Swiss Theory B common mistakes
Swiss Theory B · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Rolling up to a junction and answering the priority question from the stop line instead of scanning left-right-left again just before entering, so a vehicle arriving from the right during the approach is missed.
Candidates memorise the rule 'right before left' and treat priority as a fact to be recalled at one moment, rather than a live observation task that must be repeated until the intersection is actually cleared.
What to do instead
Build a fixed routine: slow before the junction, look right, look left, look right again, and only then decide. Verbally name the direction you checked last. Practise on quiet residential junctions until the double-check becomes automatic.
Treating a roundabout as if entering traffic had priority, or signalling left on entry when intending to leave at the first exit without indicating right and positioning correctly.
Candidates transfer the 'right before left' rule from ordinary junctions to roundabouts, and confuse the meaning of the left indicator (used only on entry for exits beyond the first, or for turning) with the right indicator used before leaving.
What to do instead
Learn one clean sequence: no indicator on approach if going straight ahead, mirror and indicate right before your exit, indicate right on approach for the first exit. Repeat the sequence aloud during practice drives until the indicator logic is fixed in memory.
Driving at the posted limit in built-up areas without recognising that 50 km/h is a maximum, not a target, and failing to reduce speed near schools, pedestrian crossings, parked cars or in rain.
Candidates equate 'legal' with 'safe' and prepare for the theory test by memorising numbers rather than the principle that speed must be adapted to visibility, surface and hazards.
What to do instead
For every hazard picture, ask what speed you would actually choose and why. Practise stating a number below the limit with a reason (wet road, children visible, blind bend). Learn the standard limits by heart, then treat them as ceilings only.
Calculating the following distance only with the two-second rule and applying it unchanged in rain, at night, or behind a large vehicle, and being unable to state the stopping-distance components.
The two-second rule is easy to memorise as a single number, so candidates never learn its wet-road doubling or the reaction-distance plus braking-distance breakdown that exam questions probe.
What to do instead
Learn the structure: reaction distance (about one metre per km/h of speed, roughly one second) plus braking distance, and the doubling on wet roads. Practise counting 'one thousand and one, one thousand and two' behind a real vehicle and note how much longer it feels in rain.
Answering alcohol questions using 'one drink is fine' or personal tolerance instead of the legal blood-alcohol limit and the fact that alcohol affects judgement before it affects the feeling of being drunk.
Candidates rely on everyday social norms and their own experience, and underestimate how strongly the exam tests the legal threshold, the loss of reaction time, and the interaction with fatigue and medication.
What to do instead
Memorise the Swiss legal limit of 0.5 per mille blood alcohol (0.05 percent) and the lower 0.1 per mille limit for novice drivers in the probationary period and for professional drivers. Learn that any alcohol impairs reaction, and that only time, not coffee or food, reduces blood alcohol.
Mixing up which documents must be carried in the vehicle and which are kept elsewhere, and not knowing what to do after a collision involving only property damage versus personal injury.
Candidates study documents as a list to be memorised without linking each to a real situation, so under exam pressure the driving licence, vehicle registration document, insurance proof and accident-report obligations blur together.
What to do instead
Build a one-page table: document, who issues it, whether it must be carried, and how long it stays valid. Add a second column for accident steps: secure the scene, call 117 for injuries, exchange details, notify police for injuries or disagreement, and report to the insurer within the required period.
Entering a motorway or tunnel without adjusting speed, lighting and lane position, and not knowing the behaviour expected when traffic stops inside a tunnel.
Candidates treat motorways and tunnels as ordinary roads and prepare only for open-road driving, so questions about emergency lanes, tunnel distances, turning in tunnels and behaviour at a standstill catch them out.
What to do instead
Learn the specific rules: never use the emergency lane for driving or stopping except in an emergency, keep the required minimum distance in tunnels, switch on dipped headlights, keep the radio on for instructions, and if traffic stops switch off the engine and keep the hazard lights on if at the rear. Rehearse the tunnel scenario mentally before the exam.
Ignoring tyre condition beyond a quick glance, and being unable to state the legal minimum tread depth, the meaning of tyre markings, or how to check pressure correctly.
Candidates assume the vehicle is someone else's responsibility and study technical checks as a list of parts without connecting them to a measurable check they could perform.
What to do instead
Learn the legal minimum tread depth of 1.6 mm across the main grooves, that pressure is checked cold with the manufacturer's figures, and how to read size, load index and speed rating. Physically check a tyre on a real car once, including the tread-wear indicator, so the numbers have a picture attached.
Reading a hazard-perception question only once and choosing the first plausible answer, without identifying the single most important hazard and the correct order of actions.
Exam pressure and unfamiliar phrasing push candidates towards fast recognition rather than the systematic scan the question is testing, so they miss the pedestrian behind the parked van or the cyclist in the mirror.
What to do instead
Use a fixed scan order on every hazard item: mirrors, road ahead, near-side, far-side, then the specific detail the question names. Eliminate answers that are illegal or that skip a step such as checking the mirror before braking or indicating.
Treating energy-efficient driving as a separate topic rather than a driving style, and being unable to explain how load, roof boxes, tyre pressure and engine revs affect fuel use.
Candidates see environmental questions as general knowledge and never connect them to the concrete behaviours the exam rewards, such as early upshifting, anticipating traffic and removing unnecessary weight.
What to do instead
Learn five concrete habits and the reason behind each: shift up early at low revs, look far ahead to avoid braking, switch off the engine for longer stops, keep tyres correctly inflated, and remove roof boxes and unnecessary load. Be able to state that a roof box raises consumption noticeably at motorway speed.