Which Australian state has the toughest learner theory pass mark?

On pass mark alone, the New South Wales road safety section is the tightest: 29 of 30 correct, so one wrong answer ends the sitting. South Australia comes next in a different way, because part one is eight give way questions and every one of them has to be right. Queensland asks 27 of 30 in the PrepL final assessment, which is 90 percent. The Northern Territory needs 26 of 30, according to its government Get your driver licence page read 3 September 2026. Tasmania is not ranked because its pass mark has not been confirmed against Service Tasmania.

How many questions is the learner knowledge test in each state?

New South Wales asks 45 in two sections, South Australia 50 across two parts of 8 and 42, Australian Capital Territory 35, Victoria 32, and Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory 30 each. The Northern Territory count comes from its government Get your driver licence page read 3 September 2026. Tasmania is shown as being verified because its count has not been confirmed against Service Tasmania.

What does the theory test cost?

Of the fees confirmed, Tasmania is free, Western Australia charges 22.40 dollars for a first sitting and 19.20 dollars for a resit with a separate hazard perception test at 29.90 dollars for a first sitting, Queensland charges 29.70 dollars for the PrepL course and its assessment together, South Australia charges 40 dollars, and Victoria charges 50.80 dollars for an in person knowledge test including the appointment fee, with the first online attempt free, 44.00 dollars for an in person hazard perception test and 75.30 dollars for the drive test. The Northern Territory Government lists a $20 knowledge test fee, covered by $110 DriveSafe NT enrolment, read 3 September 2026. New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory carry no fee here because none was checked against the agency.

Which state has the lowest driving test pass rate?

Of the figures held, Western Australia is lowest at 42.3 percent across 244,557 practical driving assessments. Victoria is highest at 72.2 percent across 492,504 drive tests. Four jurisdictions have no confirmed figure here, so this is a comparison of the four that do rather than a national ranking.

Compare

All 8 Australian licensing systems, side by side

Across the eight Australian systems, the learner theory tests confirmed here run from 30 questions in Queensland and Western Australia and Northern Territory to 50 in South Australia, supervised hours before the practical test run from 50 in Western Australia to 120 in New South Wales and Victoria, and the tightest confirmed pass mark is New South Wales at 12 of 15, then 29 of 30, where one wrong answer in the road safety section ends the sitting. Every figure on this page was checked against the responsible agency or an open dataset on 27 August 2026, and anything not checked reads as being verified rather than filled in.

Car licences Motorcycle licences

Reviewed on 2026-08-27

7 of 8 car pass marks confirmed, 1 of 8 rider formats confirmed

Every figure below was checked against the responsible agency or an open dataset on 27 August 2026. Anything not checked reads as being verified rather than as a guess, because copying a number from another practice site is not checking it. Current agency names only.

Car licencesTheory test, pass mark, fees, logbook hours and practical pass rate across all eight. 7 pass marks and 6 fee sets confirmed.
Motorcycle licencesRider theory formats and the size of the practice bank held here. One format confirmed, seven blank, and 806 rider questions across the eight.

Car

The car comparison

Six columns across eight jurisdictions. On a narrow screen every row becomes a card carrying the same six labelled figures, so two jurisdictions can still be read against each other on a phone.

