🔍 Pre-drive checklist
California grades you before the car ever moves. The examiner asks you to locate and demonstrate the vehicle's controls in the parking lot, and applicants fail here surprisingly often — not because they can't drive, but because they've never had to find the defroster switch on a borrowed car under pressure.
What the examiner is watching for
- ✓You can locate and operate each control without hunting around the dashboard
- ✓Turn signals, brake lights, horn, windshield wipers, defroster, emergency brake and hazard lights all work
- ✓You can demonstrate the three hand signals correctly
- ✓The window and mirror positions are set before you start driving, not adjusted mid-drive
Step by step
- 1Arrive early and sit in the car you'll test in — find every control before the examiner asks.
- 2Confirm the basics work: both turn signals, brake lights, horn, wipers, defroster, hazards and parking brake.
- 3Practice the three hand signals until they're automatic: arm straight out for left, arm bent up for right, arm down for stop or slow.
- 4Adjust your seat, mirrors and belt before the examiner gets in, then re-check when they do.
- 5Turn off automated parking and lane-keeping features — these must stay off during the drive test.
Mistakes that cost points
- ✗Testing in an unfamiliar or borrowed car and fumbling for the defroster
- ✗Arriving with a burned-out brake light or broken wiper, which can stop the test before it starts
- ✗Only knowing the hand signals in theory and blanking when asked to show them
- ✗Leaving driver-assist features on, which is not permitted during the test
The other 5 skills CA grades
FullPass is an independent study aid. Road-test guidance is written from official DMV test requirements; your examiner and the Department of Motor Vehicles remain the final authority.