US DMV Permit Practice Test (CA, NY, PA)

About the US DMV Permit Practice Test (CA, NY, PA)

Practice for the DMV knowledge (permit) test of California, New York or Pennsylvania with questions written from that state’s own driver handbook: by topic with the answer explained after every question, as a mock test in your state’s format (California: three answers a question and 80% to pass; New York: 20 questions, 14 right and 2 of the 4 road-sign questions; Pennsylvania: 18 questions and 15 right), as a road sign drill with the national sign designs, or as a review of the questions you last got wrong.

Every explanation names the handbook section it comes from and links to it, so you learn the rule rather than an answer. The questions were written for MySmartCoPilot in its own words; they are not the agencies’ own test questions. For those, use your agency’s practice tests, linked on this page.

Common uses

• Learning your state’s handbook topic by topic before the permit test.
• Sitting mock tests in your state’s format and seeing which topics still cost you marks.
• Drilling road signs a few at a time on a phone.
• Clearing the questions you keep getting wrong, until none are left.
• Parents and driving instructors quizzing a learner with explanations to hand.

The tests, state by state

• California (California DMV): a multiple-choice knowledge test based on the California Driver’s Handbook; the passing score is 80%, and each question has one right answer and two others. You get three tries before you must reapply, and minors wait seven days after a failed try. The number of questions is not published on the pages cited here, so the mock lets you choose it.
• New York (New York DMV): 20 questions; you pass with at least 14 right, and at least 2 of the 4 road-sign questions must be right. The test is based on chapters 4 to 11 of the Driver’s Manual (MV-21).
• Pennsylvania (PennDOT): 18 multiple-choice questions on traffic signs, Pennsylvania’s driving laws and safe driving; you need 15 right. If you fail, you may retake it on the next business day.

Sources: California DMV, instruction permits, preparing for knowledge and drive tests and the California Driver’s Handbook, the testing process; New York State Driver’s Manual, Chapter 1; PennDOT’s Pennsylvania Driver’s Manual, testing.

How the questions are written

Each question tests one rule your state’s handbook states: a speed limit, a parking distance, who goes first at an intersection, what a sign or a road marking means, what to do in an emergency. The explanation says why the answer is right in plain words, and the source line names the handbook section and links to it, so you can read the rule in full. No handbook text and no official test question is copied.

The wrong answers are wrong for a reason you can learn from, not written to trick you, and the order of the answers changes each time so you cannot learn positions. Rules differ between states, so practice the state where you will take the test.

Road signs

Every state uses the national sign designs of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) of the Federal Highway Administration; the drill shows that public-domain artwork. Learn the system as well as the signs. Some shapes belong to one sign only: the octagon to STOP, the downward triangle to YIELD, the pennant to NO PASSING ZONE, the crossbuck to railroad crossings and the round yellow sign to the railroad advance warning; the pentagon marks a school. Colors carry meaning too: red for stop or prohibition, white and black for rules, yellow for warnings, orange for work zones, green for directions, blue for services, brown for recreation, and fluorescent yellow-green for school, pedestrian and bicycle warnings.

Your progress stays on this device

What you have seen, what you got right, your mistakes list and your mock scores are kept in this browser only, separately for each state. Clearing your browser data, or using another browser, starts you again. Reset my progress deletes them on purpose. An unfinished mock test is kept too, so if you close the page you can carry on with the same questions.

Limitations

• Not any agency’s question bank and not the real test: the questions here are written from the handbooks, and the real test asks different questions. A practice score is not a prediction.
• Three states only: California, New York and Pennsylvania. Rules differ between states, so learners elsewhere should practice from their own state’s handbook.
• Car (Class C or Class D) knowledge tests only: no motorcycle, commercial or road-test practice.
• Laws change. If an explanation ever disagrees with your state’s current handbook or the agency’s website, the agency is right.
• The written questions work without a connection once the page and your state are loaded; sign images load the first time they are shown, or all at once with Keep the signs for offline use.

Privacy

Everything runs in this browser. The questions and sign images are part of the page; your answers, progress and mock scores are stored only in this browser’s storage and are never uploaded. Reset my progress deletes them.