Learner theory test and practical test facts for all 8 Australian states and territories, for a car licence. A cell reading "Being verified" is a figure that has not been confirmed against a source here.
State or territory	Theory test	Questions	Pass mark	Fees	Logbook hours	Practical pass rate
New South WalesTransport for NSW and Service NSWSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testDriver Knowledge Test	Questions45 questions in two sections	Pass mark12 of 15, then 29 of 30	FeesBeing verified	Logbook hours120 hours	Practical pass rateAbout 56% statewide
VictoriaVicRoadsSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testLearner permit knowledge test	Questions32 questions	Pass mark78% correct	Fees$50.80 knowledge, $44.00 hazard, $75.30 drive test, in person	Logbook hours120 hours	Practical pass rate72.2% across 492,504 tests
QueenslandDepartment of Transport and Main RoadsSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testPrepL	Questions30 question final assessment	Pass mark27 of 30, which is 90%	Fees$29.70 for the course and assessment	Logbook hours100 hours	Practical pass rateAbout 61% statewide
Western AustraliaDepartment of TransportSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testTheory test	Questions30 questions	Pass mark24 of 30	Fees$22.40 theory, $29.90 hazard, first sittings	Logbook hours50 hours	Practical pass rate42.3% across 244,557 assessments
South AustraliaService SASources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testTheory test	QuestionsTwo parts, 8 then 42	Pass mark8 of 8, then 32 of 42	Fees$40 for the theory test	Logbook hoursBeing verified	Practical pass rateBeing verified
TasmaniaService TasmaniaSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testKnowledge test	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	FeesFree	Logbook hoursBeing verified	Practical pass rateBeing verified
Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory GovernmentSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testDriveSafe NT knowledge test	Questions30 questions	Pass mark26 of 30	Fees$20	Logbook hoursBeing verified	Practical pass rateBeing verified
Australian Capital TerritoryACT GovernmentSources, checked 27 August 2026	Theory testKnowledge test	Questions35 questions	Pass mark31 of 35	FeesBeing verified	Logbook hoursBeing verified	Practical pass rateBeing verified

Tasmania has no pass mark confirmed against Service Tasmania in this table. The Northern Territory Government states 26 correct out of 30. Source: Northern Territory Government, Get your driver licence and driver and rider licence fees, read 3 September 2026.

Motorcycle

The motorcycle comparison

This table is shorter than the car one, and it is shorter for a reason. Only one jurisdiction publishes its rider question bank and states its rider format. The last column is the honest thing that can be said about the other seven: how many original rider questions are held here, written against the current road rules with the rule cited on every answer.

Rider theory test facts and the size of the rider practice bank held on this site, for all 8 Australian states and territories. A cell reading "Being verified" is a format that has not been confirmed against the agency here.
State or territory	Rider theory test	Questions	Pass mark	Question bank held here	Practise
New South WalesTransport for NSW and Service NSW	Rider theory testNSW Rider Knowledge Test	Questions45 questions	Pass mark12 of 15 on general knowledge, 29 of 30 on road safety	Question bank held here316 published questionsThe agency publishes its rider bank and this is it, parsed here.	PractiseNSW rider tests
VictoriaVicRoads	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseVIC rider tests
QueenslandDepartment of Transport and Main Roads	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseQLD rider tests
Western AustraliaDepartment of Transport	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseWA rider tests
South AustraliaService SA	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseSA rider tests
TasmaniaService Tasmania	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseTAS rider tests
Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory Government	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseNT rider tests
Australian Capital TerritoryACT Government	Rider theory testBeing verified	QuestionsBeing verified	Pass markBeing verified	Question bank held here70 original questionsWritten for this site. The agency publishes no rider bank.	PractiseACT rider tests

Seven of the eight rider rows carry no test name, no question count and no pass mark, because none has been confirmed against the agency. The practice questions for those seven are real and they are ours, which is a different claim from knowing what the official sitting looks like, and the two are kept apart on purpose.

One jurisdiction at a time

The car figures again, stacked, with the agency, the source note and the way into the practice tests for that jurisdiction in both classes.

New South Wales: Driver Knowledge Test

Set by Transport for NSW and Service NSW.

