The skills every state tests, the automatic fails that apply everywhere, and the handful of maneuvers — like parallel parking — that vary from state to state.
Compiled August 2026. Licensing rules change often; verify against your state's official manual before testing.
Most of the road test is the same everywhere. A small, well-defined set of maneuvers — parallel parking chief among them — is what actually differs from state to state, and that's where most of the confusion comes from. Below is the universal core every examiner checks, the fails that apply no matter where you test, and a full state-by-state table of what varies.
Every state tests these. If a skill isn't in the table further down, assume it's on your test:
Any of these ends the test on the spot, no matter which state you're testing in or how clean the rest of the drive was:
The differences cluster in six areas:
Parallel parking, off-street skills courses, and other notable differences by state.
| State | Universal Core | Parallel Parking | Off-Street Skills Course | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No | — | ||
| Alaska | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Arizona | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Arkansas | No | — | ||
| California | No | — | Back straight 3 vehicle lengths within 3 ft of curb; hill parking if route has a hill; freeway segment at some offices | |
| Colorado | No | — | Route may emphasize mountain / high-speed driving | |
| Connecticut | Reported yes* | — | Examiner checks knowledge of driving phrases/commands; vehicle must be tint-compliant; no ignition interlock unless required | |
| Delaware | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Florida | No | — | Route emphasizes lane changes and highway entry/exit | |
| Georgia | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Hawaii | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Idaho | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Illinois | No | — | ||
| Indiana | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Iowa | Reported yes* | — | Road test can be waived for teens completing state-approved driver's ed | |
| Kansas | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Kentucky | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Louisiana | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Maine | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Maryland | No | — | Dropped parallel parking in 2015; skills judged redundant with reverse two-point turn | |
| Massachusetts | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Michigan | Yes | Yes | Closed-course basic control test before on-road portion: parallel park, sight-side and blind-side curved-path backing, forward stop line. Must finish within 12 in. of boundary. On-road includes an expressway or rural highway segment. Administered by third parties | |
| Minnesota | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Mississippi | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Missouri | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Montana | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Nebraska | No | — | Written and road tests currently waived for qualifying applicants 17+ with a 12-month clean Provisional Operator's Permit | |
| Nevada | No | — | Removed parallel parking in Jan. 2020 | |
| New Hampshire | Reported yes* | — | ||
| New Jersey | Yes | — | ||
| New Mexico | Reported yes* | — | ||
| New York | Yes | — | Wheels must finish within 1 ft of curb; 5 pts for parking too wide, 15 pts for failing the maneuver, 30 pts = fail. Under-18 must submit Certification of Supervised Driving (MV-262). No passengers besides the accompanying driver | |
| North Carolina | No | — | ||
| North Dakota | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Ohio | No | Yes | Separate maneuverability (cone) test: forward and reverse through a 9 ft × 20 ft box with a point cone 20 ft ahead. Must pass before the road portion. Fail one part, retake only that part; 7-day wait. Applicants 21+ who fail must take an abbreviated adult driver training course before retesting | |
| Oklahoma | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Oregon | No | — | ||
| Pennsylvania | Yes | — | ||
| Rhode Island | Reported yes* | — | ||
| South Carolina | Reported yes* | — | ||
| South Dakota | No | — | ||
| Tennessee | No | — | ||
| Texas | Yes | — | ||
| Utah | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Vermont | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Virginia | No | — | ||
| Washington | Yes | — | Parking assist / automated steering prohibited during the maneuver | |
| West Virginia | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Wisconsin | Reported yes* | — | ||
| Wyoming | No | — | ||
| Washington, D.C. | No | — | Not formally removed, but not tested for several years |
*"Reported yes" means the state isn't on any published no-parallel-parking list, so the maneuver is presumably still tested — it hasn't been verified against that state's official manual. Treat these cells as "probably, but confirm."
The clearest split. States that dropped it argue the underlying skills — reversing, mirror use, depth perception — are already covered elsewhere in the test, and that removing it cuts repeat visits from drivers who fail only that segment. States that kept it treat it as a proxy for overall vehicle control, and it's usually a heavy point deduction rather than an instant fail. Most jurisdictions allow 2–3 corrections.
Even where parallel parking is gone, straight-line backing survives. California requires three vehicle lengths within three feet of the curb, over the right shoulder, with no more than one correction — cameras alone are not acceptable. Michigan requires roughly 100 feet in a straight line. Some states use a curved-path backing exercise instead.
Only a handful of states run a separate closed-course exam. Ohio's maneuverability box and Michigan's basic control skills test are the two clearest examples, and both are pass-first gates before you're allowed on the road.
Tested where the route provides a grade — uphill wheels turned away from the curb, downhill turned in. Common in California and mountainous states, absent in flat ones.
Michigan explicitly includes an expressway or rural highway portion. California includes freeway driving at some field offices but not all. Many states never leave surface streets.
Search for your state's official driver's manual or road test scoring sheet — most DMVs publish the exact rubric the examiner uses, including point values. That document is authoritative; third-party summaries (including this one) lag behind policy changes by months or years.