We all took a parking test to get our driver’s license. Yet trying to slot into a spot downtown, with a row of cars honking behind us, we never seem to get it right. Why? You are probably getting nervous and rushing process, mis-positioning your car for starters, then “over shooting” the angle you need. Here’s how to nail that parking job every time.

First and foremost: you need to relax. It’s much harder to remember your parallel parking training when you’re nervous. I know that’s easier said than done. According to The Zebra insurance broker, 49% of American drivers report some form of “parallelophobia.” And most of them (24%) say they are worried about holding up traffic.

Let’s take this opportunity to reframe parallel parking–together. We all have to do it from time to time. Waiting a few seconds for other drivers to parallel park is just part of life. If we hurry them and make them nervous, they may hit someone else’s vehicle. And that’s bad car-ma. (Like karma, get it?) So we can all start by being patient with one another.

Personally, it bugs me to no end when I stop, put on my signal to parallel park, and traffic tries to cut around me, not leaving me with enough room to complete the maneuver. I’m happy to lay on my horn to tell them to cool their jets. But I digress.

When you get nervous, you hurry the parallel parking setup and make another very common mistake: starting out in the middle of the road. Proper setup requires you move over next to the car parked in front of your space. Aim to be three feet away from this forward car, or leave two feet between your mirrors. Note that the back of your car should be lined up with the back of this forward vehicle.

Most drivers know the second step well: Turn your steering wheel one full rotation toward the spot you are trying to back into (almost always on the right side of your car), look behind you, and begin backing into the empty space.

Here’s where many drivers mess up. They misjudge the space and back too far into it. Don’t believe me? Check out how many cars have “curb rash” on their right side rims from drivers overshooting a parking space.

You want to back into the space at a 45 degree angle. But as soon as you can see the headlights of the car parked behind you in your “street side” wing mirror (almost always your driver’s side mirror), you’ll want to adjust your steering wheel. Another way to tell is when you look out your other window (almost always your passenger’s side window) and your wing mirror covers both brake lights of the car you’ll be parking behind.

Yes, you may feel like most of your car is still hanging out into the street. But it’s time to spin your steering steering wheel all the way in the other direction and continue backing in. This will get your car centered in the parking lane as soon as possible. Once you are firmly into the parking lane, and out of the street, you can take your time and pull forward or backward to line up front-to-back in your parking spot.

Next, find out exactly how much to drop your tire pressure for hot weather, or see a concise animation of parallel parking in the video embedded below: