Estonia reverts to old questions in driver's exam theory tests after criticism

TALLINN – The Estonian Transport Administration will resume using the old questions in the theory exam for candidates for a driver's license starting Monday, as the new questions introduced in the middle of this month, which have drawn criticism from some experts and driving schools, require thorough review.

"I want to emphasize that our main goal, both in organizing theory and driving exams, is to ensure that our new drivers will drive safely," said Priit Sauk, director general of the Transport Administration. "We have analyzed, reviewed, and assessed the questions that have caused the most concern in the theory exam and realized that there may still be questions that are overly difficult for license applicants," he noted.

The Transport Administration will once again conduct a thorough review of the theory questions, involve external experts to validate the results, and test the questions on sample groups. The goal is to introduce the new questions by the end of the year at the latest. The new questions will be gradually introduced into the theory exam.

The last time the theory exam questions were changed was in 2019, and they have been in use for five years. During this time, the traffic environment and rules have changed, which is why there was a need for new questions. In addition, the Transport Administration wanted to have more category-based questions, according to Sauk.  

In addition to the above, the Transport Administration has been accused in the past of having awarded a monopoly to one of the test item writers. The new call for tenders gave a broader range of experts the opportunity to participate in the preparation of the questions. 

The Transport Administration conducted a tender last year to procure new theory exam questions, and all driving schools holding a valid license at the time were invited to submit proposals. They were informed that up to three proposals meeting the tender requirements and scoring the highest number of points would be deemed successful. Eleven tenderers participated.

The tender was awarded to Juri Ess with an offer of 0 euros, OÜ Teooria with an offer of 0 euros, and Vitali Nester with an offer of 890 euros. As the visuals of the questions obtained through the tender were somewhat different, a new tender was launched to standardize the visuals. The visual standardization tender resulted in the Transport Administration acquiring visuals with a unified design, but the traffic situations and their associated details remained unchanged. The cost of standardizing the visuals was 18,600 euros.

The new questions were introduced in the heavy machinery theory exams on Sept. 12 and the category B theory exams on Sept. 19.  

Anyone who failed the theory exam made with the new questions can take a repeat exam free of state fees. A personal notification will be sent to all affected customers.