After the Pre-Trip Inspection, the Basic Control Skills Test is the second part of the DMV exam. You must pass it before you move to the Driving Test. It measures your ability to control the vehicle and judge its position in relation to cones, lines, and other objects.
Parallel parking and alley dock are no longer on the test. California replaced the 2005 testing model in July 2023. Reverse offset backing took their place.
The modernized test uses four exercises. Twenty-two of California's twenty-five CDL sites run this version, including West Sacramento CDTC on Evergreen Avenue. Study material still showing parallel park or alley dock is working from the retired model.
The Four Exercises
- Forward Stop
- Straight-Line Backing
- Forward Offset Tracking
- Reverse Offset Backing
They may be performed off-road on a range, or somewhere on the street during the road test. The examiner gives you specific instructions before each one and you may ask questions. If permitted, you may ask the examiner to walk you through the exercise area first.
If the examiner raises a hand, stop and return your vehicle inside the boundary lines.
How You Are Scored
Pull-Ups
Pulling forward during a backing exercise to clear an encroachment or improve your position. Scored on Straight-Line Backing and Reverse Offset Backing. Stopping without changing direction is not a pull-up. You are not penalized for initial pull-ups, but an excessive number counts as errors.
Back-Ups
Backing up during a forward-moving exercise to clear an encroachment or improve position. Scored on Forward Offset Tracking only.
Encroachments
Touching or crossing a boundary line or cone with any part of your vehicle. Mirrors do not count, and neither do unique vehicle parts at door mirror height or above. Anything below door mirror height does count. Each encroachment is an error. If you encroach, the examiner stops you and you must bring the vehicle back inside the boundary — stop immediately when signaled.
Looks
Exiting the vehicle to check your position while backing. Set the parking brake, place the vehicle in neutral, face the vehicle and maintain three points of contact getting out and back in.
Opening your door or moving from a seated position counts as a look. On a bus, walking to the back for a better view counts as a look.
Final Position
Scored on Straight-Line Backing and Reverse Offset Backing. Your vehicle must finish inside the exercise boundaries, other than mirrors and unique parts above mirror height. If you do not maneuver the vehicle into the final position the examiner described, you fail the test. Finish each exercise exactly as instructed.
Automatic failure. Failing to follow the examiner's instructions can end the test. So can an unsafe act.
Opening your door while the vehicle is moving — not in neutral and parked — may be an automatic failure. Failing to secure the vehicle before exiting, or failing to exit and enter safely, may be an automatic failure. Forgetting the parking brake is the most common one. Always think safety.
Exercise 1 — Forward Stop
Demonstrates your ability to judge the front of your vehicle during a controlled stop.
Drive forward through the alley and stop with the frontmost part of your vehicle inside the box at the end, without going past it. You may stop only once. The examiner will point out what counts as the frontmost part of your vehicle before you begin.
When stopped: set the parking brake, shift to neutral, sound the horn. You are scored if the frontmost part of the vehicle is not in the box.
| Free pull-ups | Not applicable |
| Exit vehicle | Not applicable |
Exercise 2 — Straight-Line Backing
Demonstrates your ability to back in a straight line.
From where you stopped on Exercise 1, the examiner asks you to pull forward and stop when they raise their hand. Then back straight through the alley until the front of your vehicle clears the last set of cones at the far end.
When finished: set the parking brake, shift to neutral, sound the horn. That tells the examiner you are done and lets them score your final position.
| Free pull-ups | One |
| Free looks | One — you may exit the vehicle once to check around it |
| Scored for | Pull-ups, encroachments, final position |
Exercise 3 — Forward Offset Tracking
Demonstrates your ability to maneuver around objects while moving forward.
Drive forward and steer left through the opening into the opposite lane, keeping your rightmost rear tire between the cone and the line. That clearance is scored.
Stop when you are parallel to the outer boundary, at or before the cones at the far end. Then set the parking brake, shift to neutral, sound the horn.
There are no free back-ups on this exercise, and you are not permitted to exit the vehicle at all. This is the one that catches people. Set up correctly before you move.
| Free back-ups | None |
| Exit vehicle | Not permitted |
| Scored for | Back-ups, encroachments, forward tracking clearance |
Exercise 4 — Reverse Offset Backing
Demonstrates your ability to offset back and park at the end of an alley. This is the exercise that replaced parallel parking and alley dock.
Starting parallel with the outer boundary, offset back into the alley and bring the rearmost part of your vehicle within three feet of the rear of the alley — stopping inside the three-foot box. The examiner will point out what counts as the rearmost part of your vehicle before you begin.
Your vehicle must finish straight within the alley and completely inside the boundaries, other than mirrors and unique parts above mirror height. You may not go beyond the outer boundary line.
When finished: set the parking brake, shift to neutral, sound the horn.
| Free pull-ups | Two |
| Free looks | Two — you may exit the vehicle up to twice |
| Scored for | Pull-ups, encroachments, final position |
The Test Area
The modernized basic control skills area has a smaller footprint than the old model. DMV specifies a minimum of 260 feet long by 40 feet wide, which accommodates most combination vehicles with trailers up to 53 feet. Longer combinations need additional length.
Our range is laid out to DMV dimensions so the exercise you practice is the exercise you are given.
Official DMV Documents
CDL Handbook Modernization Supplement (PDF)
California Commercial Driver Handbook (PDF)
One student, one instructor, one truck — on the range.
No waiting your turn. You back until you can back.
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