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California, after a failed test

What happens if you fail the permit test in California?

California allows three attempts per application, and the wait before a retake depends on your age. The California Driver's Handbook gives three tries before you have to reapply, and has applicants under 18 who fail the knowledge test wait seven days, the day of the failure not counted; Vehicle Code s. 12814.6(a)(5) sets the same wait as not less than one week. California DMV publishes no mandatory wait for applicants aged 18 and over. On a first application every one of those attempts is at a DMV office, because California DMV closed at-home knowledge testing to new driver's license applicants on January 3, 2025. Worth knowing before the first attempt: testing aids such as the handbook and a cell phone are not allowed during knowledge tests, and California DMV does not state what happens if you use one. Checked in September 2026.

Source: California Driver's Handbook (DL 600), the testing process; Vehicle Code s. 12814.6(a)(5); California DMV Online Learning notice (January 2025, archived), checked September 25, 2026.

Which CA test do you needCA
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Every California test and ruleNo account needed

How soon can you retake the California knowledge test if you are under 18?

Not the next morning. California Vehicle Code s. 12814.6(a)(5), part of the Brady-Jared Teen Driver Safety Act, requires a person in the provisional program to wait not less than one week after failing the written test. DMV's handbook and its Provisional Licensing fact sheet (FFDL 19) express the same wait as seven days, with the day of the failure left out of the count.

Count calendar days. Fail on a Friday and that Friday is not counted, so the seven waiting days run from Saturday through the next Friday. That next Friday is exactly one week after the fail, which meets the statute, but DMV words the rule as seven days to wait before retaking, which can be read as putting the retake after that Friday. DMV's Teen Driver Roadmap adds a third wording, 8 days, without saying whether the day of the failure is one of them. DMV publishes no worked date, so the safe retake is the first day after every one of those counts has run. The count starts again after every failed sitting.

Worked example

Mateo, 16, Winnetka, Friday, September 4, 2026

  1. 1Mateo is 16 and a parent signed his permit application. He takes the knowledge test at the Winnetka field office on Friday, September 4, 2026, and does not pass. That is attempt 1 of 3.
  2. 2September 4 is not counted, so his seven waiting days are Saturday, September 5 through Friday, September 11. September 11 is exactly one week later, but DMV does not say whether the seventh day itself is open for a retake, so he books Monday, September 14, which also clears the Teen Driver Roadmap's 8 days however they are counted.
  3. 3He fails again on September 14, attempt 2 of 3. The handbook's new waiting days run September 15 through Monday, September 21, and if the Roadmap's 8 days also leave out the day of the failure they run through Tuesday, September 22, so the earliest date clear of every wording is Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
  4. 4If September 23 also ends in a fail, he has used the three attempts the handbook gives an original applicant and must reapply. CVC 14900(a) gave that application three examinations within 12 months; a new application means a new fee.

Outcome. Each failed sitting costs Mateo at least a week, not a new fee. A third fail costs him the application and a second $46 Class C original fee, the figure on the Licensing Fees page. DMV lists no knowledge-test retest fee.

Mateo's three knowledge-test sittings on one application
  1. Fri, Sep 4, 2026
    Attempt 1, fail

    Winnetka field office. The day of the failure is not counted.

  2. Fri, Sep 11, 2026
    Seventh waiting day

    One week after the fail. DMV does not say whether a retake is allowed on this day or only after it.

  3. Mon, Sep 14, 2026
    Attempt 2, fail

    Same application, same fee. A new seven-day count starts on September 15.

  4. Wed, Sep 23, 2026
    Attempt 3

    First date clear of the second wait under every published wording, the Roadmap's 8 days included. A fail here ends the application.

  5. After a third fail
    Reapply

    New application, new $46 Class C original fee, three new examinations and a new 12-month window under CVC 14900(a).

Waiting days follow CVC 12814.6(a)(5) (not less than one week), the handbook and FFDL 19 (seven days, the day of the failure not counted), and the Teen Driver Roadmap (8 days). No current DMV page or statute sets a knowledge-test wait for applicants 18 and over.
Exterior of the DMV building in Winnetka, Los Angeles
Exterior of the DMV building in Winnetka, Los Angeles.Photo: Alexis Doine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How soon can you retake if you are 18 or older?

