Your practical exam takes 55 minutes, about 35 of which you spend driving. You start with the introduction, an eye test and a few questions about the car, and along the way you do two special manoeuvres. Here you walk through the whole exam once, calmly, in advance.
The exam, step by step
From the moment the examiner collects you to your result: go through the seven steps with the buttons.
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Collection and ID
The examiner collects you at the test centre. You show your ID, and the examiner checks your invitation, whether you passed your theory exam and your completed Zelfreflectie form. After that you walk out to the car park together.
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The eye test
On the way to the car, the examiner asks you to read the number plate of a parked car from about 25 metres away. If you need glasses or lenses for that, you simply keep them on. If you can't read it, your exam still goes ahead: the examiner passes it on to the CBR medical department, who let you know what else is needed.
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Questions about the car
At the car you get a few questions, the voorbereidings- en controlehandelingen. About checking the engine fluid, for example, or about the warning lights on your dashboard. Since January 2024 that also includes a question about driver assistance systems, such as parking sensors, lane assist or traffic sign recognition.
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Driving on directions
For most of the drive of about 35 minutes you follow the examiner's directions, given in good time and kept short and clear. Along the way you pull away, take straight and curved stretches, junctions, merging and leaving, overtaking, changing lanes and special road sections. The examiner mainly looks at how you control the car, your observation and whether you give way properly.
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Driving independently
For ten to fifteen minutes you drive to a destination on your own, using a navigation system. If the navigation fails, you get a clusteropdracht instead: three to five directions in a row. Here too, the examiner mainly looks at whether you drive safely and independently.
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Two special manoeuvres
At some point during the drive the examiner asks you for two special manoeuvres, such as parallel parking or turning around. Which ones there are and how they work, you can see below.
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The result
Right after the drive you hear at the test centre whether you passed. The examiner tells you what still needs work, and if you failed you get a short summary of the parts that weren't good enough.
Can your instructor ride along?
Yes, if you want: you decide. The condition is that your driving school booked the exam. Your instructor sits in the back and may not give you any tips on the way. Only one extra person may come along, so sometimes it isn't possible, for example when an examiner in training is already riding along.
The special manoeuvres
The CBR lists seven special manoeuvres. You do two of them on your exam, and at least one of those two involves reversing. In a street or on a car park the examiner gives a precise instruction, for example: in this street you're going to turn the car around by reversing once. After that you choose the spot yourself, with enough room and clear visibility, where you don't hold anyone up unnecessarily.
Pick a manoeuvre
Reversing in a straight line
You reverse about 20 metres straight, close to the edge of the road.
Reversing around a bend
You reverse through a curve while staying roughly the same distance from the kerb. Ending up on the other side of the road counts as a fault.
Parallel parking
You put the car forwards or backwards just in front of or behind another parked car along the kerb. If it doesn't work in one go, you may correct.
Parking in a right-angled or angled bay
You park forwards or backwards in a bay, on the left or right of the road. If it doesn't work in one go, you may correct.
Turning by reversing once
You turn the car around with a single reverse, in a street about one and a half car lengths wide.
Turning with a half turn
You turn in one flowing movement, without reversing. You may use the full width of the road and any parking bays.
The hill start
You stop on a slope and pull away again without rolling back or stalling. Handbrake, footbrake or a hill-start assist: you choose.
If the hill start comes up naturally in traffic and goes well, it counts as one of your two manoeuvres.
What does the examiner look at?
Not perfection. For the special manoeuvres the examiner looks at four things.
- Observation Before and during the manoeuvre you make sure it can be done safely: using your mirrors and looking over your shoulder.
- Control of the car Accelerator, clutch and brake combined with steering well and in good time, as much as possible in one flowing movement.
- Taking others into account Taking it calmly is fine, but not so slowly that other traffic has to wait longer than necessary.
- Letting others go first If someone comes along during your manoeuvre, you let them pass.
Is this allowed during a special manoeuvre?
Using your reversing camera
Allowed. A reversing camera is allowed. Your observation is still assessed.
Switching on the automatic parking system
Not allowed. It's precisely your handling of the car in a small space that is being assessed.
Correcting when parking doesn't work in one go
Allowed. Correcting while parking is allowed.
Choosing the spot for the manoeuvre yourself
Allowed. The examiner gives the instruction, you choose the spot. That choice is part of the assessment.
Exemption through the interim test
If you do the special manoeuvres well during your interim test, the examiner no longer tests them at your very next practical exam. If you fail that exam, the exemption lapses. If you take several interim tests, only the last one counts. And if you took the test in an automatic, the exemption doesn't apply to an exam in a manual car. The other way round it does.
After your exam
For the car exam, the result form comes to you by email from the CBR automatically. It shows everything back, so go through it with your instructor: then you know exactly what your next lessons are about.
Passed? Your certificate of driving ability goes to the driving licence register, and from the day after your exam you can apply for your licence at the municipality where you are registered. How that works, you read in Applying for your licence at the gemeente.
Watch the official video
Sources: CBR: how the practical car exam works, CBR: Rijprocedure B, CBR: questions on driver assistance systems