How many lessons does it take to learn to drive? What a great question! There is no simple answer to that question. Every student is different! They have different backgrounds, different natural skillsets, and learn in different ways and at different rates. But, we’ve compiled some good approximations below.
All of these estimates are based on the assumption that the student will get SEVERAL HOURS OF PRACTICE between each lesson to hone the skills that are taught. If the student is unable to practice between lessons for any reason, plan on MORE LESSONS and closer together! Learning to drive is like learning to do anything else, it takes constant practice.
PLEASE, be honest with yourself about the practice that you (or the student that you are responsible for) will be able to get. There are a lot of excuses for not practicing, and we hear them all. None of the excuses help! Whether it’s student time constraints (sports practice, homework, part-time job, studying for exams, etc), parent time constraints (working too late, too tired, other kids to deal with, FEAR, or just the “parent/teen dynamic”… we get it), or even simply no licensed driver available to practice with the student… accept this reality. Failure to accept this reality simply costs you more time and money.
Common Example: You schedule 9 lessons for a beginning driver with the intent of practicing between lessons. We do a lesson every 1-2 weeks for a while and get through 6 lessons. Little or no practice happens between lessons. We encourage practice before scheduling another lesson. 3 weeks goes by. Or 4 months. Little or no practice happens over that time. Then we get the 7th lesson, and we’re back to square one. Reteaching what we taught on the 2nd and 3rd lesson because the skills were not cemented in place by practice. The 8th and 9th lessons end up being more catching up, and still no practice. We’ve done 9 lessons, but the student’s total driving experience adds up to those 9 lessons (13.5 hours) plus maybe another few hours. It takes a lot more time than that to learn how to drive! Needless to say, even after 9 lessons, this student is still very much at a beginner level. So they end up taking more lessons. And the pattern repeats. And they take more lessons. And by the time they’re done, they’ve done 20-25 lessons or more (total of maybe 30-35 hours of driving experience when the state requirement is a minimum of 50) and they might barely be ready to pass their license and drive on their own at the most basic level.
Better Example: If, for whatever reason, you question your ability to get practice, accept it! Plan your lessons accordingly. Go ahead and buy 12, 18 or more lessons, and schedule them 2-3 per week. Maybe even schedule some back-to-back lessons to give us a 3-hour block to work with! Then, in a matter of 6-8 weeks or less, you’ll likely have a student that is much more confident and ready for the world. Why? Because we will be able to give them the regular practice that is needed, and continually build on previous lessons.
Be aware that the state requirement for a teen driver is 50 hours of supervised practice, and 10 of that is to be at night. If you did ALL of that practice as lesson time, it would add up to over 33 lessons! We’re not going to ask anyone to do that. We’ll accept the fact that professional driving lesson time is probably more valuable than parent practice time, but how much more? If you say 2-times more…. that would still add up about 17 lessons for a student that gets ZERO practice outside of their lessons. There’s no substitute for practice time, it has to happen one way or another.
RECOMMENDED NUMBER OF LESSONS