New Mexico Road Test Checklist 2026 (Free Printable)

Study sheet for before your test. Notes aren’t allowed in the DMV test room. Every state bans notes, phones and printouts during the knowledge test, in person and online.

Study sheet for before your test. Notes aren’t allowed in the DMV test room.
Source: New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division (Taxation and Revenue Department) and New Mexico law, sources numbered below · Checked October 4, 2026 · Printed Oct 12, 2026 · drivingtestpal.com/new-mexico/study-sheets/road-test-checklist/

New Mexico · Road test

New Mexico road-test checklist

Road test (road skills exam)

Tick each box during practice drives in the weeks before your test. The numbers in brackets are the sources listed at the bottom.

How it’s scored: Points-deduction score sheet (MVD-10258). You start with 100 points and each error costs a set number of points by category (for example Speed Control and Right of Way: 5 for improvement needed, 10 for poor; Right and Left Turns: 3 or 7; Lane Use: 2 or 4; Signaling and Steering: 1 or 3). Passing grade is 70: more than 30 points off fails. Failing any maneuver can end the test immediately. [3, 4]

Bring to the test [3]

A vehicle of the same class as the license you are applying for
The vehicle's current certificate of registration, in the vehicle
Proof of insurance (a current insurance certificate)
For teens who tested at an MVD-contracted driver education school: the completed record with passing test scores

Vehicle check before you go [3, 4]

Same class as the license applied for
Properly registered and insured
In good working condition; the examiner inspects it before the test
Equipment checked on the score sheet: seat belts, windshield and side glass, rear-view mirrors, muffler, parking brake, horn, wipers, headlamps, front and rear signals, rear window, tail lamps, rear reflectors, stop lamps, speedometer
Ignition interlock device if applying for an ignition interlock license
No children or pets in the vehicle; other passengers strongly discouraged

Maneuvers the examiner scores [3]

Pre-test vehicle equipment check
Right turns
Left turns
Signal- and stop-sign-controlled intersections
Parallel parking on a hill or grade (may be tested)

Skills checked throughout [3, 4]

Starting
Speed control
Right of way
Lane use, lane changes and passing
Signaling, steering, engine control and brakes
Seat belt

Automatic failures: never do these [3, 4]

Not being able to show the pre-test equipment items (mirrors, parking brake, horn, wipers, lights, flashers, signals)
Not knowing how to start the vehicle
Not fastening the seat belt before putting the vehicle in gear
Being dangerously inexperienced (for example, no behind-the-wheel experience)
Any collision causing property damage or injury (striking a car, pedestrian or fixed object)
A near collision avoided only by another driver's evasive action (or a pedestrian dodging)
The examiner has to grab the wheel or pull the emergency brake
Driving or stalling in a dangerous place (over a sidewalk, on a railroad track, in an intersection)
Passing on a blind curve, the crest of a hill or in any no-passing zone
Turning from the wrong lane when traffic makes it dangerous
Speeding 15 mph or more over the posted limit
Running any red light or stop sign
Refusing to perform any maneuver on the test
Offering the examiner a bribe
Score sheet immediate failures also list: stalling in a busy intersection from inexperience, driving two wheels over the curb or onto the sidewalk, lack of control, a flagrant arrestable traffic violation, and repeated failure to follow instructions

Sources

mvd.newmexico.gov: chapter 4 provisional drivers license
mvd.newmexico.gov: what tests are required to get a new mexico driver license
mvd.newmexico.gov: chapter 11 road and written test requirements
realfile.tax.newmexico.gov: mvd10258 (PDF)
mvd.newmexico.gov: drivers educational info