Take the controls practice
Ten vehicle controls questions, free, no account needed, with a written explanation on every answer. Sign in and pick your licence class and the questions follow it — a motorcycle learner is not asked about a rear window.
Start the free controls practiceWhat this section actually asks you
Most people prepare for vehicle controls by learning the names of the parts, and then find the questions are asking something else entirely.
The official learner-driver manual shows a diagram of a cab or a motorcycle with the controls numbered, and every sample question in it is of one of three forms: which number performs this action, which number is used before this action, and which numbers are used in combination to achieve this action. The third form is the one that catches people, because it has more than one right answer and no way to guess.
So the useful preparation is not "this is the clutch". It is "the clutch is what I use with the gear lever to change gear, and it is also what stops me stalling just before I come to a standstill". Same part, two different questions.
The second thing worth knowing before you start: several answers in the manual are the mirror. Which control do you use before you brake? The mirror. Before you change speed? The mirror. That is a sequence being tested, not a trick.
The eleven controls of a light motor vehicle
As numbered in the Department of Transport learner-driver manual. The numbering is what the questions refer to, so it is worth knowing in this order.
| No. | Control | What it is asked about |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centre rear-view mirror | Checked before braking, before changing speed, and to see behind you |
| 2 | Windscreen wiper | Keeping the windscreen clear in rain |
| 3 | Left and right rear-view mirrors | Traffic to the rear and to the sides, including before changing direction |
| 4 | Steering wheel | Changing the direction of the vehicle, and turning |
| 5 | Indicator light switch | Telling other road users you intend to turn or change direction |
| 6 | Gear lever | Selecting a gear — used together with the clutch |
| 7 | Hand brake | Keeping a parked vehicle stationary, and holding it on an incline. Foot-operated on some vehicles |
| 8 | Clutch | Engaging and disengaging a gear, and avoiding a stall just before standstill |
| 9 | Brake | Reducing speed, stopping, and stopping in an emergency |
| 10 | Accelerator | Increasing and decreasing speed |
| 11 | Horn | Alerting another road user to avoid a collision |
An automatic has the same list with one gap: number 8 does not exist, because an automatic has no clutch. That is the manual's own first sample question, and it is the single most predictable question in this section.
The nine controls of a motorcycle
A different diagram with different numbering. If you applied for a motorcycle learner's licence, this is your list and the one above is not.
| No. | Control |
|---|---|
| 1 | Gear lever |
| 2 | Clutch |
| 3 | Left and right rear-view mirrors |
| 4 | Front brake |
| 5 | Throttle |
| 6 | Indicator light switch |
| 7 | Rear brake, operated by foot |
| 8 | Handlebars |
| 9 | Fuel tank |
Two brakes with two separate controls is the whole difference from a car, and it is where the combination questions come from: stopping a motorcycle uses 4 and 7 together, and 2 joins them immediately before standstill.
A written self-test
Which control is not found in an automatic vehicle?
The clutch. On the manual's numbering that is control 8. Everything else in the list is on both, including the gear lever, which works differently on an automatic but is still there.
Which control do you use before applying the brake to slow down or stop?
The centre rear-view mirror. The question is about the sequence rather than the braking: you check what is behind you before you change your speed, so that the car following you is not surprised by it. The same answer applies to "before changing the speed of the vehicle".
Which controls do you use together to change gear in a manual car?
The gear lever and the clutch — 6 and 8. Either one alone is the wrong answer, which is what makes this a combination question rather than a naming question.
Which control stops the car stalling just before you come to a complete standstill?
The clutch. Disengaging it separates the engine from the gearbox, so the engine keeps running as the wheels stop. The brake is what brings you to the standstill; the clutch is what keeps the engine alive through it.
You have stopped on a steep incline and do not want to roll backwards. Which control?
The hand brake — control 7, or a foot-operated parking brake on some vehicles. The same control is the answer to keeping a parked vehicle stationary and to leaving a vehicle unattended.
Which control do you use before changing direction?
The indicator light switch, to tell other road users what you intend to do. Note the difference from the previous pattern: before changing speed you check the mirror, before changing direction you signal — and the mirrors come into it too, because monitoring traffic is what control 3 is for.
When you brake, the distance it takes to stop is longer on a wet road, longer at higher speed, and longer with a load. Which of these is correct?
