Does the pass rate go down with every attempt?

In the Victorian release it is lower at the fifth attempt than at the first: 74.2 percent of first attempts passed and 51.7 percent of fifth attempts passed, a drop of 22.5 percentage points. The release held here does not give the second, third or fourth attempt, so the shape between those two points is not known and is not drawn.

Why would a repeat attempt be harder than a first one?

The release reports outcomes, not causes, so any explanation is inference rather than data. The plainest reading is that the group sitting a fifth test is not the same group that sat a first one. Candidates who were ready have already left the pool, so what remains is weighted towards people who have failed several times already. That is a composition effect, not evidence that the test itself gets stricter.

How many drive tests end before the end?

More than one in five. The release records tests ended early by the testing officer for a critical driving error, which is a separate outcome from being scored through to the end and failing on accumulated faults. That single figure changes how a test should be prepared for: the first few minutes carry more weight than the last ten.

Does this apply outside Victoria?

No. This is a Victorian release covering Victorian drive tests. No other Australian jurisdiction has been read here publishing outcomes by attempt number, so there is no basis for saying the same curve holds in New South Wales, Queensland or anywhere else. It is offered as the one place in the country where the question has a published answer.

Study

What happens on a second, third and fifth driving test

One Australian release reports drive test outcomes by attempt number. It says the fifth attempt passes at 51.7 percent against 74.2 percent for the first, and that more than one test in five is stopped before the end. Both figures are widely felt and almost never quoted.

Reviewed on 2026-08-28

Victoria only, 492,504 drive tests

First attempt: 74.2%Passing at the first sitting
Fifth attempt: 51.7%A drop of 22.5 percentage points from the first
Ended early: More than one test in fiveStopped by the testing officer for a critical driving error, rather than failed on points at the end

What the release says, attempt by attempt

Two of these five rows carry a figure. The other three are empty because the release held here does not name them, and drawing a line between two known points would invent the middle of it.

Drive test pass rate, by attempt number

Two of the five attempt rows carry a figure. The sixth row is the statewide rate the whole release sits inside, shown so the first attempt figure is not mistaken for it.

First attempt74.2%2 points above the 72.2% statewide figure
Second attemptNot in the release held hereThe release held here does not name this attempt. Nothing is interpolated between the two figures that are named.
Third attemptNot in the release held hereThe release held here does not name this attempt. Nothing is interpolated between the two figures that are named.
Fourth attemptNot in the release held hereThe release held here does not name this attempt. Nothing is interpolated between the two figures that are named.
Fifth attempt51.7%20.5 points below the 72.2% statewide figure
All attempts together72.2%The statewide figure across 492,504 drive tests, covering January 2024 to April 2026. It sits below the first attempt because it includes every repeat sitting.

Bars run from zero to 100 percent of tests passed. 3 of 6 rows have a figure. The other 3 rows are drawn as a gap rather than filled in.

The three hatched rows are the shape of what is missing. Joining the first attempt to the fifth with a line would draw three numbers that nobody has published, so the gap is left as a gap.

Freedom of information release VicRoads drive test freedom of information release. Read on 27 August 2026.

Drive test pass rate by attempt number, from the Victorian release
Attempt	Pass rate	Against the statewide figure
First attempt	74.2%	2 points above the 72.2% statewide figure
Second attempt	Not in the release held here	Not known
Third attempt	Not in the release held here	Not known
Fourth attempt	Not in the release held here	Not known
Fifth attempt	51.7%	20.5 points below the 72.2% statewide figure

Statewide, 72.2% of 492,504 drive tests passed, covering January 2024 to April 2026. The statewide figure sits below the first attempt figure because it includes every repeat sitting.

More than one test in five

of drive tests were stopped before the end

Ended by the testing officer for a critical driving error rather than failed on accumulated marks at the finish. That is the figure on this page with the most direct bearing on how anybody should prepare, and it is the one nobody quotes.

Freedom of information release VicRoads drive test freedom of information release. Read on 27 August 2026.

