Signs and road markings on the theory test
The test rarely asks whether you know a sign's name. It asks whether you know what the sign requires of you right where it stands – and what the plate beneath it and the lines on the road do to that.
What the test asks
Three things, over and over. What the sign means for you as a car driver – not as a dictionary definition, but as an action: stop, give way, hold a speed, do not turn. Where the rule applies from and to – at the post, until the next junction, throughout a zone. And what happens when several messages stand together: a main sign with a plate, a solid line beside a prohibition, a flashing amber light above a give-way sign.
Road markings are their own branch of the theme. Broken, warning, solid and hatched are four different messages, and the test likes to ask what you may do over each of them.
From the course
One of the diagrams in the chapter “Signs, signals and police directions”.
The mock-exam split is our own – Statens vegvesen publishes none.
The traps
The biggest is reading a warning as a rule. A warning sign imposes nothing new – it tells you to drive according to the conditions. Who gives way at the junction it warns of is decided by the give-way signs, not by the triangle.
The second is forgetting the plate. A supplementary plate can narrow the rule to certain times or vehicles, or stretch it over a distance. If you read only the main sign, you answer a different question from the one asked.
How to practise the theme
The course has a chapter on signs and signals and one on the road and its markings. The signs section shows all 277 signs group by group, and the sign drill trains recognition with four close alternatives.
Topic practice tests what the exam actually asks: what the sign requires of you in the situation. Five questions are free; full access opens all 283, the whole sign catalogue and the drill.
The chapters that cover the theme
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Signs, signals and police directions Full access
The sign groups and the logic behind them, priority, give-way and prohibition signs, traffic lights and the order of precedence between police, lights and signs.
3 lessons · 10 min -
The road and the traffic environment Full access
Road types, carriageway and lanes, and what the road markings mean.
3 lessons · 12 min
Ready to pass the theory test?
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know all 277 signs for the theory test?
You need to recognise the ones you can meet as a car driver and know what they require of you. The test does not ask for sign numbers, and it shows you the sign rather than describing it. Learn the groups first – shape and colour tell you what kind of message it is before you have read the symbol.
From where does a prohibitory sign apply?
From the sign until the next junction, unless a plate says otherwise or the sign is repeated. A zone sign applies throughout the zone until you pass the end-of-zone sign.
May I cross a warning line?
The warning line announces that a solid line is coming – crossing it is not prohibited, but it tells you it is too late to start overtaking. A solid line must not be crossed.
The other themes on the test
- The Norwegian theory test (class B) – how to practise and pass
- Right of way on the theory test
- Speed and positioning on the theory test
- Laws and rules on the theory test
- Driver and owner responsibility on the theory test
- The vehicle on the theory test
- Driver and other road users on the theory test
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