For most of the last two decades, getting a New South Wales learner licence meant booking a slot, going to a service centre, and sitting the Driver Knowledge Test on a screen there. Since the middle of 2024 Transport for NSW has been shifting that to DKT Online, a course you complete at home with the test at the end of it. The transition has been gradual rather than a single switchover date, which is why you will still find advice online describing the old path as the only path.
What the course actually is
DKT Online runs roughly 4 to 6 hours. It is a structured course covering the same road rules and safety material the Driver Knowledge Test asks about, with the test itself sat at the end. The fee is charged once and covers the course and the test together, and attempts at the test are unlimited within it. That last part is the significant change: under the sit down model, a failed test meant paying again and rebooking.
Those details were checked against Transport for NSW material on 27 August 2026. Because the rollout is still in progress, we re-verify the New South Wales format quarterly and carry the review date on every page. If you are reading this a long way from that date, check the current Service NSW page before you pay for anything.
Why it exists
The stated reasoning is that a learner who has worked through several hours of structured material arrives at the test having actually covered the syllabus, rather than having skimmed a handbook the night before. Whether that improves road safety outcomes is not something anyone can claim from the current data. What is measurable is that it moves the knowledge stage out of service centres, which had visible booking pressure: the New South Wales testing backlog was covered by the ABC in August 2025.
The course is a genuinely useful product for someone who wants a guided path and does not mind paying for it. This site is not a substitute for it and does not pretend to be. What we can say plainly is that the free official practice test that used to sit alongside the old process is gone: that Service NSW URL returned a not found page when we checked it on 27 August 2026.
What it changes about how you prepare
Unlimited attempts inside the course reduce the cost of a failed attempt, but they do not remove the reason people fail. The road safety section still needs 29 correct answers out of 30. Sitting it repeatedly until something sticks is a slow way to learn a rule you have never actually read.
The more useful preparation is the same as it always was: work through the published question bank until the road safety topics are solid, and pay attention to the specific rules you keep getting wrong rather than to your overall score. Transport for NSW publishes the car question bank in full under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, and the current version we parsed on 27 August 2026 holds 358 questions. Those are the questions the test draws from, whether you sit it in a service centre or at the end of the online course.
Practical points before you start
You need an identity verified account with Service NSW to enrol, and you need to meet the minimum age for a learner licence in New South Wales. The course expects to be completed in a session or across sessions with your progress saved, so a stable connection matters more than a fast one.
Do the reading before the course rather than during it. Several hours of course material is a lot to absorb cold, and people who arrive already comfortable with give way rules, speed limits and stopping distances get much more out of the parts they genuinely did not know.
If you have already passed under the old process
Nothing changes. A learner licence issued after a sit down Driver Knowledge Test is the same licence. The next milestones are the same: 120 supervised logbook hours before the driving test, with 20 credited for the Safer Drivers Course, then the driving test, then the Hazard Perception Test of 15 clips on the way to a P2 licence.
How this guide is kept honest
Every figure above names the agency or dataset it came from and the date it was checked. Where a number has not been confirmed against an agency or an open dataset, the guide says it is being verified rather than filling the gap. Licensing rules change, so check the agency page before you pay for anything or book a test.
Last reviewed against Transport for NSW and Service NSW.