About PermitKeys

PermitKeys is a study site for the written knowledge test you take to get a learner's permit or a driver's license in the United States: practice tests with the rules of your state, and an explanation for every question.

How the questions are made

Each state's licensing agency writes and administers its own knowledge test, and what it publishes is a driver handbook: the rules of the road, the signs, the speed limits, the penalties. We write each question from the current edition of that handbook, one fact per question, and every question page names the section and page it comes from, with a link to read it there.

The explanations are written in our own words. Some answer options keep the handbook's wording, where the exact phrasing of the rule matters. Every question is checked against the page it cites before it goes up.

A script compares every explanation, the handbook summaries and the guides with the full text of the handbook, and flags any passage that repeats more than ten words of it in a row. Each question also carries a review record tied to its exact text and to the handbook edition. If the question is edited afterward, or we move the state to a new edition of its handbook, the question leaves the site until it has been reviewed again. The methodology page describes each step in detail.

The states we cover

We add one state at a time, and a state goes up only once its question bank and its handbook summary are complete. Right now that is California and New York. Alongside the practice tests there are guides: how to study, how a test question is built, and the rules of the road one topic at a time.

What the explanations add

A correct answer on its own teaches very little: the same rule shows up on the real test with different wording, and a memorized letter does not survive that. Each explanation gives the rule behind the answer, why the other options are wrong, and something that helps you remember it. That material is written by us, and it is the reason the site exists.

How the practice tests work

Each practice test has a length and a mark to pass of its own, draws its questions at random from the bank of the state you choose, corrects every answer as you go and shows the explanation right away. At the end you see exactly which questions you missed, and you can retry only those. There is also a review mode: you read the question, think, reveal the answer and grade yourself.

Privacy

There are no accounts and nothing to sign up for. The questions you missed stay in your own browser. The privacy policy has the details.

Corrections

If you find a mistake, a rule that changed with a new edition of a handbook, or an explanation that confused you, tell us through the contact page. Corrections are the most useful message we receive. Past corrections are listed on the changes page.

You can also write directly to contact@permitkeys.com.