DMV Permit Test Passing Score by State
Permit test passing scores in the United States run from 70% in Texas, New York, and New Mexico (Massachusetts sits just above at 72%) to 88% in Maryland, with most states landing on a flat 80%. The percentage alone hides what actually fails people. Virginia requires a perfect score on a 10-question signs section before grading the rest of the exam. New York will pass you at 70% only if at least two of your four signs questions are right. California gives you three attempts before the application closes and the fee burns. This guide gives the exact pass mark in every state plus the rules aggregators usually skip - section requirements, retake waits, and score expirations.
Building DMV Ready’s question bank - 3,952 practice questions covering all 50 states plus DC - we cross-checked every state’s driver handbook, then re-verified every answer against official state sources in a 2026 audit that produced 28 corrections. Passing thresholds and test formats are among the facts that go stale fastest on third-party sites. Our July 2026 re-check of this table caught two fresh examples: North Carolina’s sign test actually requires 9 of 12 correct, not the flat 80% most guides list, and California has quietly stopped publishing its question count - its official pages now state only that “a passing score is 80%”.
Passing scores by state, side by side
The first thing to know is the raw mark. Below is the current pass requirement in every U.S. state plus the District of Columbia, sourced against state DMV websites; we last re-verified the high-variance states against their official pages in July 2026. Where states use a multi-section format (Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Indiana), the table shows the dominant percentage with a note - the section rules are unpacked further down.
| State | Questions | Correct to pass | Percentage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| Alaska | 20 | 16 | 80% | |
| Arizona | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| Arkansas | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| California | 46 (minors; count no longer published) | 80% required | 80% | 3 attempts, then reapply |
| Colorado | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Connecticut | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Delaware | 25 | 19 | 76% | |
| District of Columbia | 25 | 19 | 75% | |
| Florida | 50 | 40 | 80% | 60-minute online cap |
| Georgia | 40 | 30 | 75% | |
| Hawaii | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| Idaho | 40 | 34 | 85% | |
| Illinois | 35 | 28 | 80% | |
| Indiana | 50 | 42 | 84% | Separate signs subsection |
| Iowa | 35 | 28 | 80% | |
| Kansas | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Kentucky | 40 | 32 | 80% | Signs subsection scored separately |
| Louisiana | 40 | 32 | 80% | |
| Maine | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| Maryland | 25 | 22 | 88% | 20-minute time limit; 6-month score validity |
| Massachusetts | 25 | 18 | 72% | 25-minute time limit |
| Michigan | 50 | 40 | 80% | |
| Minnesota | 40 | 32 | 80% | |
| Mississippi | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| Missouri | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Montana | 33 | 27 | 82% | |
| Nebraska | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Nevada | 50 | 40 | 80% | |
| New Hampshire | 40 | 32 | 80% | |
| New Jersey | 50 | 40 | 80% | |
| New Mexico | 50 | 35 | 70% | |
| New York | 20 | 14 | 70% | + at least 2 of 4 sign questions correct |
| North Carolina | 25 + 12 signs | 80% + 9 of 12 signs | 80% / 75% | Two-section pass required |
| North Dakota | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Ohio | 40 | 30 | 75% | |
| Oklahoma | 50 | 40 | 80% | |
| Oregon | 35 | 28 | 80% | |
| Pennsylvania | 18 | 15 | 83% | No time limit; 29 languages |
| Rhode Island | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| South Carolina | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| South Dakota | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Tennessee | 30 | 24 | 80% | |
| Texas | 30 | 21 | 70% | No time limit |
| Utah | 25 | 20 | 80% | |
| Vermont | 20 | 16 | 80% | |
| Virginia | 10 signs + 30 general | 10/10 + 24/30 | 100% / 80% | Sign section must be perfect |
| Washington | 40 | 32 | 80% | |
| West Virginia | 25 | 19 | 76% | |
| Wisconsin | 50 | 40 | 80% | |
| Wyoming | 25 | 19 | 76% |
The pattern: 80% is the default in roughly two-thirds of states, with outliers high (Maryland 88%, Idaho 85%, Indiana 84%) and low (the 70% group, plus the 75-76% holdouts Delaware, Ohio, Wyoming, and DC, unchanged since the 1990s). Compare your state’s format on our DMV state hub before scheduling.
How a lower percentage can still mean a harder test
Reading the percentage column and stopping there is the most common mistake new applicants make. A 70% state can be harder than an 80% state, and 88% Maryland is not automatically the worst place to test.
When we compare states, we look at the miss budget - the absolute number of wrong answers a state allows - because the percentage alone misleads. New York’s 70% looks easy until you notice the test is only 20 questions long. That gives you a margin of exactly six wrong answers before you fail. Massachusetts at 72% on a 25-question test allows seven. Texas at 70% on 30 questions allows nine, the most generous absolute margin among the 70% group. Maryland’s 88% on a 25-question test allows only three wrong answers, and the Maryland MVA puts a 20-minute clock on top of that. Indiana at 84% on 50 questions allows eight wrong - mathematically more forgiving than Maryland despite the lower headline percentage.
Section rules matter more than the topline. New York grades the 20 questions as a whole, except for one wrinkle: at least two of the four road signs questions must be correct, regardless of how the other 16 break. A New York applicant who gets 18 right but misses three of the four sign questions still fails. Virginia takes this further - one missed stop sign or yield sign question on the 10-question first part ends the entire exam, even if you would have aced general knowledge.
Time limits matter at the margin. Most states leave you alone with the test (Pennsylvania famously has no time cap), but Maryland’s 20-minute window catches more first-timers than the 88% threshold. The math says you have 48 seconds per question. The reality is that nervous test-takers re-read questions, fall behind, then start guessing in the final five minutes. Test duration by state matters as much as the pass threshold for planning purposes.
The two-section states most aggregators skip
Most passing-score guides list a single percentage per state. That works for 47 of them. Three states run a two-section format where the headline percentage is only half the truth.
Virginia’s 10+30 format. The Virginia DMV knowledge exam opens with 10 road sign questions. You must answer every one of them correctly. Miss a single sign and the test ends - you do not move to part two, you do not get the general-knowledge questions, and the entire visit counts as a fail. Part two is 30 multiple-choice questions covering driving laws, where 24 of 30 (80%) is passing. Applicants under 18 who fail must wait 15 calendar days before retesting; adults are limited to one attempt per day, and three failures triggers a mandatory driver-training requirement before the next try.
New York’s 14-of-20 plus 2-of-4 sign rule. The standard NY DMV permit test is 20 questions, four of which are road sign identification. You need 14 correct overall AND a minimum of two correct from those four sign questions. An applicant who gets 14 general-knowledge questions right but misses three of the four signs fails - the threshold sits inside the test, not on top of it. This catches people who skim the signs chapter of the New York manual and overweight study time on speed limits and right-of-way. Practice the New York permit test format with the sign weighting actually applied.
North Carolina’s split format. NC runs a 25-question knowledge test plus a separate 12-question traffic sign identification test, scored independently. The knowledge section requires 80%, but the sign test carries its own bar: per the NCDMV testing rules, you must correctly identify 9 of the 12 signs (75%), and failing either section ends the exam. Fail and you wait seven calendar days before retesting. Kentucky and Indiana both call out signs as a discrete subsection, although they roll the score into the headline number.
In a two-section state, missing one sign question can equal missing four general-knowledge questions in a one-section state. That changes how to spend the last week: prioritize signs and drill shapes and colors until you identify them without hesitation.
What “passing score” actually means at the window
What gets recorded after you leave the testing terminal varies, and the consequences when you do not pass are not the same shape across states.
Most states report only pass or fail - Florida, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio hand you a result with no breakdown of which questions you missed. The California DMV and a growing number of states show you the question categories where you missed answers - useful for planning a retake.
Maryland’s 6-month score expiration is unique among large states: your passing knowledge test result is held for six months. Miss the window for the road test and you retake the written too. The Maryland MVA is explicit about this: scores expire if the licensing process is not completed within six months. No other state publishes a fixed expiration that aggressive; most hold the result indefinitely or until the next handbook revision.
California’s 3-attempt rule is the strictest cap in the country. The California Driver’s Handbook testing section puts it plainly: “You are allowed three attempts to pass before you must reapply.” A third fail means filing a new application and paying another application fee from scratch. Two more California rules catch first-timers: applicants under 18 must wait seven days between knowledge test attempts, and tests are not available at DMV offices after 4:30 PM - showing up at 4:35 with an appointment for other services does not get you a test that day.
The mistake that costs the most. A common scenario in California: an applicant fails the test on Monday, returns Tuesday and fails again, then walks in on Wednesday confident the third attempt is just another retest. The third fail does not just delay them - it forfeits the original application fee, requires a fresh application, and a new test from question one. The cost is not the retest; it is the reset. Plan as if you only get one fail, not three. Practice with a state-matched California permit test until you can clear the threshold without margin pressure.
Retake rules when you don’t hit the mark
Same-day retests are not universal, and the wait period for a second attempt varies more than the passing score itself. Below is the retake schedule in the largest states.
| State | After 1st failure | After 2nd | After 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Under 18: 7-day wait; adults: new visit | Under 18: 7-day wait; adults: new visit | Application invalidated; reapply |
| Maryland | Next business day | 7 calendar days | 7 calendar days |
| Virginia (under 18) | 15 days | 15 days | 15 days + driver training required |
| Virginia (18+) | Next day | Next day | Driver training required |
| Texas | Same day if slot open | Same day if slot open | Same day if slot open |
| Florida | 24-hour wait | 24-hour wait | 24-hour wait |
| Pennsylvania | Next day; $10 retest fee | Next day; $10 fee | Next day; $10 fee |
| New York | Same day or next day | Same day or next day | Same day or next day |
| Illinois | Next day | Next day | Study requirement |
| Ohio | Same day if slot open | Same day if slot open | Same day if slot open |
Most states do not charge a per-attempt fee - retests ride on the original permit application fee. Pennsylvania charges $10 per retest after a first failure. Several states will charge a new application fee if a permit application is denied or expires before retest. If you fail and want context on what people miss most often, our breakdown of what to do after a failed permit test covers the recovery sequence.
