Backing — Alaska Permit Test
Backing on the Alaska permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
When backing, do not depend on mirrors; turn your body and head to the right and look out the rear window.
Mirrors leave blind spots behind the car where a child or a post can hide, and only turning to look shows them.
Don’t depend on mirrors.
When backing, keep your left hand at the top of the steering wheel while you turn to look out the rear window.
One hand at the top steers smoothly while your body is turned, so you can look and control the car at once.
Instead, with your left hand at the top of the steering wheel, turn your body and head to the right and look out the rear window.
When backing, move the steering wheel in the direction you want the rear of your vehicle to go.
Backing reverses how steering feels, and turning the wrong way is how cars end up in ditches and against posts.
Move the wheel in the direction you want the REAR of your vehicle to go.
Back slowly, keep your eyes moving to all sides of your car, and always yield to vehicles or people on the street or sidewalk.
A car backing out crosses sidewalks and lanes where others have the right of way and may not see you coming.
Always yield to vehicles or people on the street or sidewalk and be prepared to stop.
It is suggested your speed not exceed 5 mph when backing.
You see less and steer less precisely in reverse, so a slow speed leaves time to stop for what you missed.
It is suggested your speed not exceed 5 mph when backing.
On the test
How should you look behind you when backing?
Turn and look out the rear window. Mirrors leave blind spots behind the car where a child or a post can hide, and only turning to look shows them. Alaska Driver Manual, p.31: “Don’t depend on mirrors.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
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- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Alaska Driver Manual, published by the Alaska Department of Administration, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AK.pdf (Alaska Driver Manual, REV.10/2025, Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14 and re-checked 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AK.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/drivermanual/ (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/instruction-permit/ (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/your-first-alaska-drivers-license/ (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://www.akleg.gov/basis/aac.asp?media=print&secStart=2.90.010&secEnd=2.90.990 (2 AAC 90, read 2026-10-04; 2 AAC 90.420(h)(2) sets the knowledge test's retest wait and no figure)