2.2 The Three-Paper Assessment: Paper A, Paper B and Paper C

2.2 The Three-Paper Assessment: Paper A, Paper B and Paper C

Quick Answer: The TDVL theory assessment is split into three separate papers — Paper A, Paper B and Paper C — administered by Republic Polytechnic, an LTA-appointed test provider. A direct TDVL applicant must pass all three papers; a PDVL holder converting to TDVL only needs to pass Paper B and Paper C. Each paper is booked and paid for individually at S$15 plus prevailing GST.

Why Three Separate Papers Instead of One Test?

Unlike a single-sitting exam, the TDVL assessment is broken into three standalone papers that can be booked, sat and passed independently of one another. This structure means a candidate does not need to clear the entire syllabus in one sitting: if you pass Paper A this week but need more revision before Paper B, you can book Paper B for a later date without losing your Paper A result. Republic Polytechnic's LTA Assessments page states plainly that applicants must pass all 3 papers to receive the TDVL — partial completion, for example passing two of three, does not yet qualify a direct applicant for the licence.

Assessment Provider and Venue

Republic Polytechnic is the LTA-appointed test provider most TDVL candidates will encounter. Papers are booked individually through Republic Polytechnic's student booking system, and each paper slot operates on a first-come, first-served basis, so popular time slots can fill up — book ahead rather than assuming a seat will be available close to when you need it.

Fees Per Paper

Republic Polytechnic's published assessment fee is S$15 plus prevailing GST per paper. Because the fee is charged per paper rather than as one bundled assessment fee, a direct TDVL applicant sitting all three papers pays this fee three separate times, once per paper booked, and a PDVL-to-TDVL conversion candidate pays it twice, for Paper B and Paper C only. This per-paper fee is separate from — and in addition to — the training course fee charged by your training provider (Section 2.1) and the S$40 LTA application fee.

Direct TDVL vs PDVL-to-TDVL Conversion: Paper Requirements

This distinction matters for planning: a PDVL-to-TDVL candidate should not assume they need to sit Paper A, and should confirm with Republic Polytechnic that their booking correctly reflects the 2-paper conversion pathway rather than the 3-paper direct pathway, since booking the wrong set wastes both time and the S$15-plus-GST fee.

Planning Multiple Paper Visits

Because each paper is booked and billed as its own slot, a direct TDVL applicant should expect to make up to three separate visits to the assessment venue rather than one combined sitting, and a PDVL-to-TDVL conversion candidate should expect up to two. Slot availability depends on Republic Polytechnic's first-come, first-served calendar, so candidates balancing paper preparation against work shifts as a current or prospective driver should book each remaining paper as soon as they feel ready, rather than waiting until the last useful moment and finding no convenient slots left. The same test-day requirements — documents, arrival time and dress code — covered in Section 2.3 apply identically to every paper visit, whether it is your first attempt or a later paper in the sequence.

Booking Policies to Know Before You Pay

Once you commit to a paper slot, two policies apply that candidates frequently overlook:

• No rescheduling is allowed once payment has been made for a paper slot. Choose your date carefully, including buffer time around work shifts, before confirming payment.
• Strictly no refund is given for no-shows or for candidates who do not meet entry requirements, such as missing documents, on the day. This makes the test-day logistics covered in Section 2.3 directly relevant to protecting the fee you have already paid.

Because bookings are unforgiving once paid, treat each paper booking as a firm commitment, not a placeholder you can casually shift.

How to Think About Paper Content

LTA's TDVL curriculum is built from five competency modules, labelled M1 to M5, and the three assessment papers group those modules in a published way. NTUC LearningHub, one of the LTA-appointed training providers named in Section 2.1, publishes the following assessment format on its TDVL course page (the assessment itself is delivered at Republic Polytechnic):

The three papers together run to roughly 3 hours. This module-to-paper mapping lines up with the seven content domains covered in this guide: Paper A maps to the safety, service and passenger-care domain (Chapter 6), Paper B maps to the taxi and P2P regulation, fares and VLPS-conduct domains (Chapters 3 to 5), and Paper C maps to the routes and location-knowledge domain (Chapter 7). LTA and Republic Polytechnic's own main pages do not restate this per-paper breakdown, which is why candidates who read only LTA or Republic Polytechnic pages may wrongly conclude that no public mapping exists — the NTUC course page is the source that surfaces it.

Even with this mapping, the safest study strategy is to treat the full official curriculum as fair game across all three papers and prepare comprehensively rather than trying to cordon off content by paper letter, because the regulator's intent is competence across all areas, not narrow paper-by-paper recall. If you are converting from PDVL and only need Paper B and Paper C, focus your incremental study on the taxi-specific content that a PHC-only PDVL course would not have covered — principally street-hail rules, taxi stand and taxi meter operations, and taxi-specific fare structure — since those are the areas a PDVL curriculum would not already have tested.

Key Planning Takeaway

Book each paper as a distinct, non-refundable commitment; confirm whether you are on the 3-paper direct path or the 2-paper conversion path before paying; and prepare across the whole curriculum rather than assuming a specific paper only tests a narrow slice of content.