All three. This is the one question in the section that is not about a control at all, and it appears in the manual for both the car and the motorcycle — on a bike the third item is a passenger rather than a load.
On a motorcycle, which control regulates the fuel supply to the engine?
The throttle — the twist grip, control 5. It is what you use to ride faster and to slow down, which is why it turns up in the combination answers about controlling speed alongside the two brakes.
On a motorcycle, which controls bring you to a complete standstill?
The front brake and the rear brake together — 4 and 7. Immediately before the standstill the clutch joins them, giving 2, 4 and 7. A car learner answering this from habit picks one brake and gets it wrong.
Which control tells another road user you are there, in order to avoid a collision?
The horn. Worth remembering as the one control whose only legitimate use is safety — the rules of the road restrict it to exactly that, and to the signals the regulations require.
A heavy vehicle, in this manual, has the same eleven controls
This surprises people, so it is worth stating plainly. The manual's heavy-vehicle section shows a truck cab, and then lists the same eleven numbered controls as the light motor vehicle: mirror, wiper, side mirrors, steering wheel, indicator, gear lever, hand brake, clutch, brake, accelerator, horn.
What differs for a heavy applicant is the vehicle the questions are asked about, not a different set of levers in this part of the syllabus. If you were expecting air brakes and differential locks, they are not in the learner-driver manual — and we do not have a source in the official material that puts them in this section, so we are not going to tell you they are.
The mistake
Treating controls as the easy section and leaving it for the night before. It is the shortest of the three, which people read as forgiving and which actually means the opposite: fewer questions is less room to drop one.
The second is studying the wrong diagram. The controls section is the only part of the test tied to the class you applied for, so a motorcycle applicant who revised a car cockpit has revised the wrong list, and a heavy applicant who revised only a motorcycle has done the same in the other direction.
Common questions
Are these the questions used in the test?
No. These are practice questions written from the National Road Traffic Act, its regulations and the Department of Transport learner-driver manual. Nobody publishes the question bank used at the centre, and a site claiming to reproduce it is claiming something it cannot.
Why is the controls section different for each licence class?
Because the regulation says so. The examiner must be satisfied that you know the controls of a motor vehicle of the class to which your application relates, so the questions follow the class. Rules of the road and road signs are common to everyone.
Do I need to know the control numbers themselves?
You need to be able to read a numbered diagram, because that is how the questions are put. Learning the numbers in the manual's order is a reasonable shortcut, but knowing what each control does for each action is what actually answers the questions.
Will I be asked about warning lights or ABS?
We cannot tell you, and we will not guess. The official learner-driver manual covers the numbered controls above and does not deal with dashboard warning lights, anti-lock brakes, head restraints or demisters at all. Our own library covers warning lights separately because they matter for driving, not because a source puts them in this section.
Is the controls practice free?
Ten controls questions are free with no account, each with a written explanation. The full bank and the written controls library are part of the paid access.
Sources
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 104(2)(a)(iii)The examiner must satisfy himself or herself that the applicant knows and understands "the controls of a motor vehicle of the class to which the application relates". This is the provision that makes the controls area, and only the controls area, class-specific.
- South African Learner Driver Manual, Vehicle Components and Controls (Department of Transport, v1.00, June 2012) — §2.2 and §2.5The eleven numbered controls of a light motor vehicle with a manual and an automatic gearbox, including the note that "automatic vehicles do not have a clutch control" and that the hand brake is foot-operated on some vehicles.
- South African Learner Driver Manual, Vehicle Components and Controls — §1.2 and §1.3The nine numbered controls of a motorcycle, and the sample questions from which the combination answers on this page are taken — stopping with the front and rear brakes, and the clutch joining them immediately before standstill.
- South African Learner Driver Manual, Vehicle Components and Controls — §2.6 and §2.11The sample questions for the light and heavy motor vehicle, including the mirror as the control used before braking and before changing speed, the clutch as the control that avoids a stall before standstill, and the stopping-distance question whose answer is all three of wet road, higher speed and load.
- South African Learner Driver Manual, Vehicle Components and Controls — §2.7 and §2.8The heavy motor vehicle section: a truck cab, and the same eleven numbered controls as the light motor vehicle. Checked for air brakes, retarders, differential locks and coupling equipment — the manual does not deal with them.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 310AThe hooter may be used on a public road only where necessary to comply with the regulations or on the grounds of safety.
Last updated 2026-09-21.