What's in Texas adult drivers ed, and what it doesn't do

What are the nine modules?

Module 1 introduces the course and Module 9 is the final exam. The seven between cover your license, right-of-way, signs and signals, traffic flow, alcohol and drugs, other road users, and managing risk, in that order.

Which modules cover the DPS knowledge exam material?

Module 4, Traffic Control Devices, carries the signs, and the traffic law runs through Modules 2, 3 and 5. The final exam tests both halves, 20 sign questions and 20 law questions, and passing it satisfies the highway sign and traffic law portions of the DPS knowledge exam.

You need 70% on each half, with 3 attempts. How the final exam works. The rest of the DPS process, including the road test, stays where it is; here is what the course does not do.

How is the course put together?

As 95 timed sections, 7 knowledge checks, 2 videos, 2 breaks and a two-part final exam.

• 95 sections across the 9 modules, each with a minimum time before you can advance.
• 7 knowledge checks, one closing each module from 2 through 8.
• 2 videos in Module 7, each followed by questions on what you just watched.
• 2 built-in breaks of fifteen minutes.
• A two-part final examination of 40 questions.

The section timers are what make it six hours; how long the course takes shows where the minutes go.

Is the course the same at every provider?

The topics are, because Texas writes the syllabus. The state publishes a Program of Organized Instruction for the adult six-hour course, adopted into the administrative code. It enumerates every required topic, down to lettered sub-requirements, and a provider has to map its curriculum to all of them to be approved. Nobody can drop the boring parts or add a shortcut.

What a provider does control is whether the material reads like it was written for a person. That is the thing to compare, so look at a sample of the writing before you pay.

Common questions