Which state permit test is hardest to pass: pass marks and question counts, ranked
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Only 23 of the 50 state licensing agencies publish both how many questions their permit knowledge test has and what score passes it. Among those, the pass mark runs from 88% in Maryland — 3 wrong answers out of 25 and you fail — down to 72% in Massachusetts. The lowest published pass mark anywhere is 70%, in New Mexico, which does not say how many questions it asks.
16 of the ranked states use the same 80% pass mark, so the real difference between them is length. Vermont allows 4 misses on a 20-question test; Wisconsin allows 10 on 50. The longest tests, at 50 questions, are Florida, New Jersey, Utah and Wisconsin; the shortest ranked test is Pennsylvania's, at 18.
14 states publish neither figure, 6 publish a pass mark but no count, 2 publish a count but no pass mark, and 5 have figures on their agency site that we could not re-read on the verification date. Those are listed below by name, with what the agency does publish, because a ranking that quietly fills the gaps with practice-test folklore is worth nothing to anyone citing it.
The ranking
Ranked by pass mark, highest first; ties broken by how many wrong answers the test tolerates, fewest first. Cells marked * are arithmetic on the two published figures (a state that publishes "80% of 30 questions" has been given "24 correct"); every other cell is quoted from the agency page in the source column.
| State | Questions | Pass mark | Correct to pass | Misses allowed | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Maryland | 25 | 88% | 22 of 25* | 3* | — | mva.maryland.gov |
| 2. Virginia | 40* | 85%* | 34 of 40* | 6* | Two parts: all 10 road-sign questions must be correct before the 30-question general part opens, which is passed at 24 of 30. Combined figures shown; the effective pass mark is 100% on signs and 80% on the rest. | dmv.virginia.gov |
| 3. Pennsylvania | 18 | 83%* | 15 of 18 | 3* | — | pa.gov |
| 4. Vermont | 20 | 80%* | 16 of 20 | 4* | — | dmv.vermont.gov |
| 5. Connecticut | 25 | 80%* | 20 of 25 | 5* | — | portal.ct.gov |
| 6. Iowa | 25 | 80% | 20 of 25* | 5* | — | iowadot.gov |
| 7. Kansas | 25 | 80% | 20 of 25* | 5* | — | ksrevenue.gov |
| 8. Missouri | 25 | 80% | 20 of 25* | 5* | — | apps.mshp.dps.mo.gov |
| 9. Nevada | 25 | 80% | 20 of 25 | 5* | Adaptive: the test stops as soon as 20 answers are correct or 6 are wrong. | dmv.nv.gov |
| 10. Arizona | 30 | 80% | 24 of 30* | 6* | — | azdot.gov |
| 11. Maine | 30 | 80%* | 24 of 30 | 6* | — | maine.gov |
| 12. Tennessee | 30 | 80% | 24 of 30* | 6* | — | tn.gov |
| 13. Oregon | 35 | 80%* | 28 of 35 | 7* | — | oregon.gov |
| 14. Louisiana | 40 | 80% | 32 of 40* | 8* | — | public.powerdms.com |
| 15. Washington | 40 | 80%* | 32 of 40 | 8* | — | dol.wa.gov |
| 16. Florida | 50 | 80% | 40 of 50 | 10* | — | flhsmv.gov |
| 17. New Jersey | 50 | 80% | 40 of 50 | 10* | — | nj.gov |
| 18. Utah | 50 | 80% | 40 of 50* | 10* | The 50-question closed-book version for never-licensed applicants; previously licensed applicants take a 25-question open-book test. | dld.utah.gov |
| 19. Wisconsin | 50 | 80% | 40 of 50 | 10* | Plus a separate 15-question Highway Signs Test passed at 12 of 15, scored on its own. | wisconsindot.gov |
| 20. Oklahoma | 20 | 75%* | 15 of 20 | 5* | — | oklahoma.gov |
| 21. Georgia | 40* | 75%* | 30 of 40* | 10* | Two sections of 20 questions, Road Rules and Road Signs, each passed separately at 15 of 20; totals shown are the two sections added together. | dds.georgia.gov |
| 22. Ohio | 40 | 75% | 30 of 40 | 10* | — | bmv.ohio.gov |
| 23. Massachusetts | 25 | 72%* | 18 of 25 | 7* | — | mass.gov |
* derived from the published count and pass mark. Virginia and Georgia score two sections separately; their combined figures are shown with the rule in the note. Utah's row is the 50-question closed-book test for never-licensed applicants.
