Mirror adjustment — Arkansas Permit Test
Mirror adjustment on the Arkansas permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Adjust your rearview and side mirrors before you start driving.
Fiddling with mirrors in traffic takes your eyes off the road at the moment you need them most.
Adjust your rearview and side mirrors before you start driving.
Adjust the inside mirror so you can see the entire rear window from the driver's seat.
The rear window is your whole view behind, and a tilted mirror leaves part of it unseen.
Adjust the inside mirror so you can see the entire rear window from the driver's seat.
With the inside mirror set correctly, you should have to move only your eyes, not your head, to use it.
Turning your head pulls your eyes away from the road ahead for longer than a quick glance does.
You should have to move only your eyes, not your head when using this mirror.
Drivers 6 feet tall or taller may find it helpful to turn the inside mirror upside down, which raises its bottom edge about 1 to 2 inches and can reduce a blind area to the front.
A tall driver's mirror can hide part of the road ahead, and raising its edge opens up that view.
Drivers 6 feet tall or taller may find it helpful to reposition the mirror upside down, if possible.
To adjust the driver's side-view mirror, place your head against the left side window and set the mirror so you can just barely see the side of the car.
Setting the mirror this way points it at the lane beside you instead of at your own car, shrinking the blind spot.
To adjust the driver's side-view mirror, place your head against the left side window and set the mirror so you can just barely see the side of the car on the mirror's right side.
To adjust the passenger's side-view mirror, position your head just above the center console and set the mirror so you can just barely see the side of the car.
Leaning toward the middle aims the right mirror out at the next lane, where cars hide from a badly set mirror.
To adjust the passenger's side-view mirror, position your head so that it is just above the center console.
On the test
When should you adjust your rearview and side mirrors?
Before you start driving. Fiddling with mirrors in traffic takes your eyes off the road at the moment you need them most. Arkansas Driver License Study Guide, p.82: “Adjust your rearview and side mirrors before you start driving.”
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 Arkansas Driver License Study Guide, published by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AR.pdf (Arkansas Driver License Study Guide, Volume 1, Edition 10, October 2026, Arkansas State Police, retrieved 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AR.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AR-exam.txt (the text of the State Police's audio testing instructions, https://media.ark.org/dps/Audio-Testing-Instructions.pdf, read 2026-10-04; states the 20 correct answers that pass)
- https://dps.arkansas.gov/law-enforcement/arkansas-state-police/services-programs/driver-examination/ (read 2026-10-04; links the study guide and the audio testing instructions, states no count or mark)
- https://media.ark.org/dps/Non-Commercial-DL-Testing-Rules_Current-Effective-as-of-7.23.21.pdf (the State Police's Non-Commercial Driver's License Testing Rules, read 2026-10-04; Rule 1 sets the five-day retest wait and no figure)