California DMV publishes no mandatory wait for applicants 18 and over. CVC 12814.6(a)(5) sits in the provisional program for drivers under 18, and the handbook, FFDL 5 and FFDL 19 attach the one-week wait to minors or provisional applicants only. The handbook applies the three-attempt cap to every original applicant but adds the wait for minors alone.

No DMV page describes a same-day retake either. What an adult meets in practice is office hours and the testing cutoffs: no office tests after 4:30 p.m. and no knowledge tests within 30 minutes of closing.

RSS-06-221, DMV's 2006 test evaluation, recommended that at a minimum no applicant take more than one knowledge test per day, which implies nothing then barred a same-day retest, and suggested a wait for everyone, perhaps the one week already required under 18. Neither recommendation appears in the statute or on any current DMV page.

What does a third California knowledge-test failure actually cost you?

The application, not a per-test surcharge. The handbook gives every original applicant three attempts to pass the knowledge test before a new application is needed, and FFDL 5 says the same. The driver licenses page repeats the rule in its section for people holding another state's license: three attempts at each required knowledge test, and a third fail of the same test ends the application, so you reapply.

California Vehicle Code s. 14900(a) is the fee statute behind that cap: the original Class C or M fee entitles the applicant to take three examinations within 12 months of applying, or while an instruction permit is valid under s. 12509. The statute still recites $24, then $30 from January 1, 2010. DMV's Licensing Fees page lists $46 for a Class C original application, and the driver licenses page calls the application fee nonrefundable and valid for 12 months.

The Licensing Fees table has a $9 Class C driving retest and no knowledge-test retest row. CVC 14900(b) adds an extra fee only for each driving skill test after the first. No published charge attaches to a failed knowledge sitting until the third fail forces a new $46 application.

After a failed California knowledge test
  1. 1
    Confirm which attempt you just used

    The handbook and FFDL 5 allow an original applicant three knowledge-test attempts on one application. Attempts 1 and 2 are covered by the fee you already paid; attempt 3 is the last one that application buys.

  2. 2
    Ask where the missed topics are

    The prepare-for-tests page says a field office employee can tell you which handbook page covers a question you missed. Ask before you leave the office.

  3. 3
    If you are under 18, count seven days and skip today

    CVC 12814.6(a)(5) requires not less than one week, and DMV does not count the day of the failure. Adults skip this step because DMV publishes no wait for them.

  4. 4
    Book the retake at a field office

    DMV closed at-home knowledge testing to first-time applicants on January 3, 2025, so every retake on an original application is an office sitting. Start it before 4:30 p.m., and not within 30 minutes of closing.

  5. 5
    If this was attempt 3, reapply and pay again

    File a new application and pay the $46 Class C original fee on the Licensing Fees page. Under CVC 14900(a) the new fee brings three new examinations and a new 12-month window.

Can you retake a failed California knowledge test at home?

Not on a first application in 2026. DMV's December 28, 2023 news release allowed two online attempts before a third at a DMV office, but DMV shut online knowledge testing to first-time applicants on January 3, 2025, in a notice on its Online Learning page that also moved anyone who had already paid online but not yet tested into an office. Today's Online Learning page covers eLearning alone, so all three attempts on an original application now happen in a field office.

Nor is eLearning a way around a fail. It is a no-fail course of seven short sections for eligible noncommercial Class C renewal applicants. The Online Learning FAQ lists original applicants, motorcycle renewals and commercial applicants among those who do not qualify, so a failed first permit test cannot be swapped for it.

Does using a phone or the handbook turn the sitting into a fail even if the score would have passed?

DMV does not say what happens. The testing-process section of the handbook bans testing aids during knowledge tests and names the handbook and cell phones as examples. None of the current DMV pages listed below, including the handbook, FFDL 5 and FFDL 19, states the consequence of using one, so a claim that it is an automatic fail has no current DMV source.

While the at-home test ran, it added monitoring: the December 2023 release required online test takers to verify their identity and agree to be watched for the whole exam, as a fraud-prevention measure, and never said which on-camera behavior ended a sitting. A first permit test in 2026 is taken in an office, and what DMV publishes for it is the ban itself, not a penalty.

Is failing the knowledge test the same as failing the California drive test?

