The Model Town Board

The Model Town Board is a scale model of a town road network — a physical board with roads, junctions and signs — used in the NTSA practical test. You'll be asked to name its parts, read its markings, and move a model car from point to point correctly. It's the one place where everything in this module gets tested in miniature before it's tested at full size.

The parts you must be able to name: a one-way road, a two-way road, a roundabout, parking zones, a yellow kerb, a pedestrian crossing, a Stop sign, a Give Way sign, an exit from the main road, an exit from the controlled parking zone, and road markings — arrows, reflectors, and delta marks.

The two parking zones — and the rules the test loves:

Angle parking (the controlled zone): vehicles flow one direction through it, with a designated entrance and exit.

• Strictly for small cars (saloons) only
• Park from the farthest end first
• Enter the bay by forward gear
• Leave by reverse

Flush parking (parallel, on the left side in the direction of traffic — the uncontrolled zone):

• All vehicle types except tractors and trailers
• Park from the farthest end, and leave space for the exit
• Enter the space by reverse
• Leave by forward driving

Notice the two zones are mirror images: angle is forward-in, reverse-out; flush is reverse-in, forward-out. That symmetry is the most commonly confused fact on the board — and it isn't arbitrary. Angled bays are cut so a forward entry sweeps you in cleanly; a parallel space on a live road is only enterable accurately in reverse, which is why real-world kerb parking (taught later in this module) works the same way.

The route rules: when asked to drive the board from point to point, use the shortest most correct route without using the parking, or the longest most correct route without using the parking — whichever is asked. The parking zone may be used as a route only as a last option, when no other route exists. "Correct" outranks "short": a route that breaks a one-way arrow or misses a Give Way is wrong at any length.