Driver's License Test Prep
Texas Practice Road Signs

You see a round road sign ahead in Texas. According to the manual, what does this shape indicate?

  1. A.
    A railroad crossing Correct
  2. B.
    A sharp curve
  3. C.
    A school zone
  4. D.
    A no-passing zone
The Why

The answer is "A railroad crossing"

The manual assigns the round shape to railroad advance warning signs, so a yellow disc posted before tracks is the shape telling you a crossing is coming. Pentagons mark school advance and school crossing signs; pennants mark the advance warning of no-passing zones; each shape names its own target. The trap is the school zone, chosen by a driver who locks in the pentagon first as the yellow warning shape from driver's ed and reaches for it whenever any warning-shape question comes up.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

B. A sharp curve

Curve warnings use the diamond shape in the manual. Comes from a habit of associating any yellow warning disc-like image with the curved arrow that appears on curve signs.

C. A school zone

School zones use the pentagon shape in the manual, not round. Picks the school shape because the pentagon is drilled first in driver's ed and gets carried over as the default answer for any warning-shape question.

D. A no-passing zone

The pennant shape marks no-passing zones in the manual. Reached for because a driver remembers a yellow warning on a two-lane road and defaults to the passing rule that lives on such roads.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Road Signs in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Chapter 5: Signals, Signs, and Markers, Table 17: Signs by Shape," p.26..

More from this topic

Related Texas questions

More than a book

You just took one Texas question apart. The book does it for the whole test.

The Texas book unlocks a free companion: an adaptive study plan, progress synced across your devices, a denser laminate cheat sheet, and a test-day walkthrough. Verify your copy once, usually in seconds; there's nothing extra to buy.

Get the book on Amazon

$18.99 paperback, free companion included.

Free study plan

Your free Texas study plan

A short run of study emails for the Texas DPS test: what to drill, the rules people trip on, and a final pre-test checklist. The printable cheat sheet is free to grab either way.

One email a few times a month. No spam, unsubscribe anytime. Privacy.