How to pass the Dutch practical driving exam
What happens in the CBR’s practical exam for a car, what the examiner looks at, and how to practise each part in English: before your lessons, between them and in the week before your exam.
The exam in short
- 55 minutes in all, about 35 minutes of driving.
- At the exam centre the examiner checks your ID and your theory result, and talks through your self-reflection form (Zelfreflectie).
- Eye test: in the car park you read a number plate from about 25 metres.
- Questions about the car, for example how to check the fluids or what a warning light means.
- The drive: mostly the examiner’s directions; for part of the route you drive on your own to a destination with a sat-nav (zelfstandig rijden).
- Special manoeuvres (bijzondere verrichtingen), such as parking, turning the car round and reversing. One you did well in the tussentijdse toets is not tested again.
- The result right after the drive. Not passed: retake after two weeks at the earliest; stopped for dangerous driving: at least 15 weeks.
Source: the CBR, “Hoe gaat het praktijkexamen auto?”
What the examiner looks at
Whether you drive safely and on your own: how you control the car, how you look around (kijkgedrag) and how you give way, over the whole drive. The CBR’s Rijprocedure B describes the driving it wants to see, often in more detail than the law, for example when to signal at a roundabout.
The exam is rarely lost on steering. It is lost in situations: the cyclist in the blind spot, the car from the right, the tram, the ambulance behind you. Those you can practise.
The moments that decide it, and where to practise them
| On the road | What to do | Practise it |
|---|---|---|
| A car comes from the right at a junction without signs | It goes first, also on a narrow street | 2. Priority to the right |
| Shark teeth or a B6 sign on your side | Give way to everyone on the road you join, cyclists too | 3. Shark teeth 4. Cyclists count too |
| Turning right across a cycle lane | Mirror, then a look over your shoulder for the cyclist in your blind spot | 7. Turning across a bike lane |
| Turning left | Oncoming traffic going straight or right goes first | 9. Turning left |
| Lights with arrows and several lanes | Choose your lane early and follow the light for your lane | 12. Choosing your lane 11. Turning at traffic lights |
| A tram | It goes first in most situations; never block the rails | 16. The tram goes first |
| A zebra crossing | Stop for anyone on it or about to step on it | 17. Zebra crossing |
| A roundabout | The CBR wants a left signal on the approach when you go three-quarters round, and a right signal when you leave | 23. Roundabout 64. Roundabout with two lanes |
| An ambulance behind you | Make way safely, without breaking other rules | 24. Sirens! |
| Joining the A10 | Match the speed on the slip road, find a gap, then merge | 31. Merging onto the motorway |
| The right speed | 30 km/h in most of Amsterdam, 50 on main roads, 80 outside town | 1. First drive in Amsterdam 26. Out of town: 80 km/h |
| The special manoeuvres | Parking, turning round, reversing, a hill start | 40. Parallel parking 42. Reversing into a bay 49. Turning around 51. Reversing around a corner 52. Reversing in a straight line 30. Hill start |
Every lesson has its rule written out, with the Dutch words and what the exam expects: all 65 rules.
The practice exam in Voorrah!
One drive with the exam’s parts, the way the CBR runs it in Amsterdam:
- It starts and ends at an exam centre in Sloterdijk, like the CBR’s on the Naritaweg.
- First the ID check, the eye test with a number plate and a question about the car.
- The examiner gives the directions in Dutch and in English, spoken and on screen, so you learn the phrases you will hear.
- For a while you drive on your own with a sat-nav.
- Two special manoeuvres on the way, for example parallel parking, turning round, reversing or a hill start.
- The situations above along the route: an ambulance with its siren, trams, cyclists, a two-lane roundabout, the A10.
- The examiner notes mistakes quietly, as in the car. At the end you park and get a result talk per part of the exam, with a picture from above of each moment.
- A full exam of about 35 minutes, or a quick one of about 15.
It is a game, not the CBR: the real route is the examiner’s choice, and nothing here replaces lessons with an instructor. What it gives you is time with the situations, as often as you like, without paying by the hour.
A simple plan
- Before your first lesson: drive the first lessons (free, no account) to learn the basic rules and their Dutch names.
- Between lessons: when your instructor names a mistake, drive that lesson until Kees, the game’s instructor, has nothing left to say.
- The week before your exam: drive the practice exam until the result talk is clean, and get used to the examiner’s Dutch directions.
Questions people ask
How long is the Dutch practical driving exam?
The CBR practical exam for a car (B) takes 55 minutes in all. About 35 minutes of that is driving; the rest is the start at the exam centre, the eye test, questions about the car and the result.
What happens in the eye test?
In the car park the examiner asks you to read the number plate of a parked car from about 25 metres.
What are the special manoeuvres?
Bijzondere verrichtingen: set manoeuvres such as parallel parking, bay parking, turning the car round, reversing and pulling away on a hill. The CBR describes how to do them in Rijprocedure B. One you did well in the tussentijdse toets (the interim test) is not tested again.
Do I drive on my own in the exam?
For part of the route, yes: you drive to a destination with a sat-nav (zelfstandig rijden). For most of the route you follow the examiner’s directions.
How soon can I retake the exam?
After two weeks at the earliest. If the exam was stopped because of dangerous driving, you wait at least 15 weeks.
Can I practise for the Dutch driving exam in English?
Yes. Voorrah! is in English with the Dutch words you meet on the road and in the exam, and in its practice exam the examiner gives the directions in Dutch and in English.
Is Voorrah! from the CBR?
No. It is an unofficial practice game, not affiliated with the CBR. The rules follow the Dutch traffic law (RVV 1990) and the CBR’s driving procedure (Rijprocedure B); always check the official sources.