What do you usually have to do during a driving test (to get your driver license)?

Stop at a stop sign. Make sure you come to a complete stop wait a couple seconds, look both ways.

Move in reverse. Make sure you turn your head to the back to see whe you are going. Don’t use your mirror to back up.

Parallel park.

3 point turn/K-turn.

Try not to get too nervous.

Where I am you have to do a hill start, a parallel park, a three point turn.

Be observant. Use your mirrors. As @JLeslie said, look behind you when reversing. Look back when changing lanes rather than relying only on your mirrors. Someone might be in your blind spot.

Don’t speed. Look out for potential dangers. If a child is by the road, slow down a little to indicate you are aware of them and the potential for them to run out in the road. Give cyclists room.

Good answers here. I could be wrong, but I believe it is also dependent on where you reside. Might want to call up the local DMV sometime.

It does depend where you live. Most states in the US do the road test in a parking lot or fabricated street situation. Other countries actually have you drive on the road.

Also, if you drve a manual shift car with a clutch, be sure not to coast in neutral.

They may not have time to take you on a tour. Probably once around the block that would include a stop light and parking. The written part is usually the stinker. If you have been driving a lot beforehand with a responsible licensed driver , you should be good to go.

Mine was done on a suburban street. At that time you had to use hand-signals as well as the turn signals and brake lights of the car. i had to stop at a couple of stop signs, do a three point turn and parallel park. While I did all of them just fine, it was still intimidating to have a state trooper sitting in the car with me!

Pay attention, sit up straight, don’t make conversation, go the speed limit and don’t forget your seatbelt!

Practice pulling in and out of non-slanted parking spaces. Practice three-point-turns. Practice stopping at a stop sign. Practice pulling out into traffic from the right and from the left, not swinging out too wide into the lane. If you live in a state that requires it (I don’t) practice parallel parking, and parking on a hill.

Also, do a function check on your car before you go. I almost had to cancel my test because the horn on my car wasn’t working. I’d never had to use it, so I had no idea. Check it all: Lights, horn, brakes, everything.

On mine I had to approach an intersection with a left turn lane, and make a proper left turn, signalling and being sure of right of way.

The reversing thing is important. In California, you have to back-up, but you must be looking behind you the whole time you are moving. When you want to check the front end of the car, you must be stopped before you turn around and look to the front. Then when you continue to reverse, you must be looking over your shoulder before you begin to move again .

Use seat belts.
Use mirrors
Stop before the stop line come to a complete stop ( don’t roll over the line before you stop )
Use your turn signals before you change lanes or make a turn.

Oh, good one @zenvelo! I forgot about the signaling. It’s so automatic for me, and yet still during the road tests everything you always do correctly you can forget to do during the test.

Mine included a left turn on a one way street. Make sure you’re in the left lane for that.

You have to drive usually on the street in traffic. You have to parallel park. Be calm. Remember the rules of the road. Take your time.

I just got my license about 2 months ago. The worst part about the road test was the awkward silence while sitting at a stoplight. It was red for FOREVER, and the examiner was this old guy that kept going “tsk tsk” under his breath – not as if you were doing something wrong, but habit. It drove me crazy!

@JLeslie I haven’t heard of anyone taking their drivers test and not being on actual roads surrounded by actual drivers. I’m in NY. Interesting.

Mine was in a practically-abandoned subdivision behind the DMV building. No other cars on the road. I’m in Florida. We don’t have Driver’s Ed, don’t have to parallel park (I still suck at it), and I never even read the driver’s handbook. Passed first try. Had about 30 minutes real driving experience before taking the test. * shrug *

@Cupcake I have taken the test in MD and FL and both times it was not out on the road. It’s a lot kind of set up like an obstacle course. You go through stopping, turning, parking, and backing up. It doesn’t assess at all how well you deal with other traffic. But, in MD when you get your learners permit when you are 16 you have required driving time on the road with an instructor if I remember correctly. I took a private drivers ed class and I remember having 6 or 8 sessions driving with an instructor. Other kids took it in high school as an elective. Are you in NYC or NYS?

@JLeslie NYS… way upstate. I don’t know of any schools here that have drivers ed. Here you have to have an adult certify that you have completed 200 hours of observed driving with your permit (so I will sign a form for my son that I have witnessed 200 hours of his driving in order for him to schedule the road test).

If it’s on an “obstacle course” instead of actual roadways, observe all the lane markings carefully. Don’t cross any double yellow lines, for instance, even if they put them in weird places. That was a gotcha when I took the test years ago.

Oh, yeah: there is a place near me where the test is taken on a course. The frustrating thing there that gets everyone is that the lines and things aren’t all marked on the ground. You’ll come through at one time and they’ll say, “This is a….” and then another time they’ll say it’s something different. You have to remember what the course “is” at a given time, instead of being able to just look at the lane markings and things. I heard about this and did not take my test there. 0.o

Can I ask a question? So there are places where you can take your test on an obstacle course and then you are allowed out on the real roads? That seems a bit scary. How do they know how the driver will behave in traffic? Do you also have to drive on provisional plates for a period of time in most states in the US or in the UK?

@Bellatrix Technically, yes, unless you wait until the age of 18 to get your license.

I had a learner’s permit for 2 weeks.

@Seek_Kolinahr oh my. It feels as though you probably did most of your ‘learning’ after you passed your test?

Things here do vary from state to state as they appear to do in the US. Given the dangers to young drivers, they are trying to make it harder for young people to get their ‘full’ licence and there are harsher controls over what you can do after you pass your test in the period before you get your full licence. In Queensland, there is graduated licencing with different demerit point allowances and blood alcohol limits for provisional drivers. You have to hold your provisional licence for a year before you can get an ‘open’ licence. In some states I think provisional drivers have to keep a log book of the driving they’ve done as well. Not sure on the details of that though.

@Bellatrix In most states you have a learners permit intially, meaning your license is a “learners” and you are only allowed to drive with another adult above the age of 21 in the car, and many states you can only drive during daylight hours while on your learners. The plate on the car dies not indicate anything. The learners typically lasts for 6 months at which time you can get your regular driver’s license. Florida used to be on of the easier states and also it used to be you could get a full license at age 15, but that might have changed or vary by county. Some rural parts of the country have young ages as well. Most states once you are 18 you can take the tests without any experience or class and get your license.

@JLeslie, we have the learners period too. The graduated part comes in after you pass your test. The plate isn’t actually different on the car but you do have to have a large P very visible in your car so other drivers are aware you are on P plates and there are (I think) two levels of Provisional driving. Then you go to an open licence and no sign is necessary. You used to just get your learners, go for your test (which includes a written and practical component) and then you got your licence.

I actually think the graduated system is good because it apart from expecting the new driver (usually young) to not drink at all and other similar constraints, it alerts other drivers that the person in the car near us is inexperienced and perhaps more likely to make an error.

Sadly, it seems like many young drivers still die on our roads each year. I don’t have the actual figures to hand.

@9thCipher, while this may not happen where you live, it does point out the importance of checking with your own driving instructor about the specific rules where you live.