If your invitation mentions an enhanced standard, start by finding out what that employer requires. There is no percentage on a practice website that can tell you whether you have achieved it. This guide explains the terms used in Great Britain’s mainline train driver selection and how to make useful decisions about preparation.
What do national and enhanced mean?
The OPC’s candidate guidance explains that employers can adapt the national process with higher score requirements or additional tests. There is no single enhanced standard shared by every organisation. RSSB’s candidate FAQ, question 28, also confirms that employers determine the pass marks.
| Term | How to use the information |
|---|---|
| National standard | Ask which assessment process and requirements apply to the vacancy. |
| Enhanced standard | Ask about that employer’s higher requirements or additional assessments. |
| Practice score | Use it to review performance within that particular exercise. |
Keep the employer’s wording with your assessment records. A label without the test name, assessment date and recruiting organisation gives you little information to work with.
Is there a national percentage pass mark?
Do not treat a figure such as 80% or 90% from a practice exercise as a national threshold. Different exercises can measure different things, and a percentage only makes sense alongside its scoring method. Read the instructions for the task you are actually taking.
Our mocks have their own questions, timing and scoring. They are independent preparation exercises and do not award national or enhanced passes. Purchasing the practice pack adds practice material; it does not change the status of your results.
A worked example: the same percentage, different mistakes
Imagine two independent practice sessions with ten scored items. In the first, you get eight right and leave two unanswered. In the second, you get eight right and give two wrong answers. Both might show 80% under a simple correct-items calculation, but the review tells a different story.
- For unanswered items, check whether you lost your place, ran out of time or chose to skip.
- For wrong responses, check whether you misunderstood the instruction or rushed a decision.
- If the exercise separately reports false alarms and misses, review both before changing your pace.
This is an explanation of practice review, not an official scoring formula. A productive next session addresses the cause of the mistakes rather than chasing a percentage without context.
I passed elsewhere. Will another employer accept it?
Give the new recruiter your assessment dates, provider and any result information you hold. Ask them to confirm what they accept and what, if anything, you need to sit. The OPC describes checks of previous assessment history with recruiting organisations; a candidate’s own interpretation of a result is not a substitute for that check.
Before booking travel or paying for any assessment, write down these questions:
- Which previous results have you checked and accepted for this vacancy?
- Are any elements missing or outside your requirements?
- Does my assessment date affect what you need me to do?
- What would a further assessment mean for my recorded history?
For waiting periods and the distinction between older and newer assessment histories, read our failure and retake guide. Get an individual answer from recruitment before assuming a new application resets your history.
How should I prepare for an enhanced requirement?
Use the material and instructions supplied with your invitation first. Then choose a practice task you can explain accurately before trying to work faster.
- Read the rule: say what counts as a target or a correct response in your own words.
- Try unfamiliar material: avoid relying only on a set whose answers you remember.
- Review the errors: record whether the problem was recall, rule application, attention or timing.
- Repeat with one change: for example, check a prefix before searching for the rest of a code.
Forgetting a detail in TRP1 recall practice calls for a different review from misapplying a priority in TRP2 rule practice. In ATAVT practice, use the category review to distinguish something you missed from something you selected incorrectly.
Questions to ask when your result arrives
Ask what the outcome means for this application, what feedback is available and whether any further action is required. If you are unsure whether a message refers to an online sift, the standardised psychometrics or an interview, ask the recruiter to name the stage. Keep their reply with your records.
Start with the free practice library to understand our exercise formats. Use additional mocks when you want more material to review, and keep official eligibility decisions with the recruiting employer.
Sources and review
Reviewed 7 November 2026 using The OPC’s train driver assessment guidance and RSSB/RACF candidate FAQ, question 28. These explain the selection context; the worked example and preparation routine above are our own teaching material. Requirements for your application should be confirmed with the employer.