Hungary is unusual: its driving exam routes are official and published. Every exam start point has its own set of designated routes, and on the day the exam application picks one at random. That makes your driving lessons the place to work through those routes, because in Hungary lessons are the only practice you get.
Under Decree 24/2005 (GKM), practical driving may be done only under the supervision of a driving instructor, with an official driving log, in a certified training car. Draft reforms in 2025 and early 2026 proposed letting family members supervise learners, but none has been adopted, so the rule stands.
The minimum training
For category B the decree sets at least 29 hours of practical driving and 580 km with your instructor. Most learners need more than that: at a 2024 briefing reported by Telex, the typical candidate was said to need 45 to 46 hours of driving before passing. Planning how those hours are spent matters as much as how many there are.
How the exam routes work
The traffic exam (forgalmi vizsga) can only be held on an exam route designated by the transport authority, and each route includes the start point and the main junctions along the way. The rules require at least five routes from each start point, mostly on roads with steady traffic, with at least two signal-controlled junctions (one of which may be a roundabout). One of the routes should include a main road outside town or, where possible, a motorway or expressway.
On the day, the examiner's exam application selects the route and the manoeuvres at random. Your instructor sits next to you and relays the directions; the examiner does not give you instructions. To pass, you must drive through every junction on the route, unless traffic forces a diversion, and complete at least 80% of the prescribed driving time.
The official route list is updated from time to time, and the number of routes has grown. In 2025 HVG reported that some cities now have 15 to 20, more than many learners manage to drive within their required lessons.
What the numbers say
The exam centre KAV counted 85,211 successful category B traffic exams in 2025. Earlier KAV figures reported in the press put the first-attempt pass rate for the traffic exam at 50% in 2021 and 47% in 2022.
Plan your lessons around the routes
- Get the current list for your start point. Ask your driving school which start point you will use and check the latest official route list, because it changes from time to time.
- Spread the routes across your lessons. With five or more routes per start point, agree with your instructor which routes you will drive in which lessons, so that each one gets driven at least once and the hardest ones twice.
- Learn the junctions, not the turns. The pass rule is about driving through every junction on the route, so get to know the difficult ones: their lanes, signals and give-way lines.
- Get used to directions from your instructor. In the exam the directions come from your instructor, not the examiner, so practise following them calmly and early.
- Preview before you drive. Look at the area at home before the lesson, so lesson time goes on driving rather than on finding your way.
- Keep a short note. After each lesson, note which routes and junctions went well and which need another go.
Common mistakes on the traffic exam
- Lane choice at junctions. Get into the correct lane early, especially at multi-lane junctions with traffic lights.
- Roundabouts. Signal clearly before your exit and check your mirrors as you leave.
- Trams and pedestrians. In the cities with trams, know where they have priority, and look for pedestrians at every crossing.
- Speed changes. Watch for the signs at the start and end of built-up areas and be at the new speed as you pass them.
SteerClear practice routes in Hungary
SteerClear has more than 600 practice routes around 86 exam start points, including 13 in Budapest (such as Budapest – Váci út 178) and others in Debrecen, Szeged, Pécs and Győr. A typical route is about 16 km and takes around half an hour. These are SteerClear practice routes on the same local road network, not the official exam route list, so drive the official routes with your instructor too, and use SteerClear for scored drives on the roads around them.
Bring SteerClear to your lessons
Pick your exam location in the SteerClear app and preview its routes at home, so you know where the tricky junctions and speed changes are before you get in the car. At the start of a lesson, show your instructor the route you would like to drive and drive it together, with turn-by-turn navigation and live scoring. The score after each drive shows you both what improved and what to work on in the next lesson, and Mac, your AI driving coach, helps you decide what to practise next.
Find your centre among the 86 on the Hungary exam locations page, read the Hungarian practical driving test guide, and download SteerClear to plan your next lesson.