The short answer
At the normal pace, two to four months from registering to the practical test. The application at the licensing authority runs alongside the theory — we file it on the day you sign up, and how long the authority takes over it is the authority's call. With the intensive course, from about two weeks is realistic. Longer almost always comes down to one of three reasons.
The duration depends less on regulations than on diaries — yours and the authority's. What is prescribed is what you have to complete, not how long you have to take.
The normal sequence
- Registration and first consultation — done in one day
- Application to the licensing authority: filed on day one, running in the background
- Theory classes: 14 double lessons, a good seven weeks at two sessions a week
- Theory test, once the application is through and the material heard
- Driving lessons and the twelve special drives, alongside and after
- Practical test
Theory and driving run alongside each other, not one after the other — which is why two to four months is realistic even though the individual items sound longer.
The three usual brakes
First: registering too late. The application is the one step nobody can speed up, and it should be running on day one. Second: irregular lessons. Four lessons every fortnight achieve less than two a week, because repetition eats the gap. Third: putting off the theory — without a passed theory test there is no practical test slot.
You can register earlier than you think
From 16 years and 6 months, for class B and for BF17. Anyone wanting to drive at 17 sensibly registers at 16 — the theory test is possible at the earliest three months before the birthday, and the material wants hearing by then.
The twelve-month window
A passed theory test is valid for twelve months. The practical has to be taken inside that window, otherwise the theory comes round again. That is plenty of time — but a reason not to put the theory right at the start if the driving lessons are not yet running.
If it needs to be faster, the intensive course changes the tempo rather than the content — what is realistic there is a post of its own. If it needs to be slower, that works too: around school or work.