Adjusting your mirrors — Maine Permit Test
Adjusting your mirrors on the Maine permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Adjust the inside mirror so that it frames the rear window.
A mirror aimed at the roof or the back seat shows you nothing of the road behind.
Adjust the inside mirror so that it frames the rear window.
Adjust your rearview and side mirrors before you start driving, because in heavy traffic you won't have time to adjust them.
Reaching for a mirror in busy traffic takes your eyes and a hand off the road when it matters most.
Adjust the rearview and side mirrors before you start driving because in heavy traffic, when you really need them, you won't have time to adjust them.
To set the left side mirror, rest your head against the closed left window and set the mirror so you can barely see the rear left edge of your vehicle.
A mirror full of your own car leaves a wide blind spot where a passing car hides.
To set the left side mirror, rest your head against the closed left window.
To set the right side mirror, lean right so your head is directly below the rearview mirror, then set it so you can barely see the right side of your vehicle.
Set from your normal seat, the right mirror shows mostly your own door and misses the next lane.
To set the right-side mirror, lean to the right so your head is directly below the rearview mirror.
On the test
How should the inside rearview mirror be set?
So it frames the rear window. A mirror aimed at the roof or the back seat shows you nothing of the road behind. Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.39: “Adjust the inside mirror so that it frames the rear window.”
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 Maine Driver’s License Manual, published by the Maine Secretary of State, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME.pdf (Maine Driver’s License Manual, Rev 4/24, Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME.pages.txt (scripts/me-text.sh: plain pdftotext except physical 82, which is -layout; the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME-exam.html (Maine BMV, Drivers License Exam page, https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/driver-licenses-and-ids/car-license/drivers-license-exam, read 2026-10-04; states both exam figures; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/driver-licenses-and-ids/car-license/driver-license-manual-and-Maine-motorist-handbook-and-study-guide (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)