NSW car tests NSW rider tests

Questions: 45 questions in two sections; 45 questions in total.
Pass mark: 12 of 15, then 29 of 30; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: Being verified; No official fee schedule was checked on the review date, so no amount is shown.
Logbook hours: 120 hours; 120 supervised hours before the driving test, with 20 of those hours credited for completing the Safer Drivers Course.
Driving test: About 56% statewide; Read the sample size, the coverage and the release on the pass rate page.
Motorcycle: NSW Rider Knowledge Test; 45 questions in two sections. Three wrong answers are allowed on general knowledge and one on road safety. Both sections have to pass. The published rider bank, parsed here. 316 questions in it, 169 of them askable without an image we do not hold.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Format and pass marks from the Transport for NSW published Driver Knowledge Test question bank for cars and the Service NSW test information, checked 27 August 2026. Statewide driving test pass rate from the Transport for NSW Registration and Licensing Statistics Portal, retrieved August 2026, which also publishes outcomes for about 150 individual test centres. Fees are not shown because no official fee schedule was checked on that date, and the DKT Online course fee in particular is set by the provider path a learner takes.

Victoria: Learner permit knowledge test

Set by VicRoads.

VIC car tests VIC rider tests

Questions: 32 questions; 32 questions in total.
Pass mark: 78% correct; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: $50.80 knowledge, $44.00 hazard, $75.30 drive test, in person; Knowledge test: $50.80. In person: the $28.70 test plus the $22.10 appointment fee. The first online attempt is free and later online attempts are $28.70. Hazard Perception Test: $44.00. In person: $21.90 plus the $22.10 appointment fee. The first online attempt is free. Later online attempts are $22.10 on the fees page and $20.70 on the VicRoads Hazard Perception Test page. Drive test: $75.30. The $53.20 test plus the $22.10 appointment fee, charged per sitting.
Logbook hours: 120 hours; 120 supervised hours before the drive test.
Drive test: 72.2% across 492,504 tests; Read the sample size, the coverage and the release on the pass rate page.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against VicRoads, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. VicRoads does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Question count and pass mark from VicRoads learner permit and test information, checked 27 August 2026. Fees read on the VicRoads Ls and Ps fees page on 15 September 2026, where the first online learner permit test and the first online Hazard Perception Test are both free. Pass rate from a VicRoads freedom of information release covering 492,504 drive tests between January 2024 and April 2026, retrieved August 2026. The same release records 74.2% at the first attempt falling to 51.7% by the fifth, and more than one test in five ended early by the testing officer for a critical error. Per centre figures were not part of that release, so Victoria is statewide only here.

Queensland: PrepL

Set by Department of Transport and Main Roads.

QLD car tests QLD rider tests

Questions: 30 question final assessment; 30 questions in total.
Pass mark: 27 of 30, which is 90%; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: $29.70 for the course and assessment; PrepL course and assessment: $29.70. One fee covering the online course and the assessment at the end of it. Read on the agency page, which supersedes the $28.70 we carried earlier.
Logbook hours: 100 hours; 100 supervised hours before the practical test.
Q-SAFE practical test: About 61% statewide; Read the sample size, the coverage and the release on the pass rate page.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against Department of Transport and Main Roads, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. Department of Transport and Main Roads does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Course structure, fee and pass mark from Department of Transport and Main Roads PrepL information, checked 27 August 2026, which also sets the minimum start age at 15 years and 11 months. Pass rate from the Queensland practical driving test open data, published under CC BY 4.0 and updated annually, retrieved August 2026. That dataset breaks results down by local government area, licence class, booking type and age group, so Queensland is the one place a learner can compare their own area properly.

Western Australia: Theory test

Set by Department of Transport.

WA car tests WA rider tests

Questions: 30 questions; 30 questions in total.
Pass mark: 24 of 30; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: $22.40 theory, $29.90 hazard, first sittings; Theory test: $22.40. Charged per sitting. The first sitting is $22.40 and each resit after it is $19.20. Read on the agency page, which supersedes the $18.20 we carried earlier. Hazard Perception Test: $29.90. The first sitting. Each resit is $24.10. Read on the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure page on 15 September 2026, which supersedes the $23.60 we carried earlier.
Logbook hours: 50 hours; 50 supervised hours, including 5 at night, recorded after the theory test and before the practical driving assessment.
Practical Driving Assessment: 42.3% across 244,557 assessments; Read the sample size, the coverage and the release on the pass rate page.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against Department of Transport, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. Department of Transport does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Question count, pass mark and fees from Department of Transport theory test and hazard perception information, checked 27 August 2026. Pass rate from Department of Transport freedom of information release 2026-0140, covering 244,557 practical driving assessments across 22 centres, retrieved August 2026. The same release puts Midland at 28.3% and Cannington at 56.4%, the widest gap between centres recorded in any Australian release we hold.

