Arkansas road tests are administered by the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA). Arkansas is one of two states with no required supervised driving hours before the road test. There’s no minimum number of hours to log. You take a written knowledge test to get the learner’s permit, then schedule the road test when ready.

What “no required hours” actually means

Arkansas not requiring supervised hours doesn’t mean skipping practice is a good idea. The road test still covers the same fundamental skills as every other state. Teens who show up with minimal practice fail at much higher rates.

The lack of a legal minimum means the practice burden falls entirely on the family. Most driving experts recommend a minimum of 30-50 hours of supervised practice regardless of what the state requires. Arkansas just doesn’t mandate it.

What the test covers

Arkansas road tests run on public streets near the revenue office. Tests last about 15-20 minutes.

Skills tested:

Left and right turns at intersections
Stopping at signs and signals
Lane changes
Parallel parking at most locations
Backing
Speed management
Following distance
Mirror and observation habits

What gets people failed

Not stopping fully at stop signs. Complete stop, wheels stopped. Rolling through is the most common failure in Arkansas.

Parallel parking. Hitting cones, mounting the curb, or ending up far from the curb are common failures.

Blind spot checks. Signal, mirror, head turn to check the blind spot, then move. Examiners watch for the head turn on every lane change.

Turning too wide. Left turns to the leftmost lane, right turns to the rightmost. Drifting wide is a consistent deduction.

Speed. Arkansas residential default is 30 mph in most areas. Stay at or below the limit.

Before the test

Arkansas requires no supervised hours but still requires:

Valid Arkansas learner’s permit
Vehicle registration and current insurance
Parent or guardian if under 18

If you want to track practice anyway

Even without a state requirement, many Arkansas families use an app or paper log to track practice time and make sure they’re covering a range of conditions before the test. Moda works for Arkansas even without a mandatory hour count. Download on the App Store

Full Arkansas permit requirements: Arkansas permit hours

Stop manually tracking hours. Moda logs driving automatically.

Auto-detects night driving, exports DMV forms, and syncs across family phones.