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California, how many you can miss

How many questions can you miss on the California permit test?

Under 18, you can miss no more than 8: California DMV's current Provisional Licensing fact sheet (Fast Facts FFDL 19, revised July 2019), which its Learner's Permits page links, caps a provisional applicant's knowledge test at 8 missed questions. For adults no current California DMV page gives a figure, so that number needs its source attached. DMV's Research and Development Branch report RSS-06-221 (December 2006) documents a 36-question adult DL 5 form with six errors allowed and a 46-question under-18 DL 5T form with eight, and its April 2008 Spanish-test report, RSS-08-226, restates the same adult standard and the 46-item under-18 length. Those cutoffs work out at 83.3 percent and 82.6 percent, which does not reconcile with the plain 80 percent that DMV's Learner's 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 Fast Facts FFDL 19 (rev. July 2019); DMV research reports RSS-06-221 (December 2006) and RSS-08-226 (April 2008), checked September 25, 2026.

Which CA test do you needCA
EExam simulatorFull California DMV format: 36 questions, 30 to pass, every answer keyed to a statute.1Warm up runA shorter 20 question run pulled from across the CA bank, for a first look before the full sitting.SSigns and lane markingsSigns, signals and lane markings on their own: 59 questions, the group that costs the most points.LState statute questionsThe 27 rules that belong to California alone, each carrying the statute number it was drafted against.
Every California test and ruleNo account needed

Why does California publish 80 percent in one place and a stricter cutoff in another?

California DMV's instruction permits page gives one scoring figure for the Class C knowledge test: multiple choice questions based on the California Driver's Handbook, with a passing score of 80 percent. For applicants under 18, that page links DMV's Provisional Licensing fact sheet (Fast Facts FFDL 19, revised July 2019), which adds a second figure: a provisional applicant can miss no more than 8 questions. Neither publication says how many questions the test has.

The question counts come from DMV research. Evaluation of the Class C Driver License Written Knowledge Tests, Research and Development Branch, December 2006, report RSS-06-221, gives a length and an error allowance for all three Class C forms. Page 1 gives each adult DL 5 form 36 questions and each under-18 DL 5T form 46. Page 5 scores them against six errors for adult original applicants, three for renewals, and eight for under-18 provisional applicants. DMV's April 2008 evaluation of the Spanish test, RSS-08-226, repeats the adult standard of 30 correct out of 36 for original applicants and 15 out of 18 for renewals, and notes that applicants under 18 take a 46-item test.

Six misses of 36 is 83.3 percent correct. Eight misses of 46 is 82.6 percent. Neither is 80 percent, and the gap was set on purpose: DMV's May 2002 report RSS-02-196 records that when revised forms went statewide in February 2001, the allowance rose from five to six errors on the adult form and from seven to eight on the under-18 form, giving an 83 percent expected competency level. Do not take 80 percent of 36, round 28.8 up to 29 and call that the pass mark. No DMV publication says 29.

Three California scoring figures, side by side
80%
Pass mark on the live instruction permits page
Instruction permits page
8
Most misses allowed for an applicant under 18
FFDL 19, revised July 2019
6 of 36
Errors allowed on the adult DL 5 form
RSS-06-221, December 2006
The question counts are official and they are old

RSS-06-221 is built on 11,307 answer sheets collected from field offices on Thursday, August 4, 2005, with a few offices sending a later Thursday instead. Its preface calls it an internal monograph of the Research and Development Branch, not an official report of the State of California. A December 28, 2023 DMV news release says the paper test was dropped about a decade earlier in favor of office touchscreens, with an at-home option added in 2022; DMV closed that option to new applicants on January 3, 2025. The 36 and 46 counts appear again in RSS-08-226, built on tests collected July 9 to 13, 2007. No current DMV page restates them, so treat them as the test lengths DMV published for 2005 to 2007, not as a description of the 2026 screen.

How many can you miss if you are under 18 in California?

Eight, and that figure is still in print. FFDL 19, the sheet the instruction permits page links for applicants under 18, caps a provisional applicant at 8 missed questions. The length behind it comes from RSS-06-221, where every under-18 DL 5T form had 46 questions, so 8 misses meant 38 correct. On 1,238 first-attempt English DL 5T sheets in that study, the computer-graded fail rate was 42.7 percent and the average applicant made 8.3 errors, just past the limit.

A miss is not only a wrong pick. The study counted an item wrong if a wrong choice was marked, if it was left blank, or if more than one choice was marked, so a skipped question used up one of the eight. The same report found that 2005 examiners could restate a missed question and award the point on a spoken answer, which pulled the examiner-graded under-18 fail rate down to 38.0 percent, and it recommended ending that practice. DMV's FFDL 5 sheet (revised June 2020) now says touchscreen tests are graded automatically.