What the numbers say
Maryland is the strictest test on paper: 88% on 25 questions means a fourth wrong answer fails the attempt. Virginia is stricter in a different way — its first part is ten road-sign questions that must all be answered correctly before the thirty general questions even open, so a single sign error ends the test. Pennsylvania's 18-question test tolerates three wrong answers, which puts it third despite being one of the shortest.
The 80% block is where most candidates sit, and within it the length of the test is what changes the odds. A candidate who knows four fifths of the material is more likely to fall short on Vermont's 20 questions, where the margin is four answers, than on Wisconsin's 50, where it is ten — the short tests punish one bad topic. Wisconsin also scores its 15-question Highway Signs Test on its own, so sign knowledge cannot be carried by the rules score there, and the same is true in Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia.
At the bottom of the published range, Oklahoma, Georgia and Ohio pass at 75% and Massachusetts at 72% — seven misses on 25 questions. Massachusetts compensates with breadth: its exam tests the junior operator law, alcohol misuse and licence suspensions alongside signs and right of way.
The states that publish nothing are not easier or harder — they are unknown, and the practice-test sites that print a confident "30 questions, 80%" for Texas or Alabama are inventing it. Texas, the second-largest state by population, publishes neither figure; neither do Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, South Carolina or West Virginia. What those agencies do publish — the fee, the minimum age, the retest rule — is in the table below with its source.
States that publish a pass mark but not a question count
| State | Pass mark | Question count | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | 80% | Not published | in.gov |
| Kentucky | 80% | Not published | drive.ky.gov |
| Minnesota | 80% | Not published | assets.dps.mn.gov |
| New Hampshire | 80% | Not published | dmv.nh.gov |
| New Mexico | 70% | Not published | mvd.newmexico.gov |
| South Dakota | 80% | Not published | sd.gov |
New Mexico's 70% is the lowest pass mark published by any state agency. Indiana scores its sign and traffic-rule components separately, each at 80%.
States that publish a question count but not a pass mark
| State | Questions | Pass mark | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 25 | Not published | hidot.hawaii.gov |
| Mississippi | 20 | Not published | driverservicebureau.dps.ms.gov |
States that publish neither
These agencies name the test's content and the rules around it without stating its length or its pass mark. The detail column is what the agency does publish, quoted from the page in the source column, so the row can still be cited.
| State | Verdict | What the agency publishes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Neither figure published | Published: knowledge test fee $5; permit from 15. | alea.gov |
| Alaska | Neither figure published | Published: permit fee $15; permit from 14. | dmv.alaska.gov |
| Arkansas | Neither figure published | Published: knowledge test fee $5; permit from 14. | media.ark.org |
| Colorado | Neither figure published | Published: written retest fee $11.50; permit from 15. | dmv.colorado.gov |
| Delaware | Neither figure published | Published: knowledge test fee $40; permit from 16. | dmv.de.gov |
| Michigan | Neither figure published | The 70% figure Michigan publishes is the pass mark for the Segment 1 and Segment 2 driver-education exams, not the knowledge or road-sign test. Published: online test convenience fee $6.50; permit from 14 years and 9 months. | michigan.gov |
| Montana | Neither figure published | Published: licence fee per year $5; permit from 16. | mvdmt.gov |
| Nebraska | Neither figure published | Published: permit fee $13; permit from 15. | dmv.nebraska.gov |
| North Dakota | Neither figure published | Published: knowledge test fee $5; permit from 14. | dot.nd.gov |
| Rhode Island | Neither figure published | Published: permit from 16. | dmv.ri.gov |
| South Carolina | Neither figure published | Published: knowledge test fee $2; permit from 15. | dmv.sc.gov |
| Texas | Neither figure published | The Department of Public Safety publishes neither a question count nor a pass mark for the knowledge test. | dps.texas.gov |
| West Virginia | Neither figure published | Published: knowledge test fee $7.50; permit from 15. | webapps.transportation.wv.gov |
| Wyoming | Neither figure published | Published: permit fee $45; permit from 14. | dot.state.wy.us |
Figures we could not re-verify on the verification date
These five states have a question count or pass mark recorded on our exam hub from the agency page, but on 2026-09-09 the page either refused the request, renders only with JavaScript, or no longer carries the sentence. They are excluded from the ranking rather than ranked on a figure we could not re-read.