No. The two tests share a three-attempt cap and then differ on wait, fee and booking. Mixing them up leads to turning up too early for a drive retest or budgeting for a knowledge-test retest fee that DMV does not list.

Knowledge-test fail versus drive-test fail in California
RuleKnowledge test (permit sitting)Behind-the-wheel drive test
Attempts on one applicationThree, then reapply (driver licenses page; handbook; CVC 14900(a)).Three, then reapply (driver licenses page).
Wait after a fail, under 18Seven days, the day of the failure not counted (handbook; FFDL 19); not less than one week (CVC 12814.6(a)(5)); 8 days (Teen Driver Roadmap).14 days, the day of the failure not counted (handbook; driver licenses page); not less than two weeks (CVC 12814.6(a)(5)); 15 days (Teen Driver Roadmap).
Wait after a fail, 18 and overNot published by California DMV.Schedule a new test on another day (driver licenses page). No multi-day adult wait is published.
Extra fee after a failNo knowledge-test retest row on the Licensing Fees page. CVC 14900(b) adds no knowledge-test surcharge.Licensing Fees $9; driver licenses page $7; CVC 14900(b) $5. Three official figures, not reconciled.
How you book the next sittingField office only, since online testing closed to new applicants on January 3, 2025. Start before 4:30 p.m. and not within 30 minutes of closing.Driving tests are not given without an appointment.

Drive-test retest fee conflict left standing: $9 (Licensing Fees), $7 (Driver's Licenses page), $5 (CVC 14900(b)). No matching conflict on the knowledge test, because no knowledge-test retest fee is published.

First-attempt computer-graded fail rates in RSS-06-221 (August 4, 2005 sample)
English original DL 5 (adult)50.1 % failed on first attempt
n = 2,138
English provisional DL 5T (under 18)42.7 % failed on first attempt
n = 1,238
English renewal DL 533.6 % failed on first attempt
n = 3,220
Spanish original DL 574.8 % failed on first attempt
n = 317
Spanish renewal DL 579.8 % failed on first attempt
n = 178
RSS-06-221 Table 3, computer grading, first attempt. These are not 2026 pass rates; no current DMV page gives one, statewide or for any office. The report found fail rates stayed about the same or rose on second and third attempts.

More questions about this in California

Do you pay again after one failed California permit test?

Not for the knowledge test. California's Licensing Fees page lists $46 for a Class C original application and $9 for a driving retest, with no knowledge-test retest row. California Vehicle Code s. 14900(a) entitles the applicant to three examinations on that application. A new $46 fee is due when you fail the same knowledge test three times and have to reapply, not after the first miss.

If you turn 18 between a failed California knowledge test and the retake, do you still wait seven days?

DMV does not say. The handbook attaches the seven-day wait to minors, FFDL 5 and FFDL 19 attach it to provisional applicants, and CVC 12814.6(a)(5) sits inside the provisional program for people under 18. No DMV page covers a birthday that falls during the wait. Waiting the full seven days is the choice no published rule contradicts, and it costs at most a week.

Can you use California's no-fail eLearning after you fail the permit test?

No. The Online Learning FAQ says only noncommercial Class C driver license renewal applicants qualify for eLearning and lists original driver license applicants among those who do not. eLearning is a no-fail course of seven sections, not a scored exam, so it cannot replace a failed original knowledge test. After a fail you retake the knowledge test at a field office, the only place a first-time applicant can sit it since January 3, 2025.

Does a failed California knowledge test reset the six-month permit hold for teens?

No. The six-month hold in CVC 12814.6(a)(2) runs from when you hold the instruction permit, and you cannot get the permit until you pass the knowledge test. A failed sitting delays the permit; it does not start, pause or restart a six-month clock that has not begun. The clock already running during retakes is the 12-month application window in CVC 14900(a) and s. 12509.

Does California DMV publish how many people fail the permit test?

Not as a current series. The last official fail rates sit inside RSS-06-221, a December 2006 research report on answer sheets collected August 4, 2005: 50.1 percent of English original adult first attempts failed under computer grading, and 42.7 percent of English under-18 first attempts failed. The DMV datasets on the state open data portal and DMV's field-office wait-time reports, which stop at June 2021, do not include knowledge-test pass rates.

Sources

Other questions about California

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How this works in other states

The wait, fee, and attempts allowed in Florida, Texas, California, and New York. Read the guide.

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