The learner's test has 45 questions in New South Wales, 32 in Victoria, 30 in Queensland, 30 in Western Australia, 50 in South Australia, and 35 in the Australian Capital Territory, according to the responsible agencies. The Northern Territory test asks 30 questions and needs 26 correct, according to the Northern Territory Government's Get your driver licence page. Tasmania's count remains unconfirmed here.
Australia does not have one national learner test. Each licensing authority sets its own question format and pass rule, so the total alone can mislead you. New South Wales and South Australia apply separate cut-offs within one test, while Victoria publishes a percentage rather than an official raw pass count. The side-by-side comparison of all eight systems sets out the full overview.
New South Wales: two cut-offs inside one test
For the New South Wales in-person Driver Knowledge Test, Transport for NSW and Service NSW specify 45 questions in two sections. The general knowledge section has 15 questions and requires 12 correct. The road safety section has 30 questions and requires 29 correct. Passing one section cannot compensate for missing the other section's cut-off.
The online route changes the time commitment. Service NSW describes DKT Online as a 4 to 6 hour course with the final test at the end. Its final test has no time limit, but it must be completed in one session. You can leave the learning modules and return later, so the course length is not a single uninterrupted test sitting. No official time limit for the in-person DKT was found on the agency pages when we checked them.
Transport for NSW publishes the full car question bank under CC BY 4.0. The bank contains 358 questions, but those published questions prepare learners for the in-person DKT, not DKT Online. You can study the NSW questions section by section, which keeps the general knowledge and road safety thresholds visible while you practise.
Victoria: the percentage has to be converted
The VicRoads learner permit knowledge test has 32 questions and a pass mark of 78 percent, according to the VicRoads practice learner permit test page. VicRoads states the official rule as a percentage, not as a raw number of correct answers. That distinction matters when you work out the smallest whole-number score that reaches the published mark.
The VicRoads learner permit knowledge test page gives no fixed sitting-time limit. Do not turn the length of a practice attempt into a claim about the real test. For planning, keep enough time around the appointment for arrival and administration, but use no unofficial minute estimate for the test itself.
Queensland: the highest confirmed pass bar
Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads sets 30 multiple-choice questions for PrepL and requires 27 correct, or 90 percent. That is the highest confirmed percentage bar among Australia's learner assessments. The department's PrepL page says a learner may enrol from 15 years and 11 months, before becoming eligible for a learner licence.
PrepL combines teaching and assessment rather than giving you a short stand-alone appointment. The Department of Transport and Main Roads says the course takes roughly 4 to 6 hours and can be completed at your own pace. The same page gives no separate official time limit for the final question set, so the course length should not be described as the test timer.
Western Australia: one score across the test
Western Australia's Department of Transport sets 30 multiple-choice questions in the Computerised Theory Test and requires at least 24 correct. Unlike New South Wales or South Australia, the confirmed car test rule is one total score rather than separate section cut-offs. That lets you calculate one mistake allowance across the full sitting.
The Department of Transport theory test page gives no official sitting-time limit. It does say the test is taken without a phone, another device or the Drive Safe handbook. Plan to answer from your own knowledge, but do not rely on an unofficial claim about how many minutes the sitting lasts.
South Australia: the first part must be perfect
The South Australian centre theory test has 50 questions in two parts, according to Service SA. Part one has 8 give way questions, and every answer must be correct before you can proceed. Part two has 42 road rules and safety questions, with at least 32 correct required. A strong second part cannot repair one wrong give way answer.
Official South Australian guidance is the clearest published answer about sitting length. The Department for Infrastructure and Transport says the computer or written centre test takes about 30 minutes. That is guidance, not a hard countdown stated on the page, so arrive ready for the appointment to take longer once check-in and permit administration are included.
South Australia also offers the online myLs pathway, which combines learning and assessment rather than simply copying the centre appointment. The choice affects how you complete the requirement, even though both lead towards the same learner's permit. The guide to South Australia's two theory test pathways sets out the practical differences between the online and centre routes.
Tasmania: the honest answer is still unconfirmed
Service Tasmania confirms that the learner driver knowledge test can be completed through Plates Plus or at a service centre and that the service has no charge. Its page does not publish a question count, pass mark or sitting-time limit. The question total and required score therefore remain under verification, and this guide does not fill the gap with an unsupported figure.
