Which manoeuvres are asked in the category B test?

Which manoeuvres can be asked?

The list comes from the European driving licence directive 2006/126/EC, annex II, which sets the minimum content of the test in every member state. For category B the candidate must carry out at least two manoeuvres, one of them in reverse, chosen from reversing in a straight line or around a corner while keeping to the lane, turning the car to face the other way using forward and reverse gears, parking and leaving a parking space, and braking accurately to a stop. Emergency braking is optional. The examiner does not announce the choice before the test.

Parking can be parallel, angled or at right angles, forwards or in reverse, on the flat, uphill or downhill. That is why hill starts and car control on a slope need practising even if they are not listed as a manoeuvre of their own.

What does the examiner watch during a manoeuvre?

Not only the end result. Observation counts, meaning mirrors and blind spot checks before and during the movement, controlled low speed and correct use of clutch, brakes and steering. A manoeuvre completed accurately but without visual checks counts against the candidate, because the risk to pedestrians and other vehicles remains. The directive expressly asks for manoeuvres to be assessed with particular attention to road safety.

How many corrections are allowed?

No number is set in any public rule. A controlled self correction, for example stopping and taking the approach again because the line is untidy, does not usually end the test. Repeated corrections, touching the kerb and manoeuvring without looking weigh more. The judgement stays with the examiner.

Does one bad manoeuvre fail the test straight away?

Not always. A fail comes from behaviour that creates danger, for example reversing so that a pedestrian has to step aside, or the instructor using the dual controls. The list of the most serious mistakes is on the page about practical test mistakes.

What happens if a manoeuvre goes wrong?

The result depends on how it goes wrong. Two concrete cases.

A candidate in Trieste has to parallel park in a tight street. On the first try the car ends up too far from the kerb: he stops, checks the mirrors, pulls out and repeats the approach without touching anything. The manoeuvre is imperfect but safe and the test continues with driving in traffic.

If a candidate in Reggio Calabria turns the car round without checking the mirror and an approaching car has to brake, the instructor intervenes and the test ends in a fail. The remaining attempts on the foglio rosa stay available, but the next cannot come sooner than one month later (article 121, paragraph 10, of the Codice della Strada).

How should manoeuvres be practised?

In varied places, not always the same car park: slopes, narrow streets, spaces between real cars. The foglio rosa gives twelve months and the first test cannot come before one month from issue, under article 121, paragraph 8. During the compulsory driving school lessons the instructor can be asked to spend time on the weakest manoeuvres.

In 2025, 83.82 per cent of the 734,553 category B practical tests were passed, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The stationary questions cover controls and checks, so theory stays useful: revise with the category B quiz.

Legal source: Direttiva 2006/126/CE, allegato II, e articolo 121 del Codice della Strada. The consolidated text of the Codice della Strada is on Normattiva.