Maryland supervised driving
How to fill out Maryland’s RD-006 practice log
The practice log inside Maryland’s New Driver & Coach Practice Guide records each session between clock times, and its final column is a running total rather than the length of that session. A new driver under 25 practices a minimum of 60 hours with at least ten at night; a driver 25 or older completes 14 hours with 3 at night.
Log a session between two clock times
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Enter the date and the start time
The row opens with when the session began, in clock time. The log is built around start and end rather than a duration, so noting the time at the wheel is easier than reconstructing it later.
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Name the skill or activity practiced
This column sits between Start Time and End Time rather than at the end of the row, which catches people out when filling several rows quickly. Name what the session was for — parking, night driving, highway merging.
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Enter the end time
The session closes with the clock time it finished. Start and end together are the record of how long the practice actually ran.
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Add the session to the running total
Total Number of Hours Completed is cumulative — the figure after this session, not its length. A 20-minute drive following 0.33 hours of practice makes the column read 0.67, never 0.33 again.
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Aim at the requirement matching the driver’s age
Under 25 means a minimum of 60 hours including at least ten at night, with bad-weather practice encouraged where possible. A driver 25 or older needs 14 hours with 3 at night. The guide is explicit that 60 is a suggested minimum and more practice is better.
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Sign the Certification for Rookie Drivers page
The log sits inside a coaching booklet, but one of those pages is a form to complete: the Certification for Rookie Drivers. It names the driver in the under-25 or 25-or-older statement, then a parent, guardian, mentor or coach signs, dates and writes the driver’s license number under penalty of perjury. That statement also spells out prerequisites the hours alone do not: the supervising adult must be 21 or older and licensed at least three years, and the practice hours are in addition to the 6 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction from driver education.
The second session, and why the last column jumps
The final column is the one families most often fill in wrongly, because on most logs the last number in a row is that row’s duration. Assume the log already shows one 20-minute session at 0.33, and a second 20-minute session follows that evening.
- Date
- 01/05/2026
- Start Time
- 8:10 PM
- Skill or Activity Practiced
- Night driving on quiet roads — the column sits here, before End Time
- End Time
- 8:30 PM
- Total Number of Hours Completed
- 0.67 — the record so far, not this session’s 0.33
Writing 0.33 in that column because the drive lasted 20 minutes turns a cumulative record into a list of durations, and the last row then reads as though barely any practice has happened. The column only ever climbs; the last row is the figure that has to reach the requirement.
Where a Maryland practice log goes wrong
- Writing each session’s length in the Total Number of Hours Completed column instead of the running total, which leaves the final row understating the practice by most of it.
- Filling the third column with the end time, because Skill or Activity Practiced sits between Start Time and End Time rather than after them.
- Working to 60 hours for a driver aged 25 or older, whose requirement is 14 hours with 3 at night.
- Reading 60 hours as a ceiling — the guide calls it a suggested minimum and says plainly that more practice leads to safer driving.
- Leaving Start Time and End Time blank on sessions logged only as a duration, which empties two of the row’s five columns.
- Treating every page but the chart as advice and leaving the Certification for Rookie Drivers unsigned — that page carries the signature, date and driver’s license number the MVA needs.
- Counting on the logged hours alone, when the certification also requires a supervisor 21 or older licensed at least three years, and the hours to be in addition to driver education’s 6 behind-the-wheel hours.
How logged sessions build the practice log
The export writes one row per session and carries the running total down the column the way the form expects:
| On the New Driver & Coach Practice Guide (RD-006) | Comes from |
|---|---|
| Date | The session’s date. Two sessions on one date are two rows, since each has its own clock times. |
| Start Time / End Time | The session’s recorded clock times, printed into the two columns rather than collapsed into a duration. A drive logged as a duration with no start and end carries none, so those two cells print empty and need completing by hand. |
| Skill or Activity Practiced | What that session covered, from the skills recorded against the drive. |
| Total Number of Hours Completed | The cumulative total after that session, recomputed down the sheet — so a drive corrected months later re-cascades instead of leaving a stale figure mid-log. |
| Certification for Rookie Drivers | The driver’s name is stamped into the age-based certify statement; the signature, date and driver’s license number stay blank for the parent, guardian, mentor or coach to complete on the printed page. |
The booklet’s other pages are coaching advice, with one exception: the Certification for Rookie Drivers is a form to sign. This chart records the hours; that page certifies them.
Frequently asked questions
Is the last column the session length or a running total?
A running total. It shows hours completed after that session, so it climbs down the sheet and the final row is the figure that has to meet the requirement.
Does the requirement change with the driver’s age?
Yes. Under 25 is a minimum of 60 hours with at least ten at night. A driver 25 or older completes 14 hours, 3 of which must be at night.
Does Maryland require bad-weather practice?
The guide encourages it — “if possible, plan to allow your new driver to practice in bad weather” — rather than setting a number of hours you have to hit.
Why is the skill column in the middle of the row?
That is simply the form’s layout: Date, Start Time, Skill or Activity Practiced, End Time, then the running total. Filling rows quickly is where it catches people out.
Is there anything to sign, or just the log?
There is a Certification for Rookie Drivers page to sign. A parent, guardian, mentor or coach signs and dates it and enters the driver’s license number, certifying under penalty of perjury that the hours were completed under a supervisor 21 or older licensed at least three years, in addition to the 6 behind-the-wheel hours from driver education.
Track your Maryland hours
Log every supervised drive and Learner Log keeps the totals ready for the New Driver & Coach Practice Guide (RD-006).
Still deciding how to keep the record? Compare paper against an app. Not sure where the New Driver & Coach Practice Guide (RD-006) ends up? See submitting a log versus certifying the hours.
Official sources: Official New Driver & Coach Practice Guide (RD-006). Maryland licensing instructions. This guide was last reviewed against the official form on ; Maryland can change its form or instructions at any time, so confirm the current version at the links above. Learner Log is an independent tracking tool, not affiliated with any licensing agency.