It used to be like that. Sensible places would deal with any minor issues 'on the fly' and would then just present one with a Pass certificate and maybe charge a little extra for whatever remedial work had been done.
However, these days it seems to be different. If anything needs addressing, they almost invariably first issue (and 'record') a Fail cert. They then attend to the necessary remedial work (after consultation with owner, if/when necessary) and then issue a Pass cert - but one only pays a single 'MOT fee' for the two MOTs (plus, of course, any additional charges for 'work done'). I think this may be partially due to changes in the technology, because I think they now enter the 'result' for each and every thing they 'test' into the database, in 'real time' as they do it.
It might also be that this 'modern way' has been forced on them by the system, so that people looking at the MOT history of a vehicle will see what work has had to be done to get the vehicle through MOTs,
I know well the guy I normally use, and I've asked him if he couldn't first 'look over the car' to determine whether any work was going to be needed before doing the formal 'test', so that we could then get any necessary work done before the formal test is undertaken (and 'passed'!). He's said that, yes, he could do that, but the only effect would be that it would cost me more, since he would then have to charge me for his time expended on 'looking over the car' prior to the test (in addition to the single MOT fee) - which I suppose makes sense!
