Written for the UK practical test: how DVSA examiners mark the parking manoeuvres, and the reference points that get you there. Everything here assumes you are driving on the left in a right-hand-drive car.
Elsewhere: the US guides (DMV road test) and the Australian guides.
Driving, serious and dangerous faults explained, and the seven that catch most candidates out.
The three-point turn — and why the DVSA dropped it from the test in 2017 but you still need it.
These are about geometry rather than any one country's test, so they are shared with the rest of the site. Where a guide says "curb" or gives a distance in inches, the shape of the manoeuvre is unchanged — only the kerb is on your left.
The four stages, the reference point for each, and where to finish.
Where to start the turn, and how to fix a bay entry going crooked.
Driving in nose-first, and reversing back out safely afterwards.
Cut the blind spot and still see the kerb line while reversing.
Which way the wheels point facing up or down a slope.
Too wide, too close, or at the wrong angle — recovering in one pull-up.
Getting into a diagonal bay cleanly, first time.
Where the car actually ends, and where it pivots when you reverse.
Reading about reference points only gets you so far. The simulator puts you in the right-hand seat with the kerb on your nearside, and coaches each stage as you do it.
Launch 3D Simulator