A lot of MOT fails we see are things the driver could have spotted in five minutes on the drive (sample figures from our bay).
Walk round the car with the lights on, and ask someone to watch the brake lights. Run the wipers and fill the washer bottle. Press the horn.
Then look at the tyres: at least 1.6 mm of tread across the middle of each one, and no cuts or bulges. If anything looks wrong, book it in before the test and we will sort it the same morning.