Greece Category C Theory common mistakes
Greece Category C Theory · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the general car speed limits as the default for a Category C lorry and answering motorway or national-road questions with 120/90 km/h instead of the lower limits that apply to goods vehicles over 3.5 t.
Candidates revise from car-licence material or from memory of driving a passenger car, so the lorry-specific limits (notably 80 km/h on motorways and 70 km/h on national roads for goods vehicles above 3.5 t, with lower limits where signed) never get stored as a separate rule set.
What to do instead
Build a one-page table of the limits that apply to your vehicle category and mass, with the car figures beside them for contrast, and drill the differences until the lorry column is the one you recall first. Re-check the table against the current Highway Code text before the exam rather than relying on a driving-school summary.
Reading a prohibitory or warning sign by its general shape alone and choosing the answer that fits the shape rather than the specific symbol, for example treating a red-bordered circle with a lorry symbol as a general weight limit instead of the particular restriction shown.
Under time pressure the eye locks onto the outline (triangle = danger, circle = prohibition) and the candidate answers from that first impression without decoding the pictogram, axle symbol or supplementary plate underneath.
What to do instead
Practise by describing each sign aloud in a fixed order: shape, border colour, pictogram, any supplementary plate, then the meaning. Do this on a set of 40 to 50 signs until the description precedes the answer, and specifically separate signs that differ only by a small symbol or an added plate.
Answering following-distance and stopping-distance questions with the two-second car rule and car braking distances, without adjusting for the much longer stopping distance of a laden lorry.
The two-second rule is repeated so often in car training that it becomes automatic, and candidates do not connect mass, load and air-brake response time to a longer stopping distance in the dry and a far longer one in the wet.
What to do instead
Learn the lorry stopping distances as figures and as a rule of thumb (roughly double the car distance in dry conditions, more in rain), and in hazard questions always state the gap in seconds for the actual vehicle and load, not for a car.
In hazard-perception scenarios, choosing the action that deals with the visible hazard in front while ignoring the developing hazard at the side, such as a pedestrian approaching a crossing or a vehicle edging out of a side road.
Attention is captured by the most obvious moving object, and candidates answer the question as if it asked what to do about the vehicle ahead rather than what to anticipate next.
What to do instead
Before selecting an answer, scan the whole scene in a fixed pattern (mirrors, ahead, nearside, offside, behind) and name the second hazard explicitly. Train on scenario questions where the correct answer is a preparatory action (ease off, cover the brake, change position) rather than an emergency response.
Calculating permissible payload from the difference between the maximum authorised mass and the kerb weight while ignoring the maximum permitted axle loads, then declaring a load legal that overloads the rear axle.
Candidates treat the plated gross weight as the only limit and forget that a load placed too far back can exceed the rear-axle rating even when total mass is within the gross limit, which also affects steering and braking.
What to do instead
For every loading question, check three figures in order: gross vehicle mass, individual axle loads, and the load's distribution and securing. Learn to state where the load should sit (over or just ahead of the drive axle, headboard against the load) and to treat axle limits as the binding constraint on a partly loaded vehicle.
Applying the continuous-driving limit without accounting for the mandatory break, and confusing a break with a period of availability or other work such as waiting at a loading bay.
The daily and weekly driving limits are easier to remember than the 4.5-hour rule and its 45-minute break, and candidates assume any time not driving counts as rest even when the driver is still working.
What to do instead
Memorise the core structure as a sequence: 4.5 hours driving, then a 45-minute break splittable into 15 plus 30 minutes, then repeat, within a 9-hour daily limit extendable to 10 hours twice a week. For each practice question, decide explicitly whether the described activity is driving, other work, availability or break before doing the arithmetic.
Treating the tachograph record as something produced only when an inspector asks, and answering documentation questions without mentioning manual entries, printouts or the retention of records for the required period.
Candidates study the tachograph as a device to operate rather than as a legal record, so manual entries for ferry crossings, other work and corrections, and the duty to carry and produce printouts, are never practised.
What to do instead
Learn the driver's documentation routine as a checklist: card inserted before moving, mode switch set correctly, manual entries made at the end of the day, printouts available for the current day and the previous 28 days, and records kept for the required retention period. Answer documentation questions by naming the specific record and who must produce it.
Skipping the pre-departure walk-round on the assumption that the vehicle was checked at the depot, and answering inspection questions by listing only brakes and lights.
Time pressure at the start of a shift encourages a quick visual glance, and candidates learn inspection as a short list rather than a complete routine covering tyres, wheel nuts, air pressure build-up and leak-down, load security, coupling and the height marker.
What to do instead
Learn a fixed walk-round order (front, nearside, rear, offside, then cab and coupling) and rehearse it so each item is named in sequence. Include the checks specific to a large goods vehicle: tread depth and condition, wheel-nut indicators, air-brake leak test, coupling security on a tractor unit, and marker boards.
At the scene of a collision, moving a casualty or removing a motorcyclist's helmet as a matter of course, or giving food and drink to an injured person while waiting for help.
Candidates want to be seen to act and confuse helpfulness with correct first aid, not realising that unnecessary movement can worsen spinal or internal injuries and that a helmet should only be removed if breathing is obstructed and no other way exists.
What to do instead
Learn the priority order: make the scene safe and call the emergency services, then check response, airway and breathing, control severe bleeding, and keep the casualty warm and still unless there is immediate danger. Answer first-aid questions by choosing the least intervention that keeps the casualty alive until help arrives, and state when a helmet may be removed.
Answering eco-driving questions by listing lower speed alone, without mentioning gear selection, anticipation, avoiding unnecessary idling, correct tyre pressure or route planning, and treating these as optional comfort measures rather than cost and emission controls.
Eco-driving is perceived as a soft topic compared with law and mechanics, so candidates skim it and give one generic answer instead of the several concrete behaviours the question expects.
What to do instead
Learn eco-driving as a set of measurable behaviours: use the highest practical gear and the engine's efficient rev band, anticipate to avoid braking and accelerating, switch off during long waits, keep tyres at the recommended pressure, and plan routes and loads. For each question, name at least two specific behaviours and the mechanism by which each saves fuel.