California driving test requirements
Private practice site. Chapbook is not a government agency and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any department of motor vehicles, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or any state or county agency. These are practice tests written by us to help you study. They are not the official test, and passing here does not give you a licence, a permit, a card, or a certificate of any kind.
Who takes the knowledge test
Anyone applying for an original California licence who has not held one: first-time applicants of any age, minors from age 15 and a half applying for an instruction permit (with driver education and a parent or guardian's signature accepting financial responsibility), people transferring from another state, and holders of a foreign licence, who take the drive test too. Renewal applicants take a knowledge test only when the DMV requires one for their renewal.
What it costs
The application fee is $46 for an original Class C licence. It is not refundable, and it buys the application itself: valid for 12 months, with three attempts at each required knowledge test inside it. There is no separate knowledge test fee and no knowledge test retest fee on the DMV schedule.
How the test works
Multiple choice, at a DMV office. The DMV describes each question as one correct answer with two other choices. No testing aids are allowed, which means no handbook and no phone at the test. In-office testing must start before 4:30 p.m., and tests are not given within 30 minutes of closing. The DMV publishes no time limit for the test itself.
Attempts and waits
Three attempts on one application. Fail the same test three times and the application is no longer valid, so you reapply and pay again. Applicants under 18 wait seven days to retake a failed knowledge test, not counting the day of the failure. The DMV publishes no waiting period for adults.
The pass mark, stated carefully
The DMV's current Learner's Permits page publishes a passing score of 80 percent. Its provisional licensing fact sheet, FFDL 19, says an applicant under 18 may miss no more than 8 questions. On the documented form lengths those two statements do not produce the same result, and no DMV page checked resolves the conflict. Our simulators grade on the miss allowances, the standard an applicant is actually held to at the counter, and this page prints the DMV's percentage with its date, the way the DMV prints it.
Official information and booking: California Department of Motor Vehicles (official site).
Facts strip
- Pass mark
- 80%, as the DMV publishes it
- Our simulators grade on
- Miss allowances: 30 of 36 (adult), 38 of 46 (under 18)
- Questions on the real test
- The DMV publishes no current count
- Time limit
- None published by the DMV
- Application fee
- $46, covers 3 attempts in 12 months
- Retest wait, under 18
- 7 days. No published wait for adults
Facts checked against California DMV pages, 2026-11-03. Official information: California Department of Motor Vehicles, dmv.ca.gov.
Corrections note
No corrections yet. Last checked 2026-11-03, against the California Vehicle Code and DMV published facts.