.
Ive read that around 40% pass the swedish test on their first attempt, no idea what the numbers are with the english one.
Cheers!
Hello,
Interesting to learn the Swedish versions are awkward as well. Are they awkward as of grammatically incorrect or just using odd speech? The 40% is quite low. That is very impressive. Those are numbers similar to many challenging courses at the university level for example haha. You are right on that, it being hard does probably have the positive results on the road like low mortality rates in comparison to other countries. However, I am curious to see what those rates are in other Nordic and Scandinavian countries with respect to the difficulty of the test, are the exams just as hard in Norway, Finland, etc? best wishes
@DZ, i completely agree with you. I have done this test in Engish 5 times and yet to pass. You would be mistaking if you think i am dumb. Having earned three master’s degrees in Sweden, i couldn’t be too dumb to pass this extremely tricky test that sometimes consist of unrelated and senseless questions.
I bought the text book, handbook, and have read it all. Have been enrolled in Elevcentralen for long, and have passed all the study questions. I have done the final practical theory test on Elevcentralen 17 times and passed it 11 times, but the main exam in Trafikverket...please for christ sakes STOP the tricky questions. Now the Trafikverket exam officials are talking about me and looking at me like that dummy that always come to retake the exam. In fact when i called to book for the exam, they told me that it was fully booked for the next one month, but when my driving school teacher called in, i was booked for the next day and went there to meet only 8 or 9 candidates. I have been given two months off not to retake the exam but to go and prepare better. I was told if you fail several times, then you are no longer a priority to be booked in for the test.
I have now registered here following the advice of a friend who also failed multiple times doing it in English. I was told that questions from Elevcentralen platform are not enough to pass the test, as alot of tricky questions are taken from Körkortonline. Ok, here i am studying Körkortonline by night, Elevcentralen by day, and Text books by Evenings. Lets see how it does. Sometimes i wonder if the Swedish and English test consist of the same questions.
In my opinion, the level of tricky questions would only compel frustrated candidates to cheat during exams; just like the last test when one strange extra examiner was positioned beside me, just to sit and watch me althrough hoping i was going to cheat because they feel my frustration. If their reason is to make candidates study harder and pass as someone said on this thread line, then they should not be any traffic police on the road, since all drivers know and should do the right things on the road.
I’m very curious to know how many fail with the English version compared to the Swedish version . The translations are absolutely terrible . They may be literal but that doesn’t mean that they make sense .
While I agree that the test shouldn’t be easy . I think that the options shouldn’t be based on tricking or confusing the test taker but test their knowledge . Perhaps , investing more time into multiple choice answers that aren’t meant to trick people but to select the best choice for the actual goal .
I’ve paid for multiple sites and passed over a dozen tests on each . I memorized flash cards and it’s still not enough . I really think 57% failure rate is worth examining .
Theory isn’t driving ! Knowing about how much cargo I can carry in my trailer means nothing if once I’m on the road I don’t know how to read signs and flow on traffic . I had a about 6 questions are cargo but about 2 about road signs !!
I also think it’s odd that some country licenses are good for a period of time here and than they aren’t ? If you can drive here for a period of time it’s odd that suddenly you can’t and that there is money being made from it .
Why someone thought it’s a good idea to prevent showing your wrong answers?
Questions are so tricky and so weird at times, and on top of that after you finish your test, you can’t see where you made mistakes... I mean... Why?
Because the test is secret. It’s a test, not a learning opportunity. If you fail, you’re supposed to study more, not be like ”Question 8 – B is correct, B is correct, B is correct, B is correct.” Also, you’re not supposed to tell your friend that ”B” is the correct answer. If Trafikverket doesn’t tell you the correct answer, you can’t share it with your friends and help them cheat.
Hi,
All I can say is that english is not good enough neither on their website nor on the theory test. One of my arabic friend gave his test in arabic and said that language was not good enough to understand properly. May be they (TV) do not know this. How many of us would tell this to them? Personally, I do not think it is done by intentionally.
Oh and btw, congratulations on passing the test.
