Every Maneuver on the DGT Practical Test (and How to Nail Each One)

Published June 2026 · 10 min read

The DGT practical test uses five official low-speed maneuvers coded G (reverse in a straight line and curve), H (change of direction in a dead-end), I.1 (parallel parking), I.2 (angled or batería parking) and I.3 (perpendicular parking). The examiner makes you perform at least two of them, and each must be completed cleanly within the rules on movements and curb distance — touching or mounting the curb, or moving off without checking your blind spot, can fail you outright.

How maneuvers fit into the exam

The Permit B road test (the examen de circulación en vías abiertas) is not only about driving in traffic. Somewhere during the roughly 25-minute drive, the examiner will pull you into a quiet street, a test-centre yard, or a car park and ask you to carry out the controlled maneuvers. The DGT defines five of them, and the rule is simple: the examiner selects at least two for you to perform. You do not get to choose which two, and you do not know in advance which you will get, so you must be ready for all five.

Two rules apply across every maneuver and decide whether you pass them:

• The three-movement maximum. Parking and turning maneuvers must be completed in no more than three movements.
• The definition of a movement. A movement is each change in the direction of travel — every time you switch between going forward and going backward counts as one. Coming to a stop and continuing in the same direction is not a new movement; changing from reverse to drive is.

The vehicle must never strike the cones, posts, or boundary lines that mark the maneuver area, and it must never touch or climb the curb. These are the lines that separate a clean pass from an eliminatory fault, so memorize them before you memorize anything else.

Reverse in a straight line and curve (code G)

This is the classic reversing test. Driving forward in a lane of a marked or simulated roadway, you stop at least 10 meters before the start of a curve, measured from the rear of your car. From there you reverse: back down the straight section, around the curve, and continue in reverse for at least another 10 meters of straight road on the far side, all at a smooth, uniform speed.

How to nail it:

• Keep your speed slow and constant. Riding the clutch at the bite point gives you the control to make tiny steering corrections.
• Turn your body and look out of the rear window — do not rely on mirrors alone for the straight section. Use mirrors to monitor both edges of the lane.
• Steer in small, early inputs through the curve. Big late corrections are what push a wheel onto the line or curb.
• Stay centered. The car must not touch the curbs, cross the lane markings, or knock the boundary markers at any point.

Change of direction in a dead-end (code H)

Here you enter a simulated dead-end street and must turn the car to leave facing the opposite direction — effectively a three-point turn in a confined space. You typically steer in toward one side, then use a backward movement and a forward movement to swing the nose around and drive back out.

How to nail it:

• Use full, fast steering lock while the car is moving, then straighten before you reach the boundary on each pass.
• Watch your front and rear overhang. The bumpers swing wide of the wheels, so the corners reach the cones or curb before you expect.
• Keep within the movement limit. This maneuver is designed to be completed in a tight number of movements, so plan your first reverse to do most of the turning rather than wasting it.
• Check over both shoulders before each direction change — the examiner is watching your observation as much as your steering.

Parallel parking (code I.1)

Parallel parking is the maneuver most candidates fear, and it carries the most precise rule. You drive past the bay until your rear axle clears it, stop parallel to the curb alongside the car or marker ahead, then reverse smoothly into the space. The DGT standard: when finished, the outer edge of the tire tread on the curb side must be no more than 0.30 meters (30 cm) from the curb, and you must complete the park in no more than three movements. You also have to exit the space afterwards in no more than three movements.

How to nail it:

• Get your starting position right. Line up roughly parallel and about a car's width out before you begin — a bad setup makes the 30 cm finish impossible.
• Reverse slowly and let the steering do the work. Avoid dry steering (turning the wheel hard while stopped) — it is jerky and looks like poor control.
• Finish straight and close. If you end up wide of the 30 cm tolerance, a single correcting shuffle forward and back is allowed within the three-movement budget.
• Before you move off to exit, check the left mirror and your blind spot over your shoulder. Pulling out without looking is a serious fault that becomes eliminatory when it creates danger.

Angled / batería parking (code I.2)

Batería parking is the diagonal-bay maneuver you see in supermarket car parks, where bays sit at an angle to the aisle. You position the car centered within the marked bay, leaving enough clearance on both sides to open the doors, and you must be able to enter and exit without striking the lines or barriers that delimit the space — again inside the three-movement limit.

How to nail it:

• Approach from the correct side so the bay angle works with your turning circle, not against it.
• Aim to finish centered between the lines with even gaps left and right. Crowding one side loses you points and may block door access.
• Practice both entering nose-first and reversing out, and check mirrors and blind spot before you reverse out into the aisle.

Perpendicular parking (code I.3)

Perpendicular parking is the 90° version: bays at a right angle to the aisle, the most common layout in car parks. The requirements mirror batería parking — the car must finish centered in the bay with side clearance for the doors, without touching the delimiting lines or barriers, and within three movements to park and to exit.

How to nail it:

• Reversing in is usually cleaner than driving in nose-first, because it sets you up to drive out forwards with full visibility. Practice the reverse-in version until it is your default.
• Begin your turn when your mirror lines up with the edge of the target bay — a consistent reference point makes the angle repeatable.
• Straighten the wheels once the car is square in the bay so you finish parallel to the lines, not skewed.
• As always, a shoulder check before reversing out is non-negotiable.

The 30 cm tolerance and what counts as a movement

Two numbers decide most maneuver scores, so be precise about what they mean. The 30 cm rule applies to parallel parking: it is the maximum gap between the curb-side tire and the curb when you finish. Too far out and you have not parked correctly; touching or mounting the curb is worse and is eliminatory.

The three-movement limit is where candidates lose points without realizing it. Because a movement is defined as each change in the direction of travel, a clean parallel park can be done in essentially one continuous reverse plus a small correction. Every extra forward-and-back shuffle is another movement, and going beyond what the space genuinely requires is penalized. If you start making aimless movements, the time pressure builds too — examiners will not let a maneuver drag on indefinitely.

The most common eliminatory errors

A maneuver fault can be a minor deduction or an outright fail. The eliminatory ones — the mistakes that end the test regardless of how well you drove otherwise — cluster around two themes: hitting things and not looking.

• Mounting or hitting the curb hard. Climbing the curb with a wheel, or striking it forcefully, is treated as eliminatory. A light brush may be a deduction; driving up onto the pavement is not.
• Striking the cones, posts, or boundary lines that delimit the maneuver area. This is penalized and can be eliminatory when it reflects loss of control or significant impact, but a light, minor touch is generally a lesser (deficient) fault rather than an automatic fail.
• Failing to check mirrors and blind spot before moving. Pulling out of a parking space, reversing out of a bay, or changing direction without proper observation is normally scored as a deficiency, not an automatic fail — but it becomes eliminatory if it creates a genuine dangerous situation (such as forcing another road user to react) or if such deficiencies accumulate to the fail threshold. The examiner is grading your awareness, not just your steering.
• The examiner having to intervene. If the instructor or examiner uses the dual controls to brake or steer to avoid a problem during a maneuver, that is an automatic fail.
• Exceeding the movement limit egregiously or being unable to complete the maneuver in the space available.

The pattern is clear: the maneuvers are not testing whether you can park like a stunt driver. They test slow-speed control, spatial judgment, and — above all — observation. Get the looking right, keep the car off the curb and lines, and stay inside the movement budget, and the maneuvers become the most controllable part of the whole exam, because unlike live traffic, the variables are entirely yours to manage.

Note that exact procedures and emphasis can vary slightly between test centres and over time as the DGT updates its Criterios de Calificación. Treat this guide as the framework, and confirm local specifics with your autoescuela before test day.