NationStates Jolt Archive

I would like advice on how to pass the driver's permit test. I refuse to believe that I need every single detail in the driver manual memorized, but I know I need to know a lot of it. My question is, how much? Is there an easier way to get it memorized?

Quick tip: Dont rev your engine beside the ladies at the stoplight... it might impress the girls in a geeky, cheese infested, pseudo machismo sort of way... but it won't impress the instructor. ;)

It may depend on what state you come from. Here in Maryland, we have a computerized test that picks random test questions and requires you to get at least 17 out of 20 questions right. If you get four wrong, the computer stops the test.

I think knowing rules like stopping distances, meanings of street signs, and other rules that relate to highway driving are the most important for the test. One question that has usually been on the test whenever I've taken it is what happens if a police officer's signal contradicts a traffic control device. Go with the officer.

Back to the good ol' computer, I've also heard that if you get all 20 questions right, it keeps feeding you questions until you get one wrong.

It may depend on what state you come from. Here in Maryland, we have a computerized test that picks random test questions and requires you to get at least 17 out of 20 questions right. If you get four wrong, the computer stops the test.

I think knowing rules like stopping distances, meanings of street signs, and other rules that relate to highway driving are the most important for the test. One question that has usually been on the test whenever I've taken it is what happens if a police officer's signal contradicts a traffic control device. Go with the officer.

Back to the good ol' computer, I've also heard that if you get all 20 questions right, it keeps feeding you questions until you get one wrong.


WOW!!!
That's a lot harder than when I took test - several correctly answered questions and the State Trooper was satisfied. But, this is a world of modern technology now and it seems that things are quite a bit harder.


GOOD LUCK on the test, Vegas-Rex!!

read the book through a couple times. dont skip the boring parts. the stuff on braking distance, how to figure out how far you need to allow between cars at different speeds and levels of drunkenness all count.

ask your friend what ones they got wrong or what ones surprised them.

youll do fine if you just read it through a couple times.

Just try, try again. If all else fails, bribe or cheat.

Really, judging by the way people tend to drive, I'm convinced these so-called tests are little more than speedbumps to prevent everyone from dying in car accidents too early - staggers the deaths out, over the years.

It's pretty obvious to me that most people on the road should not have passed their drivers test.

My advice would be to read through the handbook twice, and be careful on the test. When it asked you a question, use common sense and pick the safest option.

On the driving test, make sure your car works well, drive a little lower than the speed limit, and if the instructor asks you to do something and you're not sure what he means, ask him what he means.

For example, I was taught that a 3-point turn was called a K-turn. The instructor on the test asked me to do a roundabout (which is also a 3-point turn) and directed me down a cul-de-sac. So I went around the cul-de-sac, grinning stupidly the whole time... for some dumb reason I thought he wanted me to go "around the cul-de-sac."

Fortunately, I still passed.

Well, if you've been paying any attention as a passenger for the last 15+ years of your life, you already know much of the stuff in that book...

So it really shouldn't be that difficult... Look through the book, and focus on the odd things that don't come up in everyday driving, and other little details that people tend to take for granted...

But like I said, you should know most of this stuff already, just by observation...