The written part of a California driver’s license is the knowledge test: multiple choice questions, three answer choices each, taken at the DMV or online through the eLearning option when you apply. The DMV requires 80 percent correct to pass. You get three attempts on one application, and minors must wait seven days before retaking a failed test, not counting the day of the failure.
Every question on the test comes from the California Driver’s Handbook. Nothing else is tested, and no testing aids are allowed during the test, not the handbook and not a phone. So the whole task is to know the handbook.
A plan that works
- Read the handbook once, start to finish. It takes an evening. Do not try to memorise it on the first pass, just see what is in it.
- Practise topic by topic. The practice on this site follows the handbook’s own sections: signs, right-of-way, lane markings, speed, parking, alcohol and drugs, sharing the road. Each answer shows the passage it comes from, so a miss sends you straight to the right page.
- Take the practice exam until you pass it three times in a row. It draws a different set each time, in the length and with the passing score of the real test.
- Spend the last day only on your mistakes. The site keeps every question you missed until you get it right twice.
What trips people up
Road signs by shape and colour, the exact right-of-way rules at intersections and when turning left, the distances the handbook gives in feet, and the alcohol limits. These are the topics with the most questions, and they are the ones to practise longest.
Practice for the California Class C test