No current DMV page says whether the under-18 test still has 46 items. The length also appears in RSS-08-226, the April 2008 Spanish-test evaluation, which notes in passing that applicants under 18 take a 46-item test. If it still does, 8 misses is 82.6 percent correct. If the length has changed, DMV has not published the new one, and the 8-miss cap in FFDL 19 is the only fixed number an applicant under 18 can plan around.

Last published California Class C test lengths and miss allowances (RSS-06-221)
Who sat itFormQuestionsErrors allowedCorrect neededShare correct
Under 18, originalDL 5T4683882.6%
18 and over, originalDL 53663083.3%
Renewal, first 18 items of the DL 5DL 5 short1831583.3%

RSS-06-221 pages 1 and 5, answer sheets collected August 4, 2005. RSS-08-226 (April 2008) repeats the adult and renewal standards and the 46-item under-18 length. FFDL 19 (revised July 2019) still states the under-18 limit of 8 misses. No current DMV page restates the question counts or the adult and renewal limits.

How many can you miss if you are 18 or older?

Six on the adult form described in DMV's 2006 and 2008 test evaluations, and no current DMV page gives an adult number at all. RSS-06-221 page 1 assigns the DL 5 to Class C applicants 18 and older, in 10 English and 5 Spanish forms of 36 questions each, and page 5 allows six errors for original applicants: 30 correct of 36. RSS-08-226 states the same 30 of 36. FFDL 5, the DMV fact sheet on general license requirements, describes the knowledge test step without giving a score, so the 80 percent on the instruction permits page is the only live adult figure.

Adult Class C form in RSS-06-221: 30 of 36 to pass
30 right answers needed6 can be wrong
RSS-06-221 (December 2006): 36 questions on each original DL 5, six errors allowed, so 30 correct. RSS-08-226 (April 2008) states the same 30 of 36; no 2026 DMV page restates either figure.

On the 2,138 first-attempt English original DL 5 sheets in that study, the computer-graded fail rate was 50.1 percent and applicants averaged 7.4 errors, above the six-error ceiling. Fail rates on the 10 English forms ranged from 39.0 percent on Form 9 to 59.2 percent on Form 3, so the form an applicant drew mattered.

The Spanish original DL 5 was harder: 317 first-attempt sheets, a 74.8 percent fail rate and 10.8 errors on average. Those figures come from one 2005 collection, not a live pass rate. DMV publishes no current knowledge-test pass rate, by office or statewide.

Worked example

Hana, 17, Culver City, Tuesday, September 15, 2026

  1. 1Hana is 17 years and 2 months old. She has her driver education certificate and a parent has signed her application, both required on the instruction permits page for applicants under 18. She starts the knowledge test at the Culver City field office at 2 p.m., well before the 4:30 p.m. cutoff.
  2. 2Because she is under 18, the FFDL 19 limit applies: no more than 8 misses. If her test has the 46 items last published in RSS-06-221, 8 misses leaves 38 correct, which is 82.6 percent.
  3. 3She misses 8 and leaves nothing blank. That is inside the FFDL 19 limit and above the 80 percent on the permits page, so she passes under every published figure.
  4. 4Had she missed 9, she would have 37 of 46 correct, 80.4 percent. That clears 80 percent but breaks the 8-miss limit DMV publishes for her age group. She would then wait at least one week under CVC 12814.6(a)(5), counted as seven days after the day of the failure in the handbook, before a retake.

Outcome. 8 misses: a pass on every published figure. 9 misses: a fail under FFDL 19 even though the score is above 80 percent, and no retake for at least a week. For an applicant under 18, the number to plan around is 8 misses, not 80 percent.

Exterior of the California DMV office in Culver City, with a wet parking lot after rain
Exterior of the California DMV office in Culver City, with a wet parking lot after rain.Photo: Jengod, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Does the California knowledge test stop once you have already missed too many?

DMV does not say. The testing-process section of the handbook, the instruction permits page, the prepare-for-tests page, the Online Learning page, FFDL 5, FFDL 19 and RSS-06-221 were checked on September 25, 2026. None of them says whether the test ends early once a pass is out of reach or always runs to the last item.

The published ceiling is arithmetic. Under 18, the ninth miss breaks the FFDL 19 limit whatever the test length. On the 36-question adult form in RSS-06-221, the seventh miss did. Whether the 2026 touchscreen stops at that point is not described.

What DMV publishes about timing is an office cutoff, not a clock. The instruction permits page says office tests are not available after 4:30 p.m. The driver licenses page says knowledge tests are not given within 30 minutes of closing. The two do not name the same minute, and neither says how long a test may run once started. The weekday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours in the December 2023 release were a window for the at-home test, never a time limit, and that test has been closed to new applicants since January 3, 2025.