More than one drive test in five never reaches the end

More than one drive test in five was ended early by the testing officer for a critical driving error, rather than being scored to the end and failed on points.

That is a different kind of failure from running out of marks. A test stopped for a critical error usually ends in the first part of the drive, on something specific: a give way not given, a speed limit missed on the way out of the centre, a gap taken that was not there. Preparation aimed at the whole drive misses it. Preparation aimed at the rules that end a test on the spot does not.

The release records that this happened. It does not record which errors did it, so no breakdown is given here, and the fault lists that circulate should be treated as somebody else guessing.

How this page was made

One release, read directlyEvery figure on this page comes from a single freedom of information release covering Victorian car drive tests. No second source is blended in, because blending two releases with different windows produces a number belonging to neither.
Nothing derived except one subtractionThe drop of 22.5 percentage points is the first attempt figure minus the fifth. That is the only arithmetic on this page, and both of its inputs are printed beside it.
The middle of the curve is left outThe second, third and fourth attempts are not in the material held. They are shown as empty rows rather than smoothed over, because a plausible curve through a gap is still a made up curve.
It is Victoria, and only VictoriaNo other Australian jurisdiction has been found publishing outcomes by attempt number. Nothing here should be read as a national pattern, and nothing here is applied to another state.

What this page cannot tell you

The useful half of a statistics page is the half that says where the evidence stops.

Not held: The second, third and fourth attempt; The release held here names the first and the fifth. Nothing between them is published on this site, and no line is drawn through the gap.
Not held: Why the fifth attempt is lower; The release reports outcomes, not causes. The plainest reading is that the group sitting a fifth test is not the group that sat a first one, because everyone who was ready has already left the pool. That is inference, and it is labelled as inference.
Not held: Anything outside Victoria; No other Australian jurisdiction has been read publishing outcomes by attempt number. There is no basis for saying the same shape holds in New South Wales, Queensland or anywhere else, so nothing of the kind is said.
Not held: Which errors end a test; The release gives the share of tests ended early and not the reasons. A breakdown would be the most useful thing on this page and it is exactly the thing that would have to be invented, so it is absent.

Source

One release, named in full, with what it can and cannot support.

Release: Freedom of information release covering 492,504 car drive tests, including outcome by attempt number and tests ended early for a critical error; VicRoads. Freedom of information release. Checked 27 August 2026.
Caveat: Statewide only; Statewide only. The release does not break results down by test centre, and a separate request for per centre outcomes was refused, so no Victorian per centre figure on this site would be sound.

Questions people actually ask

Question: Does the pass rate go down with every attempt?; In the Victorian release it is lower at the fifth attempt than at the first: 74.2 percent of first attempts passed and 51.7 percent of fifth attempts passed, a drop of 22.5 percentage points. The release held here does not give the second, third or fourth attempt, so the shape between those two points is not known and is not drawn.
Question: Why would a repeat attempt be harder than a first one?; The release reports outcomes, not causes, so any explanation is inference rather than data. The plainest reading is that the group sitting a fifth test is not the same group that sat a first one. Candidates who were ready have already left the pool, so what remains is weighted towards people who have failed several times already. That is a composition effect, not evidence that the test itself gets stricter.
Question: How many drive tests end before the end?; More than one in five. The release records tests ended early by the testing officer for a critical driving error, which is a separate outcome from being scored through to the end and failing on accumulated faults. That single figure changes how a test should be prepared for: the first few minutes carry more weight than the last ten.
Question: Does this apply outside Victoria?; No. This is a Victorian release covering Victorian drive tests. No other Australian jurisdiction has been read here publishing outcomes by attempt number, so there is no basis for saying the same curve holds in New South Wales, Queensland or anywhere else. It is offered as the one place in the country where the question has a published answer.

Last checked 28 August 2026.

The jurisdictions behind these figures

Every figure above is read off one of these pages, where it sits next to the agency that published it and the date it was checked.