Montana supervised driving
How to fill out Montana’s Practice Driving Log
Montana’s MVD log tracks 50 hours of practice driving, 10 of them at night — or 75 hours with 15 at night for a driver who took a DOJ-approved alternative traffic-education course instead of the traditional one. The sheet is laid out as two tables side by side that read as one continuous list, and it carries a gap worth knowing about before the first entry: nothing on it distinguishes day driving from night.
Work down the left table, then the right
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Put the driver’s name on the sheet
The box above the tables reads “This Driving Log belongs to” and takes the teen driver’s name. It is the only identifying field on the form.
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Fill the left table before starting the right
The two tables are one list, not a day column and a night column. Entries continue from the bottom of the left table to the top of the right, and TOTAL TIME sits under the right-hand one.
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Describe the conditions and skills
The column header supplies its own examples — intersections, full stops, yields, scanning for hazards. That is the level of specificity it is after, session by session.
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Enter the amount of time and initial the row
Time is hours and minutes, so forty minutes is 0:40. The supervising adult initials each entry as it is made.
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Track the night hours somewhere else
The form has no day/night column, so a completed sheet showing 50 hours proves nothing about the 10 that must be at night — 15 on the 75-hour alternative-course path. Keep that subtotal alongside the log — nothing on the page will do it for you.
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Both of you sign
Under the right-hand table the parent or guardian and the teen driver each sign. Two signature lines, two different people.
A day of practice on one line, and what the sheet cannot show
Rows are per date rather than per drive, so a day with an afternoon and an evening session collapses onto a single line. Take twenty minutes in the afternoon of January 5 and twenty more after dark.
- Date
- 01/05/2026
- Conditions & Skills
- Intersections and scanning for hazards — the header’s own examples show the register
- Amount of Time
- 0:40 — both sessions, added together
- Initials
- The supervising adult’s initials for the day
- TOTAL TIME
- 2:36 after several days, under the right-hand table, climbing toward 50:00
Half of that 0:40 was after dark and the sheet has nowhere to say so. Montana asks for 10 night hours out of the 50, and a log that reaches 50:00 with no night record leaves the family unable to demonstrate the part of the requirement people most often finish last.
Where a Montana log falls short
- Treating the two tables as separate categories — day on the left, night on the right, say — when they are one continuous list that happens to be printed in two columns.
- Reaching 50 hours with no separate record of which of them were at night, when 10 of the 50 must be.
- Looking for TOTAL TIME under the left table; it sits beneath the right-hand one, after both are filled.
- Leaving the teen driver’s signature blank because the parent or guardian already signed.
What the export writes — and what it cannot
The log takes one row per calendar date, filling the left table before the right:
| On the Practice Driving Log | Comes from |
|---|---|
| This Driving Log belongs to | The student’s name, above the tables. |
| Date | The calendar date, with every drive that day merged onto one line. |
| Conditions & Skills | Your notes for that date’s driving, joined and trimmed to the cell. |
| Amount of Time | That date’s total logged time — day and night together, since the form offers no way to separate them — as hours and minutes. |
| Initials | Initials derived from the supervisors on that date, as a convenience; the adult still confirms the row. |
| Night hours | Nowhere on this form. Montana’s sheet has no day/night column, so the night subtotal is tracked alongside the log rather than on it. |
The two signature lines stay blank by design — the parent or guardian and the teen driver sign the printed sheet.
Frequently asked questions
Where do night hours go on the Montana log?
They do not — the sheet has no day/night column at all, even though 10 of the 50 hours must be at night. Track that subtotal separately so it can be shown when asked.
Is it always 50 hours?
The traditional path is 50 hours with 10 at night. A driver who completed a DOJ-approved alternative traffic-education course instead follows a 75-hour requirement with 15 at night — the same log, a higher finish line.
Are the two tables different categories?
No. They are one list printed in two columns to fit more rows on a page. Fill the left one down to its last row, then carry on at the top of the right.
Who signs the Montana log?
Both the parent or guardian and the teen driver, on the two lines beneath the right-hand table.
What goes in Conditions & Skills?
The header answers it: intersections, full stops, yields, scanning for hazards. Name what the session actually worked on at about that level.
Track your Montana hours
Log every supervised drive and Learner Log keeps the totals ready for the Practice Driving Log.
Still deciding how to keep the record? Compare paper against an app. Not sure where the Practice Driving Log ends up? See submitting a log versus certifying the hours.
Official sources: Official Practice Driving Log. Montana licensing instructions. This guide was last reviewed against the official form on ; Montana 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.