How many questions can you miss on the California permit test?
California DMV's own test evaluation documents six errors allowed for adults and eight for under-18s, but no current California DMV page publishes either figure, so the number needs its source attached. The counts come from Evaluation of the Class C Driver License Written Knowledge Tests, a DMV Research and Development Branch report published in December 2006, reference RSS-06-221: the adult DL 5 form has 36 questions with six errors allowed, the under-18 provisional DL 5T form has 46 questions with eight errors allowed, and renewal applicants answering only the first 18 questions are allowed three. Those cutoffs work out at 83.3 percent and 82.6 percent, which does not reconcile with the plain 80 percent that DMV's live instruction permits page states, so the safe reading is to treat 80 percent as a floor and the error allowances as the real target. Checked in September 2026.
Source: California DMV Research and Development Branch report RSS-06-221 (December 2006), checked September 9, 2026.
What does California DMV not publish on this?
The 36 and 46 question forms date from a report built on field data collected in 2005. California now tests on touchscreens and online, so the form structure may have changed and no current DMV page confirms these counts. Treat them as the most recent official figures, not as a description of the test as it stands now.
Other questions about California
- What happens if you fail the permit test in California?
- What to bring for the California permit test if you are under 18
- What to bring for the California permit test if you are 18 or over
- Can you take the permit test online in California?
- California supervised driving hours, and whether the log is turned in
Ready to practice for the California test?
Written by Vikas. Checked against the source above on September 9, 2026. California DMV does not run this site and does not endorse it.