| State | Verdict | What our exam hub records | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Not re-verified 2026-09-09 | The hub records 36 questions with 30 correct to pass for applicants 18 and over (46 and 38 under 18); the DMV page we fetched no longer states the figures. | dmv.ca.gov |
| Idaho | Not re-verified 2026-09-09 | The hub records 40 questions and an 85% pass mark (34 correct); the ITD page we fetched no longer states the figures. | itd.idaho.gov |
| Illinois | Not re-verified 2026-09-09 | The hub records 35 questions, 15 of them traffic-sign identification, and no published pass mark; the Secretary of State page could not be fetched. | ilsos.gov |
| New York | Not re-verified 2026-09-09 | The hub records 20 questions with 14 correct to pass, including at least 2 of the 4 road-sign questions; the DMV site refused our fetch. | dmv.ny.gov |
| North Carolina | Not re-verified 2026-09-09 | The hub records an 80% pass mark and a separate 12-sign test passed at 9 of 12; the NCDMV page renders client-side and could not be read. | ncdot.gov |
Method
- — Scope: the standard passenger-vehicle permit knowledge test in each of the 50 states, as described by the state licensing agency (DMV, MVD, DPS, DOL, Secretary of State or equivalent). Commercial, motorcycle and driver-education course exams are excluded; where an agency's only published percentage belongs to a driver-education exam (Michigan) the state is listed as publishing neither figure.
- — Sources: every figure in a ranked row is bound to a verbatim sentence from the agency's own page or handbook, held in the facts table behind the state's exam hub. Pennsylvania's figures were captured by fetching the PennDOT testing page on 2026-09-09. The source column links the page each row was verified against.
- — Derived cells: where an agency publishes a percentage and a count, the number correct is the count multiplied by the percentage, rounded up; where it publishes a count and a number correct, the percentage is the quotient. Misses allowed is always count minus correct. Derived cells are marked in the table.
- — Ranking: by pass mark, highest first. Ties are broken by misses allowed, fewest first, then by question count, longest first. Two-part tests (Virginia, Georgia) are ranked on the minimum number correct across both parts, with the per-part rule stated in the note.
- — Verification date: 2026-09-09. Agencies change these figures without notice; a citation should carry the date.
- — Excluded: five states whose agency page could not be re-read on the verification date are listed by name with the figure our hub records, and are not ranked.
Questions
- Which state has the hardest permit test?
- On the published pass mark, Maryland: 88% on a 25-question test, so only 3 wrong answers are allowed. Virginia's test is stricter in structure — all ten road-sign questions must be correct before the general section opens — but its published marks are 100% on signs and 80% on the rest.
- Which state has the easiest permit test?
- New Mexico publishes the lowest pass mark, 70%, but does not publish a question count. Among states that publish both, Massachusetts is lowest at 72%, allowing 7 misses on 25 questions.
- How many questions are on the permit test?
- It depends on the state and ranges from 18 (Pennsylvania) to 50 (Florida, New Jersey, Utah and Wisconsin) among the 23 states that publish a count alongside a pass mark. 25 states publish a count at all; 14 publish neither a count nor a pass mark.
- Is 80% the standard pass mark?
- It is the most common: 16 of the 23 ranked states use it, and so do all 5 of the pass-mark-only states except New Mexico. The published range runs from 70% to 88%.
- Why are Texas and California not in the ranking?
- Texas publishes neither a question count nor a pass mark for its knowledge test. California's DMV page no longer states the figures our hub recorded, so California is listed with the other four states we could not re-verify rather than ranked on an unconfirmed number.
Citing this page? Link to https://www.everyexamprep.com/reports/state-permit-test-difficulty and include the verification date — a census is a snapshot, and these publishers change what they release without notice.