South Australia: Theory test

Set by Service SA.

SA car tests SA rider tests

Questions: Two parts, 8 then 42; 50 questions in total.
Pass mark: 8 of 8, then 32 of 42; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: $40 for the theory test; Theory test: $40. Same fee whether it is sat online through myLs or at a Service SA centre.
Logbook hours: Being verified; Supervised hour requirements depend on which pathway is taken after the theory test, the Vehicle On Road Test or competency based training and assessment. Being checked against Service SA before publication.
Vehicle On Road Test: Being verified; No practical pass rate has been read off a source in this jurisdiction.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against Service SA, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. Service SA does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Test structure and fee from Service SA theory test information, checked 27 August 2026: part one is eight give way questions with every answer required correct, part two needs 32 of 42. No statewide practical pass rate has been checked against a South Australian source, so none is shown here. Logbook hours sit behind the two pathway choice and are being checked before publication.

Tasmania: Knowledge test

Set by Service Tasmania.

TAS car tests TAS rider tests

Questions: Being verified; Not confirmed against a source in this jurisdiction, so no count is stated.
Pass mark: Being verified; No pass mark is published on this site for this jurisdiction, because none has been confirmed against a source here.
Fees: Free; Knowledge test: Free. Booked through Service Tasmania at no charge.
Logbook hours: Being verified; Supervised hour requirements are being checked against Service Tasmania before publication.
Practical driving assessment: Being verified; No practical pass rate has been read off a source in this jurisdiction.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against Service Tasmania, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. Service Tasmania does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Booking route and the absence of a test fee from Service Tasmania knowledge test information, checked 27 August 2026. No Tasmanian practical pass rate with a named publisher has been confirmed, so none is shown. Question count and pass mark are not shown because they have not been confirmed against a Tasmanian source.

Northern Territory: DriveSafe NT knowledge test

Set by Northern Territory Government.

NT car tests NT rider tests

Questions: 30 questions; 30 questions in total.
Pass mark: 26 of 30; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: $20; Knowledge test: $20. Covered by $110 DriveSafe NT enrolment, which also covers learner and provisional licence fees.
Logbook hours: Being verified; The Northern Territory does not run a log book system. The Northern Territory Government recommends about 20 hours learning controls and another 80 hours becoming a low risk driver.
Practical driving assessment: Being verified; No practical pass rate has been read off a source in this jurisdiction.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against Northern Territory Government, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. Northern Territory Government does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; The Northern Territory Government Get your driver licence page and fee page, read 3 September 2026, state 30 questions, 26 correct to pass, a $20 knowledge test fee and no log book system. No statewide practical pass rate is confirmed here.

Australian Capital Territory: Knowledge test

Set by ACT Government.

ACT car tests ACT rider tests

Questions: 35 questions; 35 questions in total.
Pass mark: 31 of 35; The margin a sitting is decided on.
Fees: Being verified; No official fee schedule was checked on the review date, so no amount is shown.
Logbook hours: Being verified; Supervised hour requirements are being checked against the ACT source before publication.
Practical driving assessment: Being verified; No practical pass rate has been read off a source in this jurisdiction.
Motorcycle: Being verified; The rider format has not been confirmed against ACT Government, so no test name, question count or pass mark is claimed. 70 original rider questions written for this site against the current road rules, with the rule cited on every answer. ACT Government does not publish a rider bank.
Sources: Where these figures came from; Question count of 35 and pass mark of 31 from ACT Government knowledge test requirements, checked 27 August 2026. The current fee, the logbook requirement and any practical pass rate have not been confirmed against an ACT source, so they are shown as being verified. Four wrong answers is the whole margin, which is tighter than most learners expect from a small jurisdiction.

