By state
Virginia permit practice test
Forty questions and thirty-four right answers: practice the Virginia DMV knowledge exam before you risk the fifteen-day wait that follows a failure.
Your score · Virginia
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| Pass mark: 34 of 40 (85 %) |
| You can still miss 6 |
Practice questions written from the state handbook and federal rules. Not the official test.
Virginia's learner's permit is available from 15 years 6 months and costs $3. To get it, an applicant passes the DMV knowledge exam: 40 questions, with 34 correct answers needed. The exam is offered in Spanish. A failure is costly in time for a teen: Under 18: a full 15 days; 18+: once per day. The permit is then held 9 months, during which the learner logs 45 hours of supervised driving, 15 of them after sunset, and completes state-approved driver education, required under 18. The provisional license can follow at 16 years 3 months; the license costs $4 per year; $32 for 8 years. Until 18 years, a young driver stays off the road in the small hours except in listed cases, and passengers under 21 are capped, more tightly in the first year. The alcohol limit under 21 is 0.02. Our practice test uses the same 40 questions and the 34-answer threshold.
If you fail: when you can take it again
Wait before a retake
Under 18: a full 15 days; 18+: once per day
| Questions | 40 |
| To pass | 34 / 40 |
Questions and state rules by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the questions are written
The retest wait
Few states make a teen wait as long after a failed knowledge exam as Virginia. The tool shows the delay and the pass mark of any state:
If you fail: when you can take it again
Wait before a retake
Under 18: a full 15 days; 18+: once per day
| Questions | 40 |
| To pass | 34 / 40 |
With 6 wrong answers allowed out of 40, the margin is thin. Sign questions and right-of-way questions are the most frequent; the "Road signs only" mode drills the first group from the federal MUTCD shapes and colors.
The adult rule is far gentler: from 18, a failed exam can be retaken once per day. For a teen, the fifteen-day pause is the main cost of a failure, so the full-length practice test above is worth more here than in most states.
Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia
| Virginia | Maryland | North Carolina | West Virginia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permit age | 15 years 6 months | 15 years 9 months | 15 years | 15 years |
| Time on permit | 9 months | 9 months | 9 months | 6 months |
| Hours (night) | 45 (15) | 60 (10) | 60 (10) | 50 (10) |
| Retest after a fail | Under 18: a full 15 days; 18+: once per day | not confirmed | 7 calendar days | not confirmed |
Virginia and Maryland share the nine-month permit, and Virginia's 15 night hours are the most in this group. North Carolina asks for more hours in total, 60.
Driver education in Virginia
Required under 18: state-approved driver education (36 classroom periods + 14 in-car periods: 7 driving, 7 observation). From Jan 1, 2027 new training requirements also apply to first-time applicants 18-20. The classroom part normally comes through high school or a licensed driver training school, and the in-car lessons run alongside the supervised hours on the permit. The 45 supervised hours must be certified before the provisional license.
Virginia's minimum dates are built to meet: 15 years 6 months plus 9 months gives 16 years 3 months, the provisional license age. A teen who fails the knowledge exam once loses the retest delay and pushes the provisional license back by the same amount. That is why the retest rule matters more in Virginia than in states where the license age, not the holding time, is the real limit. The exam is also offered in Spanish, and the alcohol limit under 21 is 0.02.
What to study in the DMV manual
The Virginia Driver's Manual (DMV 39, current edition) covers signs, signals, pavement markings, right of way, speed, passing, interstate driving, work zones, school buses, and alcohol and drugs. Virginia traffic ranges from congested interstates around Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to mountain roads in the west, so questions on merging, following distance and curves are worth extra time. For a motorcycle, the DMV test has 25 questions.
The figures on this page were read on the Virginia DMV site; this site is independent of the Virginia DMV.