I’m talking about hills. Holding the brake is fine when you’re relatively level, but if you’re pointing up hill the car will roll back if it doesn’t have hill start assist.
I know most people will just hold brakes and move quickly towards the accelerator, but I’m an instructor as I mentioned; it’s a different ball game for learners. In test conditions if they try that and miss the pedal, they’ll roll back and will get a minor for rolling back, or even fail their test if the examiner has to stop them.
So yes, I teach them to use the handbrake because it’s much less stressful and less likely to lead to a mistake that will lead to panicking.