What topics did California actually put on the Class C knowledge test?

RSS-06-221 Table 1 is the most recent official breakdown of the adult item pool: 342 English DL 5 questions across 23 content areas, spread in equal proportions over 10 equivalent 36-item forms and drawn only from handbook material. The current prepare-for-tests page still says every question comes from the handbook, each has one correct choice among three, and none is a trick question.

Items on each 36-question adult DL 5 form, by content area (RSS-06-221 Table 1)
Traffic signs3 items on each form
30 in the pool
Visual scanning3 items on each form
30 in the pool
Safe driving practices3 items on each form
30 in the pool
Inclement weather2 items on each form
20 in the pool
Right of way2 items on each form
20 in the pool
Mandatory (BAC and vehicle sale)2 items on each form
both pool items used
RSS-06-221 Table 1. Four more areas (space cushion, speed and speed limits, traffic lights and signals, turns) had 2 items on each form, and the other 13 areas had 1 each. The report has no matching table for the under-18 DL 5T.

Traffic signs were 3 of 36 items on that adult form, mixed in with everything else rather than scored as a separate section. California publishes no signs-versus-rules split. Studying signs alone leaves 33 of the 36 items uncovered, including the two mandatory questions on blood alcohol and vehicle sales that appeared on every form.

DMV publishes four Class C sample tests in English, plus versions in other languages, and says it adds new questions to them from time to time. They are practice material, not a statement of how many items the scored test has, so counting their questions will not give you a miss allowance.

If you are renewing a California license, is the miss count the same?

It was not in 2005, and many renewals in 2026 face no scored test at all. RSS-06-221 had renewal applicants answer only the first 18 DL 5 questions with three errors allowed, 15 of 18 correct, and recommended moving renewals to all 36 because the 18-item form was too short to be reliable.

On September 30, 2024, DMV announced that from October 1, 2024, drivers 70 and older whose licenses expire in 2024 or later no longer take a written knowledge test unless the record shows two or more accidents in two years, three or more in three years, a DUI suspension within two years, or more than one violation point within two years. The same release says first-time drivers and people new to California still test. Eligible noncommercial Class C renewal applicants who must still test can choose eLearning, a no-fail course the Online Learning page closes to original applicants.

If you are applying for your first license, none of that applies. You are an original applicant: 80 percent on the permits page, no more than 8 misses under 18 per FFDL 19, and six of 36 as the last published adult allowance.

What does California DMV not publish on this?

The test length and the adult error allowance. No current DMV page states either: the 36 and 46 question forms rest on field data from 2005 restated in 2008, and California now tests on touchscreens, so treat them as the last official figures rather than a description of the test as it stands now.

More questions about this in California

Is 80 percent of 36 questions equal to 29 correct in California?

No. No California DMV publication gives 29. The instruction permits page states 80 percent and no question count. 80 percent of 36 is 28.8, which only becomes 29 by rounding up, while the 2006 DMV report RSS-06-221 allowed six errors on the 36-question adult form, which is 30 correct. The 30 has a DMV source; the 29 does not.

Does a blank answer count against you on the California permit test?

On the 2005 answer sheets that RSS-06-221 graded by computer, yes: page 5 counted a blank item as wrong, the same as a wrong or double-marked answer. No current DMV page restates that rule for the touchscreen or at-home test; FFDL 5 says only that touchscreen tests are graded automatically. Answer every item, because a skipped question cannot earn a point.

Are road signs a separate scored section on the California Class C test?

No. DMV describes one multiple choice knowledge test based on the California Driver's Handbook, with an 80 percent passing score. RSS-06-221 Table 1 put 3 traffic-sign items on each 36-question adult DL 5 form, one of 23 content areas, scored together with everything else.

Can you take the California knowledge test after 4:30 p.m.?

Not in a field office. The instruction permits page says tests are not available at DMV offices after 4:30 p.m., and its FAQ says in-office testing must be started before then. The driver licenses page separately says knowledge tests are not given within 30 minutes of closing. DMV does not publish how long the test lasts once started.

Did the at-home California exam use a different miss count than the office exam?

DMV never published separate numbers. Its December 28, 2023 news release says online and office tests drew on the same pool of handbook questions, and gives no question count or miss allowance for either. The question is now mostly history: DMV closed at-home knowledge testing to new driver's license applicants on January 3, 2025, so a first permit test is scored at a field office against the 80 percent on the instruction permits page and, under 18, the 8-miss limit in FFDL 19.

Sources

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Written by Vikas. Checked against the source above on September 25, 2026. California DMV does not run this site and does not endorse it.