Vehicle Control and Behind-the-Wheel Instruction
This domain tests whether you can build vehicle control in a student systematically - from the walk-around to the highway merge - and whether you can teach without driving the car for them.
Pre-trip and setup
Before every lesson: walk around for tires, lights, and obstructions; confirm the dual-control brake works and that nothing blocks the passenger-side pedals; check mirrors and fluids. Then seat position, head restraint, mirror adjustment, and seat belts - instructor belted before the student moves.
Hands, feet, and smoothness
Teach 9-and-3 or 8-and-4. Push-pull steering for small corrections; hand-over-hand only for large, low-speed turns such as parking. Heel on the floor, pivot between accelerator and brake; progressive squeeze rather than stab. With ABS, hold firm continuous pressure - do not pump.
Reference points and maneuvers
Lane position, curb distance, and parking are taught through reference points on the hood and mirrors, not guesswork. For backing, teach GOAL - Get Out And Look - plus a shoulder check and slow speed. Hill parking: uphill with a curb, wheels turned away from the curb; downhill, or uphill without a curb, wheels turned toward the edge.
Structuring the lesson
One new skill at a time, in rising complexity: empty lot, quiet subdivision, arterial, highway, then night or rain. Use Tell–Show–Do–Review: explain the skill, demonstrate it while narrating, let the student drive it, then have the student critique the attempt first.
Worked example
Right turn from a minor road onto a major one: mirror check, signal early, brake smoothly to a safe turning speed, position just left of the curb line, stop or yield fully, shoulder-check for cyclists, then turn into the first legal lane while unwinding the wheel. Narrate each step until the student can sequence it aloud without prompting.
Traps that cost marks
Teaching a turn before the student can hold a steady speed and lane position. Over-correcting from the passenger seat without warning, which creates dependency. Correcting the wheel while the student's hands are still on it, and giving three instructions in one breath.