How we write and check our questions

From the official handbook

For each state we use the newest edition of the driver handbook or manual published by the state's licensing agency, and the agency's own pages for the test format, fees and permit rules. We never copy questions from other practice-test sites or apps: they're copyrighted, and often out of date.

How a question is made

• Questions are drafted with the help of AI from the handbook text, chapter by chapter, weighted like the real test, including the rules and numbers specific to that state.
• Each one has one correct answer, plausible wrong answers, an explanation in plain language and the handbook section (and page) where the rule is stated.
• A second reviewer checks every question against the handbook: the answer, the explanation, the reference and every number. Questions that can't be supported by the handbook are removed.

What the second check covers

The reviewer works from the full handbook text, not a summary, and checks every question for:

• the marked answer is the one the handbook gives, and no other option can be defended;
• every number (feet, seconds, ages, percentages, fines) matches the handbook exactly;
• the explanation is accurate, in our own words, and doesn't add rules the handbook doesn't state;
• the section and page reference point to where the rule is printed;
• sign questions use the right MUTCD sign code, so the picture matches the question;
• no near-duplicates, and the right answer isn't always in the same position.

Each state has a written log of what was checked and every change made: reworded questions, corrected references, replaced wrong answers that could also be defended.

CDL, motorcycle and Spanish

CDL questions are written from current state editions of the AAMVA model CDL manual, which nearly every state's CDL manual follows; each CDL page names the edition used. Motorcycle questions come from a current state edition of the MSF Motorcycle Operator Manual, and each state's motorcycle page adds that state's own rules (permit, helmet law, skills test) from its agency. Each bank goes through the same second check before it's published. Spanish questions are translated from the checked English ones; where the state publishes an official Spanish handbook we use its terms and cite its sections. A state's Spanish pages appear only once its translation is done.

Test formats

The exam simulator uses each state's published number of questions and passing score. Where a state doesn't publish a time limit, the simulator isn't timed. Where it doesn't publish the number of questions, the simulator uses 25 questions at the state's published pass mark (80% if none is published) and says so on the page.

Road signs

Sign designs come from the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD, 11th edition), which every state follows; the images are public domain.

Updates

Handbooks change. We re-check each state's handbook and test format at least once a year and when an agency publishes a new edition. If you find a mistake, please tell us with the handbook page, and we'll fix it.

15,197 questions are published so far for 51 states.