That would be the Examen Teórico required of all new Gringo drivers in La República.
It's a 20-question multiple-choice test offered up by ANT, La Agencia Nacional de Tránsito, the Ecuador DMV. The questions come from among a bank of hundreds of questions, some of which are specific to license class A, B or other.
Sample tests are available online at the ANT website www.ant.gob.ec
Anyway, here are 10 things I learned during my first session preparing for the examen...
10. Gringos who plan to drive regular cars should prepare for the test for license class B. Class A is for those who would dare to risk their lives riding a motorcycle in Ecuador. There's a chart at the ANT site for would-be drivers of trucks, executive taxis and funny cars.
9. A common question on the class B demonstration exams has to do with when to check your oil. The correct answer is when the car is horizontal and the engine is cold.
8. ANT wants to persuade motorists that their kids should ride only in the back seat so as not to distract the driver. That's in another frequent question.
7. For some reason, test takers are supposed to be able to distinguish between the non-verbal road sign designs for a karaoke, kayakkers and underwater excursions.
6. The sign with the big H is likely for hotel, not hospital. This came up on only one sample exam, and the answer was hotel.
5. You may legally drive in Ecuador with a tinted, anti-glare windshield even if it compromises your vision, provided the tinting was originally done at a factory where it was legal to install. Bolivia, I'm guessing.
4. The hardest questions IMO require you to know (and by that I mean guess) the 2- or 3-part penalties that apply to such infractions as driving without a valid license or driving without using a seat belt, i.e. number of points, days of suspension and the fine which is based on a percentage of how much an Ecuadorian earns in a month.
3. Trucks may legally go at 100 kilometers per hour on highway straightaways, but only 60 kph on curved urban streets.
2. There are a lot of words on the Spanish-language-only tests that did not appear in your high school Spanish textbook and were not mentioned in your latest trip to the local fruit mercado. More on this in an upcoming post.
And the #1 thing I learned while preparing for this drivers examen....
1. Every question requires you to choose among three possible answers, so if you just guess at them, you may only get 6 or 7 correct. Some Gringo drivers told me you need to get 15 out of 20 correct in order to pass, but I don't see that confirmed on the ANT website.
cccmedia in Quito