How to read this table

Five things that stop a side by side comparison being misleading.

The tests are not equivalent

A 30 question Queensland assessment sat at the end of an online course is a different thing from a 45 question New South Wales test sat in two sections, and both are different from a South Australian test where part one is eight give way questions with no margin at all. The question count on its own says very little. Read it with the pass mark next to it, or read the counts on their own on learner test questions by state.

Supervised hours are counted in different orders

Western Australia records its 50 hours after the theory test rather than before it, which is the reverse of the order most states use, and the New South Wales Safer Drivers Course credits 20 of its 120. Four jurisdictions state no figure here at all. The hours on their own, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, are on logbook hours by state.

Fees are not the cost of a licence

What is shown here is the test fee where an agency publishes one. It is not lessons, not the car on the day, not resits and not the licence itself. Nothing on this site adds those up, because the lesson market is not something an agency publishes and estimating it would be inventing a figure.

A blank is a real answer

Six of the car columns have at least one blank in them, and seven of the eight rider rows are blank in three columns. Those are not oversights. They are the places where no agency source was checked, and a blank is the honest state of the row until one is.

The bank we hold is not the test

The last column of the motorcycle table counts questions in this repository, not questions in an official sitting. For New South Wales those are the same thing, because the agency publishes its rider bank. For the other seven they are not, and the column says which is which on every row.

Questions this table answers

Question: Which Australian state has the toughest learner theory pass mark?; On pass mark alone, the New South Wales road safety section is the tightest: 29 of 30 correct, so one wrong answer ends the sitting. South Australia comes next in a different way, because part one is eight give way questions and every one of them has to be right. Queensland asks 27 of 30 in the PrepL final assessment, which is 90 percent. The Northern Territory needs 26 of 30, according to its government Get your driver licence page read 3 September 2026. Tasmania is not ranked because its pass mark has not been confirmed against Service Tasmania.
Question: How many questions is the learner knowledge test in each state?; New South Wales asks 45 in two sections, South Australia 50 across two parts of 8 and 42, Australian Capital Territory 35, Victoria 32, and Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory 30 each. The Northern Territory count comes from its government Get your driver licence page read 3 September 2026. Tasmania is shown as being verified because its count has not been confirmed against Service Tasmania.
Question: What does the theory test cost?; Of the fees confirmed, Tasmania is free, Western Australia charges 22.40 dollars for a first sitting and 19.20 dollars for a resit with a separate hazard perception test at 29.90 dollars for a first sitting, Queensland charges 29.70 dollars for the PrepL course and its assessment together, South Australia charges 40 dollars, and Victoria charges 50.80 dollars for an in person knowledge test including the appointment fee, with the first online attempt free, 44.00 dollars for an in person hazard perception test and 75.30 dollars for the drive test. The Northern Territory Government lists a $20 knowledge test fee, covered by $110 DriveSafe NT enrolment, read 3 September 2026. New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory carry no fee here because none was checked against the agency.
Question: How many supervised driving hours do I need?; New South Wales and Victoria both require 120 hours before the practical test, and the New South Wales Safer Drivers Course credits 20 of them. Queensland requires 100. Western Australia requires 50, and records them after the theory test rather than before it, which is the reverse of the order most states use. South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are being checked. The Northern Territory has no log book system, according to its government Get your driver licence page read 3 September 2026.
Question: Which state has the lowest driving test pass rate?; Of the figures held, Western Australia is lowest at 42.3 percent across 244,557 practical driving assessments. Victoria is highest at 72.2 percent across 492,504 drive tests. Four jurisdictions have no confirmed figure here, so this is a comparison of the four that do rather than a national ranking.

Last checked 27 August 2026.