South Carolina Road Signs Cheat Sheet.
The night-before summary, built like the exam.

The numbers to remember

• Minimum permit age: 15
• Knowledge test fee: $2.00
• Beginner's permit fee: $2.50 (paid after you pass the knowledge test)
• Permit hold before next step: 180 days if under 18, 30 days if 18+
• Conditional license eligible at: 15½
• Full driving privileges at: 17 (or after 1 year on conditional/special restricted)
• Required supervised driving: 40 hours, including 10 hours at night
• Test administered at: any SCDMV branch or an approved One Stop Driver Training and Testing Program third-party tester
• Skills-test retest waits: 2 business days after a 1st fail, 7 calendar days after a 2nd, 30 calendar days after a 3rd or later fail

Sign shapes at a glance

• Red octagon = Stop
• Red/white downward triangle = Yield
• Round = Railroad crossing
• Yellow diamond = General warning (curves, crossings, merges)
• Pennant (elongated triangular flag) = No passing zone
• Pentagon = School zone/crossing
• Orange = Construction/work zone
• Green = Guide/direction, distances
• Blue = Motorist services (gas, food, hospital)
• Brown = Recreation/cultural interest
• White rectangle = Regulatory (speed limits, rules)

Right-of-way in one breath

• No signs, arrive together: yield to the driver on your right.
• Four-way stop: first to arrive goes first; tie goes to the driver on the right.
• Turning left: yield to oncoming traffic and to crossing pedestrians.
• Crosswalk: pedestrians always have the right-of-way, marked or unmarked.
• Emergency lights/siren: pull right, stop, let them pass.
• Roundabout: yield to traffic already circulating.
• Merging: the vehicle already in the lane generally has priority over the merging vehicle.

Top traps

• Posted speed limit is a legal maximum, not a guaranteed safe speed in rain, fog, or on wet roads — slow down below it.
• Yellow advisory speed plaques under warning signs are recommendations, not laws, but ignoring them on a curve is a common cause of run-off-road crashes.
• The manual's own sample section is only 10 questions with an answer key — don't mistake memorizing those for being fully ready; drill full-length, timed practice sets instead.
• Fatigue impairs like alcohol does — reduced reaction time and microsleep episodes — treat "too tired to drive" as seriously as "too impaired to drive."
• Refusing a lawfully requested chemical test triggers its own separate license consequences, apart from any DUI conviction.
• Distraction from a phone, eating, or adjusting controls counts against you on the test even if you're otherwise sober and alert.
• Headlights are required whenever visibility drops — dusk, dawn, rain, fog — not just after full dark.