Here's a question I thought I'd be able to answer myself with a bit of Googling, but so far, no soap...

Considering the Oklahoma driver's license driving exam, how much does each component "count"? Is it a minimum score to pass, or maximum number of failures? How much does each driving element count, eg signaling before lane changes, coming to a full stop, proper yielding, proper turning, parallel parking, etc.?

My daughter is ready for her driving test, except that parallel parking is proving to be a bit of a bear. The mechanics are there, but the problem is in the subtleties of getting deep enough into the space before swinging the front wheels in and getting 18" from the curb. We've tried a couple of different techniques and she's still not quite there, at least not consistently/repeatably. She's getting frustrated and if she starts fixating on that she'll blow something else that's a lot more critical part of driving....so I began to wonder if parallel parking is a pass/fail element for the whole test on its own, or is it just like any other, eg you get a "minus" for failing to do some component correctly, but overall no more than X "demerits" is OK.

I looked in the OK state driver's manual and its actually vague - something like "you can pass the test if you don't have too many failures" (demerits? forgot the actual word). It does not lay out the specifics of the test and the pass/fail critieria - only thing I could see about parallel parking is they want you 18" from the curb...

Anyone know for sure?

Thanks..

I believe it is a deduction of "points." I had friends who took the test (many years ago) and did not do the parallel park completely correct but still passed. There are things that will automatically fail a driver but small mistakes only have points taken off.

At least this is how I understood it to work when I took drivers education with Merkley's back in the day.

i missed some stupid things that counted off, but i still passed the first time.

Didnt signal when i was going to park and didnt put my parking break on when i parked downhill (and i still dont if it's not steep cause it's stupid).

Just remind her that the speed limit in most cities is 25 MPH unless otherwise posted.... Learned that lesson the hard way back in 85. ;+)

I believe it is a deduction of "points." I had friends who took the test (many years ago) and did not do the parallel park completely correct but still passed. There are things that will automatically fail a driver but small mistakes only have points taken off.

At least this is how I understood it to work when I took drivers education with Merkley's back in the day.

I think this is true. While I'm not sure of the point value of each infraction, some are worth more than others. Minor items such as parallel parking, not looking both left and right, turn signal, etc are worth about two to five points each, whereas things like running a stop sign, speeding, & hitting something are worth more.

My oldest has been driving for a year and a half and she failed the first time for clipping the yellow lines on a left turn. At the time her parallel parking test was just up against a curb with no other cars. However I was at the main DPS location last week and noticed they have cones setup now and they had people parallel parking there...

My oldest has been driving for a year and a half and she failed the first time for clipping the yellow lines on a left turn. At the time her parallel parking test was just up against a curb with no other cars. However I was at the main DPS location last week and noticed they have cones setup now and they had people parallel parking there...

Interesting. I've also realized that the driving school my daughter attended is now authorized to perform the actual driving examination, so that puts a whole different angle on it, so who knows. I'm just going to tell her not to get too stuck on this one part of it, get some more practice in, and otherwise just relax and drive. Too many folks have done just fine for her to get too worried about it :)

Interesting. I've also realized that the driving school my daughter attended is now authorized to perform the actual driving examination, so that puts a whole different angle on it, so who knows. I'm just going to tell her not to get too stuck on this one part of it, get some more practice in, and otherwise just relax and drive. Too many folks have done just fine for her to get too worried about it :)

My daughter will be driving soon as well. I bought her an older Honda Civic to learn in and then test in that very same car so she will be very familiar with it. I take her up to my work in it on the weekends and let her loose in the front and back lots where she practices pulling in and out of parking spaces both forward and backward. I set up six cable spools for her to practice parallel parking in between, to maneuver in and out of at different speeds and also evasive lane changes. We also practice fast acceleration from a stop and emergency braking... stuff that normal drivers training doesn't teach.

If your child does the parallel park aspect on a street, better to be a tad crooked than to ride up on the curb, even a little bit.
Examiners really don't like that.
Neither did the child who took a second test.
I don't recall them being that picky back in the day myself.

If your child does the parallel park aspect on a street, better to be a tad crooked than to ride up on the curb, even a little bit.
Examiners really don't like that.
Neither did the child who took a second test.
I don't recall them being that picky back in the day myself.

I remember when I was asked to parallel park on my test, the examiner had me pull into a mostly abandoned, rather desolate once-residential area, pointed to an empty curb, and said "pretend there some cars there and parallel park." I had NO references, so I did the best I could, and he counted off something like three demerits or whatever for my effort. I still got my license :)

When I was 16 I totally rocked my test...then went 27 in a school zone. Fail.

The driving examiner, back when I was 16, said that it was one of the smoothest rides he'd ever had. Unfortunately, I took the test early in the morning when there was very little traffic in downtown Boulder, CO. I was going down a three lane, one way street (it might have been 17th St.) and he told me to take a left onto Canyon Blvd. I signaled properly, pulled into the left lane and made the turn. On account of there was almost no traffic I didn't realize that the road had turned into a two way street at the end of the previous block. Fail.

I did parallel park almost perfectly, though. And the second time I took the test I only had two or three points deducted from an otherwise perfect score. =)

P.S. I had to parallel park my little Chevy S-10 downtown, by the Myriad Gardens the other day. Put the wheels right next to the curb in one fluid motion on the first try. I think it's like riding a bicycle: If you ever learn to do it, you never forget.

I wonder if I could still back an 8'+ wide, 40' long trailer, loaded with a bulldozer, through a 10' wide gate and down a curvy road . . . probably not.

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I wonder if I could still back an 8'+ wide, 40' long trailer, loaded with a bulldozer, through a 10' wide gate and down a curvy road . . . probably not.

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I bet you can Rad. If you used to do it for a living... Just like riding a bike.