Guides for the written permit test
13 guides: how to study and how a test question is built, plus the rules of the road for each state we cover. Every rule in a state guide shows the page of the official handbook it comes from.
How to use these guides
The guides come in two kinds, and they do different jobs. The general guides are about the test rather than the law: how to organize your study time, what a written knowledge test tends to ask about, and how to read a question so that a plausible wrong option does not cost you the point. They hold in any state, so start there if you have not picked a state yet, or if yours is not one we cover.
The state guides are about the rules themselves. Each one takes a single topic from the California handbook, such as signs, right of way or speed, explains why the rule exists and what it tends to be confused with, and then lists the rules as separate points with the handbook page printed beside each one. The explanation is ours; the points are the part you can check against the official PDF in a few seconds.
Work through them one topic per sitting. Read the guide, answer the questions on that same topic, and only then move on. When a question goes wrong, return to the point it relied on instead of rereading the whole guide. Once every topic has had its turn, switch to full practice tests and keep retrying the questions you missed until they stop coming back.
The California study plan puts this order on one page, with each guide matched to its questions and to its part of our handbook summary.
None of this replaces your state's handbook. The guides keep to what the handbook says, in our own words, and leave out what it does not cover, so when a rule matters to you beyond the test, read the handbook section it comes from.
Studying for the test
These work whatever state you are in: what to read, in what order, and how to read a question.
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How to study for your permit test
An order of work that beats grinding random questions: read one topic in the handbook, practice that same topic, and spend the rest of your time on the answers you got wrong.
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How to read a permit test question
Most questions you get wrong are questions you knew the answer to. Five habits that stop a well-written wrong option from taking the point off you.
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What a written permit test covers
The eight topics a written knowledge test keeps coming back to, what each one asks about, and the confusion that costs people points in each.
To learn the signs by sight, try the road sign games, which show you each drawing again and again until its meaning comes without thinking.
California rules of the road
Written from the California handbook, with the page of every rule. When you have read one, practice it in the California question bank.
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California road signs, signals and pavement markings
What a shape tells you before you can read the words, why an arrow is never the same rule as a round light, and what each line painted on the road allows.
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Right of way in California: who goes first
The situations where two drivers can both think it is their turn, and what California says about each one: unsigned intersections, left turns, roundabouts, pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
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California speed limits and the basic speed law
The limits that apply when no sign tells you otherwise, the rule that overrides every one of them, and why being slower than the traffic around you can also be a citation.
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Turns, lanes, passing and parking in California
Mostly distances and sequences: which lane a turn starts and ends in, when a U-turn is legal, how much room a pass needs, and where you may not park.
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Sharing the road in California
The vehicles that do not behave like yours, from trucks and buses to light rail, motorcycles and bicycles, and what California asks of you around each one.
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Safe driving and emergencies in California
How much room to leave, how much to slow down for rain, snow and ice, what to do in a skid, and the steps for a blowout, a breakdown or a stall on the tracks.
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California alcohol and drug rules for drivers
Four blood alcohol limits instead of one, a law that does not care whether a drug came from a pharmacy, and what a refusal to take a test costs you before any court is involved.
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License, points and insurance in California
Nothing in this part happens behind the wheel: what you need for a permit, what a provisional license does not let you do, how many points suspend you, and what to do after a collision.
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How to get a California learner's permit
Who can apply and when, what to bring to the DMV office, the two tests you take that day, what the permit lets you do once you have it, and the mistakes that cost people a second trip.
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The California behind-the-wheel drive test
When you can book it, what the examiner checks on your car before you leave the lot, what gets scored on the road, which mistakes end the test at once, and how to practice for it.
How these are written
Everything in a state guide is written from the current edition of that state's official driver handbook, and every rule carries the page it comes from, so you can check it yourself. Nothing is copied from the handbook or from other practice sites. The about page explains the rest.