When learning to drive, one of the biggest decisions is if you want to learn gradually, having lessons and spreading out the cost week-on-week, or condense everything into a week-long, intensive driving course.

There are pros and cons to each, but first, it’s important to understand the difference before making a decision.

Remember: just because one option suits a particular individual, it’s unlikely to be the same for everyone else.

Cost

It’s no myth that learning to drive can prove to be expensive in some circumstances. Although the reward greatly outweighs the cost, when learning to drive it’s key to understand what costs are involved, and which method is best suited to you.

It all depends on the individual, but some may find investing upfront in an intensive driving course is more cost-efficient than spending money on weekly lessons, which can sometimes stretch over a longer period of time.

Review your options and see which is likely to work best for you, considering factors such as time off college, university, or work if you were to opt for the intensive course.

Learning

Everyone has their own way of learning, but there are several differences between how information can be absorbed during normal and intensive courses.

Intensive courses condense information tightly together in the space of a week, which works for some, but others could find themselves unable to take so much in over such a short period of time.

Regular courses mean the information is spread out, so you have longer to digest it, but having to refresh your memory each week may prove more difficult for some.

Conditions

When learning as part of an intensive course, weather and road conditions are likely to stay very similar throughout the week, which means you could learn only in beaming sunshine, or heavy rain, each day.

Partaking in weekly lessons, which span across several months, means conditions will vary week on week, and you’re likely to experience multiple seasons and weather conditions.

Again, it’s all based on the individual, but some may benefit from one more than the other.

Pressure to pass

We all want to do our best when it comes to learning to drive, and many of us put pressure on ourselves to do so.

While tests can be stressful for everyone, before deciding which option to take consider how you’d feel if you passed or failed in either scenario.

Some of us may think a week of intensive learning would feel more of a blow than several months, but everyone is different, so make the right decision for you, and try not to worry too much!