The Knowledge Exam

The knowledge exam consists of two parts: 

• Part one: 10 road sign questions
  • All ten questions must be answered correctly 
• Part two: 30 general knowledge questions
  • You must correctly answer 24 questions to pass

• If you are under the age of 18, you must wait a full 15 days before you can retake the exam. For example, if you fail the test on January 1, the earliest you would be eligible to retake the test is January 17.
• If you are age 18 or older, you are only eligible to test one time per day.

Regardless of age, if you fail the exam three times, you must complete the classroom portion of a Virginia-approved Driver Training School program and present the Driver Education Certificate at a customer service center. To be eligible to retake the exam, the course completion date must be after the date of the third exam failure.

• Re-examination requirements for home-schooled students are in the "Home-Schooled Re-Examination Requirements Information Sheet" (HS 4 [PDF]).
• If you don't get your license/permit within 1 year of completing a knowledge exam, you will be required to retest.

Each time you retake the knowledge test, you will need to reapply for a learner’s permit by submitting another application for a Virginia Driver’s License along with the required identity and residency documentation.

With the exception of the CDL HAZMAT knowledge exam (available only in English), the Driver, CDL and Motorcycle knowledge exams are available in the following languages:

• English
• American Sign Language (ASL)
• Amharic (Ethiopian)
• Arabic
• Chinese/Mandarin
• Chinese/Mandarin (Traditional)
• Dari
• Farsi
• French
• German
• Haitian Creole
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Kurdish
• Mongolian
• Nepali
• Pashto
• Punjabi
• Russian
• Spanish
• Thai
• Twi (Akan)
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese