Mississippi Driver's License Manual: study guide

Key rules by chapter

A few of the rules from each chapter that come up in our practice questions:

1. License Requirements; Military and College Students

• Driving without a valid license or learner's permit is illegal, even if accompanied by a parent or licensed driver.
• An affidavit must certify that the applicant was witnessed operating a motor vehicle for at least fifty hours.
• Beginning July 1, 2027, applicants must show completion of a certified Driver's Education course.

2. Types of Licenses & Permits; Application Requirements; The Examination

• Your Computerized Exam score is valid for two years.
• You must hold the learner's permit for one year, unless you turn seventeen first.
• If issued a permit at fifteen and one-half, you are eligible for a Regular Driver's License at sixteen and one-half.

3. Vehicle Equipment; Squatted Vehicle Law

• The foot brake must stop the vehicle within thirty feet at 20 mph; the parking brake within fifty-five feet.
• Your vehicle must have a horn that can be heard two hundred feet away.
• The taillight must be red and visible five hundred feet behind you.

4. Safe Driving Basics; Before You Drive; Distractions

• Most people need 7 to 9 hours of sleep to maintain proper alertness.
• Plan to stop about every 100 miles or 2 hours during long trips.
• Place hands at 3 and 9 o'clock; 2 and 10 is no longer recommended because it can be dangerous with airbags.

5. Pavement Markings; Traffic Signs and Signals; Railroad Crossings; Traffic Signal Lights

• A double solid white line separates same-direction lanes; crossing it is prohibited.
• A single solid white line separates same-direction lanes; crossing it is discouraged.
• An arrow pointing left means you must turn left; if you're in the wrong lane, keep going and correct your route when safe.

6. Rules of the Road & Safe Driving (speeds, signals, following, braking, lanes, passing, turning, right-of-way, school buses, pedestrians, parking)

• The maximum speed on interstates is 70 mph, with a 40 mph minimum.
• The minimum speed on interstates and four-lane highways is 40 mph.
• Four-lane state and U.S. highways have a 65 mph maximum.

7. Night Driving, Seat Belts, Hazardous Conditions, Accidents, Emergency Vehicles, Traffic Stops

• Use low beams within five hundred feet of an oncoming vehicle or when following within five hundred feet.
• The manual says to use low beams when following within five hundred feet of another vehicle.
• Use lights between sunset and sunrise and any other time you can't see clearly ahead for 500 feet.

8. Interstate Driving; Large Vehicles; Bicycles

• Be in the correct lane at least one-quarter mile from your exit.
• At seventy mph, stay at least seven car lengths from the vehicle ahead; at fifty, at least five.
• The speed limit for interstate driving is seventy miles per hour for both day and night.

9. Vehicle Documentation; Insurance; DUI & Implied Consent; Suspension/Revocation; Littering

• You are required by law to mount your Mississippi license plate on the rear of your vehicle.
• You must have a tag light that makes the plate visible at sixty feet at night.
• The windshield must carry a label certifying all windows have a light transmittance of 28% or more.

10. Class D License

• You must have a CDL for a single vehicle with a GVWR of more than 26,000 pounds.
• A CDL is required for vehicles designed to transport more than fifteen persons, including the driver.
• Trucks outside business or residential districts must not follow within three hundred feet of other trucks except when passing.

11. Appendices: Organ Donation, Natchez Trace, Share the Road

• Violations on the Parkway or its facilities are tried in a federal court.
• Commercial vehicles are excluded from the Parkway, and access is limited.
• The Parkway is patrolled by National Park Rangers; report accidents, fires and emergencies to the nearest Ranger or call 1-800-300-PARK (7275).

How to study the handbook

Read one chapter, then take a practice test. Every answer explanation names the handbook section it comes from, so when you get one wrong, go back to that section. Pay most attention to exact numbers and to the rules specific to Mississippi, which are where most people lose points.

The '30 questions / 80%' figures seen online come only from third-party practice sites, so they are not used here.