Plan retakes deliberately. Do not book the road test before knowing your written result is recorded. Do book the retake while you remember which sections felt thin. Use targeted state-matched practice on the questions that bit you, not a full re-read of the manual.
Where the hardest and easiest tests actually live
Pulling all four levers together, here is the honest difficulty ranking for 2026.
The hardest tests:
- Maryland. 88% on 25 questions in 20 minutes leaves zero room for second-guessing. Three wrong answers ends the test, and the clock pushes nervous applicants into the guessing zone. Run the full Maryland permit test against a 20-minute timer until you finish with two minutes to spare.
- Virginia. The 100% rule on 10 sign questions is the strictest single hurdle in the country. One missed sign equals total fail. Under-18 applicants face a 15-day wait before retesting, which makes prep stakes higher than any other state. Drill Virginia permit test signs and the warning signs subset until you score perfect three sessions in a row.
- Idaho. 85% on 40 questions allows six wrong, but the test draws heavily from the Idaho driver manual’s road conditions chapter, rarely covered in generic prep apps.
- Indiana. 84% on 50 questions feels mathematical, but the separate signs subsection adds multi-section pressure on top.
The easiest tests:
- Texas. 70% on 30 questions, no time limit, same-day retest, no section rules. Nine wrong answers and you still pass. Practice with the Texas permit test format matched to the 30-question Texas exam.
- Massachusetts. 72% on 25 questions, no signs subsection. Seven wrong answers margin.
- New Mexico. 70% on 50 questions allows fifteen wrong answers, the highest absolute margin in the country.
- Pennsylvania. 83% sounds high, but 18 questions total means only three wrong answers are allowed, which is brutal on paper. Pennsylvania still earns “easier” because the test is administered in 29 languages with no time limit.
The point is not to game your state into looking easier than it is. It is to know the actual structure before you walk in. A New York applicant who treats the test as a flat 70% will under-prepare on signs and fail. A Maryland applicant who studies for the 80% national average will run out of time. Adjust the practice strategy to your state’s real format. Failure rates back this up - recent multi-state data shows nearly 35% of applicants nationally failed the written test between 2020 and 2023, with Indiana at 51.9% and Missouri at 51.3% leading the fail-rate ranking.
Two numbers matter on test day: the raw correct count your state requires, and the structure of how that count gets graded. A Texas applicant needs 21 of 30. A Maryland applicant needs 22 of 25 in 20 minutes. A Virginia applicant needs every sign question right before seeing the rest of the exam. Match study time to the structure, not the percentage. Run state-matched practice on DMV Ready until your scores clear the threshold by at least two questions. Schedule the test knowing how the score gets counted in your state, not just the headline number. For deeper context, see what is on the DMV permit test in 2026 and how many questions are on the test by state.
Last reviewed July 10, 2026. We re-verified Virginia, Maryland, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and North Carolina directly against official state sources, corrected North Carolina’s sign-test requirement, and updated California’s retake details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the highest passing score on a DMV permit test in the US?
Maryland at 88%, requiring 22 of 25 correct in a 20-minute window. Idaho follows at 85% (34 of 40), Indiana at 84% (42 of 50), and Pennsylvania at 83% (15 of 18). California officially requires 80%, in the middle of the pack.
Why do passing percentages vary so much between states?
Each state sets its own driver licensing standards, including the passing threshold. There is no federal minimum. Most states settled at 80% by the 1990s. The 70% group (Texas, New York, Massachusetts, New Mexico) has resisted tightening, while a smaller group (Maryland, Idaho, Indiana) raised the bar above 80%.
Does the DMV permit test passing score change for adults vs teens?
No - the passing percentage and question count are the same for teens and adults in every state. What changes is the retake waiting period. Virginia, for example, requires under-18 applicants to wait 15 days between attempts but limits adults to one attempt per day with no minimum gap.
Does my passing score on the DMV permit test expire?
In most states, no - your knowledge test result is held until the road test is taken. Maryland is the notable exception, with passing scores valid for six months only. Several states reset the score if the permit application becomes inactive or expires before the road test.
Do I need to know the passing score before I take the test?
The DMV will tell you whether you passed at the end of the test, so technically no. But knowing the threshold matters when you sit at home looking at practice scores. Hitting 70% on a New York practice test is not the same achievement as hitting 70% on a Texas practice test, because of the embedded sign-section rule.
Is the practice test passing score the same as the real test?
It depends on the practice provider. State-matched practice tests use the actual state passing percentages and question counts. Generic 70% or 80% practice scoring will mislead anyone testing in Maryland, Idaho, or Virginia, where the bar is higher and section rules apply on top of the percentage.
What state has the easiest DMV permit test passing requirements?
Texas, with 70% on 30 questions, no time limit, no separate sign section, and same-day retests at most DPS offices. New Mexico’s 70% on 50 questions allows the largest absolute number of wrong answers (15) but the higher question volume means longer prep time. Massachusetts at 72% on 25 questions is the next gentlest combination.
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