Aberdeen South driving test centre
DVSA name: Aberdeen South (Cove) · Moss Road, Gateway Business Park, Nigg, Aberdeen, AB12 3GQ
Drive the 5 routes around Aberdeen South before test day →
Key facts
- Aberdeen South's pass rate was 52.4% in 2025/26 from 4,858 tests, 2.4 points above the national average of 50.0%.
- That puts it 45 of 67 centres in Scotland (Scotland average 49.3%), one of the lower pass rates in the region, 3.1 points above it.
- Since 2021/22 the pass rate has fallen by 8.2 points, from 60.6% to 52.4%.
- Male candidates passed at 51% and female candidates at 54.2%, a gap of 3.2 points.
- On waiting times, learners who took a test in August 2026 had waited a median of 6.3 weeks since booking (shorter than the national median of 11.9 weeks); the first week with 10% or more of slots still free was 13.6 weeks ahead.
- A year earlier (August 2025) the median wait was 8.4 weeks, so waits have shortened by about 2.1 weeks.
Aberdeen South sits on Moss Road in the Gateway Business Park at Nigg, and the test that starts there is a mixed one. Roughly a third of the loop distance is at 30 mph, a quarter at 40, and another third at 60, with a slice at 70 on top. Wellington Road, Cove Road and Blackhill Road carry the town-edge driving; the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route supplies the fast part. Roundabouts come thick and fast, and one of the shorter practice loops on this page takes in twelve of them in under eleven kilometres. The pass rate here is above the national average but has fallen a long way since 2021, by more than eight points, so recent figures are a better guide than the reputation.
Drive the Aberdeen South test routes before test day
5 loops from the centre, 54 km in all, with 49 roundabouts and 136 marked turns. Generated from the road network within 2.5 km of Aberdeen South; not DVSA’s own routes, but the same roads.
Drive it before test day
Drive all 5 loops around Aberdeen South from your phone before you ever sit in the car: every roundabout, every junction, in the order you will meet them.
- 5 routes · 54 km · 136 marked turns
- Examiner-style marking on signalling and observation
- Street View tour of each route
- Every roundabout and junction, in the order you'll meet them
- The four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios, included
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- Route 1 · via Wellington Road10.8 km loop with 12 roundabouts, 10 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Moss Road.10.8 km · 31 turns · 12 roundabouts
- Route 2 · via Wellington Road11.7 km loop with 10 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 5 left turns and a stretch of Cove Road.11.7 km · 24 turns · 10 roundabouts
- Route 3 · via Wellington Road11.4 km loop with 10 roundabouts, 10 right turns, 10 left turns and a stretch of Blackhill Road.11.4 km · 30 turns · 10 roundabouts
- Route 4 · via Blackhill Road10.1 km loop with 9 roundabouts, 9 right turns, 9 left turns and a stretch of Wellington Road.10.1 km · 27 turns · 9 roundabouts
- Route 5 · via Blackhill Road10.1 km loop with 8 roundabouts, 10 right turns, 6 left turns and a stretch of Cove Road.10.1 km · 24 turns · 8 roundabouts
The same access also opens the four test manoeuvres and eight roundabout scenarios: the two things a route drive cannot teach you.
Roundabouts are the constant. Every one of the five practice loops on this page carries at least eight of them, and the busiest takes in twelve in under eleven kilometres. Moss Road, Gateway Drive and Wellington Road are the loop roads that carry them. Because the business park and the roads around it are wide, modern and often quiet, the temptation is to treat these as formalities and roll through on the assumption that nothing is coming. The observation and the signal are marked either way.
The speed range is wide. Around a third of the distance is at 60 mph and a further slice at 70. The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route is the fastest road the loops use. Getting up to the speed of traffic on a slip road, holding a lane, then shedding all of that speed for a roundabout is the sequence to practise until it stops feeling like an event. Coming the other way, roughly a third of the distance is at 30 mph, in the residential streets the loops thread through.
There is very little in the way of traffic lights: four sets of signals and one signalled crossing on the whole 54 km of loops. What there is instead is 15 give-way junctions, so most decisions about gaps are yours to make rather than a light's.
Twelve traffic-calming features sit on the loops. Manoeuvres are asked for on the residential streets rather than on the business park.
Pass rate at Aberdeen South, 2008/09 to 2025/26
Share of car tests passed each April-to-March year. Dashed line: Great Britain average for 2025/26.
