Should I Stick to My Lesson Plan During the ADI Part 3 Test?
Last updated: 21 August 2026
No. You should arrive at your ADI Part 3 test with an understanding of your learner and an idea of what the lesson might focus on, but you should not stick rigidly to that plan when the learner's needs tell you something different.
The lesson plan gives you a starting point. The learner gives you the information you need to decide what happens next.
For Part 3 specifically, this matters because DVSA assessment guidance looks at whether the lesson plan is adapted, when appropriate, to help the pupil achieve their learning goals.
Should I have a lesson planned before Part 3?
Yes, but plan around what you know about the learner rather than trying to design a perfect performance for the examiner.
If you've been teaching the learner regularly, you should already have useful knowledge:
- What have they been developing?
- What happened during their previous lesson?
- What do they feel they need to work on?
- What level of support are they currently using?
- What might be a useful next step?
That gives you somewhere to start.
It doesn't tell you exactly how the next 45 minutes must unfold.
Why can sticking rigidly to the plan cause problems?
Because your plan was created before the lesson happened.
Once the learner starts driving, you're gathering new information.
Perhaps you've planned to develop their approach to roundabouts, but within the first few attempts they're consistently dealing with them independently.
What are you going to do?
Keep practising roundabouts for the rest of the lesson because that's what you told the examiner?
Or recognise that the learner has demonstrated what you needed to see and move the lesson forward?
The opposite can happen too.
You may have planned to increase the challenge, but the learner arrives tired, anxious or simply isn't performing at the level you expected.
The plan needs to respond to reality.
Does changing the lesson plan look bad on Part 3?
No. Changing it for a reason can demonstrate exactly the sort of judgement you're supposed to be developing as an instructor.
The important part is understanding why you're changing it.
Don't change direction randomly because you think the examiner wants to see adaptability.
Change because you've learned something about the learner.
Read the learner, not the examiner
One of the easiest traps on Part 3 is having two people in the car but teaching the wrong one.
You start wondering:
"Have I asked enough questions?"
"Should I change the lesson?"
"Do I need to demonstrate something?"
"What does the examiner want me to do?"
Meanwhile, the person you're supposed to be teaching is sitting beside you.
Bring your attention back to them.
What are they doing?
What are they telling you?
What has changed since the beginning of the lesson?
What do they need from you now?
Those questions are far more useful than trying to predict what the examiner is writing on the assessment sheet.
What if the learner wants something different from what I planned?
Explore it.
If you've planned one area but the learner identifies something else they genuinely want to develop, don't automatically dismiss it because you've already prepared your lesson.
Find out why.
Perhaps something happened during private practice.
Perhaps their confidence has changed.
Perhaps they've recognised a gap in their own ability.
That doesn't automatically mean abandoning everything you'd planned either.
Have the conversation.
Understand what they need.
Then make a professional judgement about the most useful focus for the lesson.
A practical example
You've planned a lesson around meeting situations because the learner struggled with them previously.
Early in the lesson, they deal with several independently and explain that they've been practising between lessons.
That's new information.
You could continue with your original plan regardless.
Or you could examine what you're seeing, recognise that they've progressed and agree how to move the challenge forward.
Perhaps you introduce more complex situations.
Perhaps another development need becomes apparent.
Perhaps the lesson moves somewhere you hadn't anticipated at all.
That's not losing control of your lesson plan.
That's using it properly.
Plan, examine, then adapt
A useful plan gives you direction.
Good teaching requires you to keep testing whether that direction still makes sense.
Know what you and the learner are trying to achieve.
Enable them to work towards it.
Examine what's actually happening.
Then progress with the plan or pivot when the evidence tells you something needs to change.
For Part 3, that's not about performing a framework for the examiner.
It's about demonstrating that you can teach the learner who is actually sitting beside you.
Key takeaways
- Have a plan, but don't treat it as a script.
- Build your starting point around what you genuinely know about the learner.
- Keep gathering information as the lesson develops.
- Change the plan when there's a good reason to change it.
- Don't manufacture adaptations simply to demonstrate them to the examiner.
- Focus on the learner rather than trying to predict what the examiner wants.
- A good lesson plan should support your decision-making, not restrict it.