Month by month, 2025/26
By year and gender
| Year | Tests | Pass rate | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 4,858 | 52.4% | 51.0% | 54.2% |
| 2024/25 | 4,807 | 51.4% | 50.2% | 53.0% |
| 2023/24 | 4,845 | 51.5% | 51.7% | 51.2% |
| 2022/23 | 4,002 | 53.9% | 53.9% | 53.9% |
| 2021/22 | 3,385 | 60.6% | 61.9% | 59.4% |
| 2020/21 | 1,337 | 62.8% | 64.8% | 60.9% |
| 2019/20 | 2,985 | 56.7% | 60.8% | 53.2% |
| 2018/19 | 3,368 | 51.7% | 55.6% | 48.1% |
Scotland average 49.3% · GB 50%
Waiting time for a test at Aberdeen South
Median weeks between booking and taking the test, for tests taken each month. Dashed line: GB median for August 2026.
| Month | Median wait | Weeks to free slots | Slots offered | Still free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 6.3 | 13.6 | 39 | 20.1% |
| Jul 2026 | 6.3 | 17.3 | 53 | 14.9% |
| Jun 2026 | 5.6 | 17.4 | 56 | 7.5% |
| May 2026 | 8.9 | 24 | 42 | 15.1% |
| Apr 2026 | 6 | 24 | 54 | 16.6% |
| Mar 2026 | 11.7 | 24 | 38 | 23.5% |
Tell me when the wait at Aberdeen South drops
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Test day at Aberdeen South
The centre is a unit on Moss Road, on the Gateway Business Park at Nigg, south of the city. Business park addresses take a minute to find even with a satnav, so build that in.
DVSA publishes that you can access this centre if you use a wheelchair. Nothing is published about candidate parking. Estates of this kind normally leave enough space either in bays or on the estate roads themselves, which is the typical picture rather than a promise about this address.
Aberdeen South runs more test types than most centres its size: car, motorcycle module 1 off-road, motorcycle module 2 on-road, and ADI part 3. Not every centre of this size offers the off-road module, so check the test type on your confirmation matches what you booked.
There is no railway station close by, so almost everyone arrives by car, usually with an instructor.
Around three in ten of the standard slots in the booking window were still unbooked in the most recent month of data, and the median wait has been running well under the national figure. If your date does not suit, changing it is more realistic here than at many Scottish centres. Booking and changes go through GOV.UK.
What DVSA publishes about Aberdeen South
Taken from the GOV.UK test centre finder, checked 3 September 2026. Where DVSA says nothing, this site says nothing.
- Tests conducted here
- carmotorcycle module 1 (off-road)motorcycle module 2 (on-road)ADI part 3
- Wheelchair access
- DVSA states you can access this centre in a wheelchair.
Other tests at Aberdeen South
This centre is not car only. DVSA publishes results for these categories separately, and they are taken by different candidates on different vehicles, so the rates are not comparable with the car figure above.
Learner reports from Aberdeen South
No reports yet for this centre. If you tested here, the first one is yours to write.
What examiners mark most often
DVSA does not publish faults by centre, but it does publish them nationally. These collected the most marks across every car test in Great Britain in 2025/26, and they are the same ones you will be marked on at Aberdeen South.
- 1Junctions - observation
- 2Mirrors - change direction
- 3Junctions - turning right
- 4Response to signs - traffic lights
- 5Control - steering
- 6Move off - safely
Getting there
Moss Road, Gateway Business Park, NiggAberdeen AB12 3GQ
Directions in Google Maps · Check centre notes on GOV.UK
Nearby centres
- Aberdeen NorthAberdeen · AB22 8GT · 10 km48.2%-1.8 vs GB15.4 wkswait
- InverurieAB51 4FR · 28 km61.9%+11.9 vs GB17.7 wkswait
Questions learners ask about Aberdeen South
- Is Aberdeen South an easy test centre?
- By the numbers, yes: 52.4% of car tests were passed there in 2025/26, against 50.0% nationally. Pass rates reflect the local roads and who takes tests there as much as the examiners, so treat it as a guide, not a guarantee.
- How long is the wait for a driving test at Aberdeen South?
- In August 2026 the median gap between booking and sitting a test at Aberdeen South was 6.3 weeks, and you had to look about 13.6 weeks ahead to find a week with at least 10% of slots free. DVSA publishes this monthly; the figure above updates when they do.
- Where is Aberdeen South driving test centre?
- Aberdeen South test centre is at Moss Road, Gateway Business Park, Nigg, Aberdeen, AB12 3GQ. Arrive at least 10 minutes early with your provisional licence; parking rules vary by centre, so check the learner reports below.
- How many driving tests does Aberdeen South do a year?
- 4,858 car tests were conducted at Aberdeen South in 2025/26, of which 2,546 were passed.
Source: DVSA tables DRT122A (pass rates by centre and month) and DRT122F (waiting times and availability), Open Government Licence v3.0. PassRank adds the comparisons and rankings.
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