Some practice sites print a Tasmanian count as though repetition makes it official. It does not. A number copied from another practice page still traces back to that page unless a responsible Tasmanian source confirms it. Until that source is recorded, prepare from the current Tasmanian road rules material and ask Service Tasmania about the test format when arranging the service.
Northern Territory: 26 correct out of 30
The Northern Territory uses a driver knowledge test within the learner licensing process, including the DriveSafe NT pathway. The test asks 30 questions and needs 26 correct, with a $20 fee covered by DriveSafe NT enrolment. Those figures come from the Northern Territory Government Get your driver licence page and its fee page.
The NT Government licensing page gives no official sitting-time limit either. That means you should confirm the current arrangements directly when booking or enrolling, and should not plan around a duration quoted without an NT Government source. The missing number is deliberate, not an invitation to substitute an estimate.
Australian Capital Territory: four errors, with a condition
The Australian Capital Territory knowledge test has 35 questions and requires 31 correct, according to ACT Government material. The current ACT instrument adds a useful condition: some questions are mandatory and must all be correct, while four incorrect answers are allowed among the remaining general questions. Treat mandatory items as having no mistake allowance.
The ACT Government knowledge test material gives no official sitting-time limit, so a fixed minute estimate would be guesswork. The safe planning distinction is between the required pre-learner learning process and the knowledge test itself: time published for learning does not automatically become time allowed for answering the test questions.
How many answers can you get wrong?
New South Wales: 15 minus 12 leaves 3 possible wrong answers in general knowledge, while 30 minus 29 leaves only 1 in road safety. This arithmetic uses the section scores published by Transport for NSW and Service NSW. The allowances stay separate, so using all four errors in one section does not produce a pass.
Victoria: 78 percent of 32 is 24.96, so the smallest whole score that reaches the mark is 25 correct, leaving 7 wrong. This is derived from the VicRoads percentage and question count. VicRoads publishes 78 percent, not 25 correct, so treat the raw count as arithmetic rather than agency wording.
Queensland: 30 minus the required 27 leaves room for 3 wrong answers across PrepL, and the Department of Transport and Main Roads publishes both inputs. Because the required score is 90 percent, a fourth error takes the result below the confirmed pass bar even if the remaining answers are correct.
Western Australia: 30 minus the required 24 leaves room for 6 wrong answers across the Computerised Theory Test, on the Department of Transport's figures. This is one overall allowance, with no separate confirmed car-test section score to satisfy as well. Because the allowance is shared, it does not matter which topics the six errors fall in.
South Australia: 8 minus the required 8 leaves zero room for error in part one, while 42 minus 32 leaves room for 10 wrong answers in part two, using the Service SA figures. The two margins cannot be pooled, because one wrong give way answer blocks progress regardless of the later score.
Australian Capital Territory: 35 minus the required 31 gives a headline margin of 4 wrong answers on ACT Government figures. The ACT instrument qualifies that margin: all mandatory questions must be right, so the four possible errors apply only among the general questions.
The Northern Territory allows four wrong answers: 30 questions minus the 26 needed to pass, as the NT Government states them. Tasmania does not belong in this arithmetic comparison yet because its question count and pass mark remain unconfirmed against Service Tasmania.
Worked example: counting your margin in Bunbury
If you live in the Western Australian city of Bunbury and sit the Computerised Theory Test, your test has 30 questions and needs 24 correct, using Department of Transport figures. Subtract 24 from 30 and you get an allowance of 6 wrong. If your practice result is 23 correct, you have 7 wrong and are one correct answer below the pass line. The same method works for Queensland, which also uses one overall score.
On your next practice attempt, 24 correct means 6 wrong, which reaches the confirmed threshold exactly. A result of 25 correct means 5 wrong and places you one answer above it. The arithmetic tells you more than a percentage alone: you can identify the precise gap to close. Counting wrong answers rather than right ones also makes the target easy to hold in mind: in this test, six is the limit. For any other test size, the pass mark calculator performs the same subtraction.
How do you plan for the time you can verify?
Separate course time, test time and appointment time before putting the date in your calendar. Service NSW and Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads each publish roughly 4 to 6 hours for their online learning routes. Those hours include teaching content and activities. They are not evidence that the final question set takes that long.
New South Wales gives the most precise timer statement for an online final: Service NSW says there is no time limit, but the final must be finished in one session. Complete the learning earlier, then begin the final only when you have a stable connection and enough uninterrupted time to read every question carefully.
South Australia's centre test is the only sitting in this review with official duration guidance on an agency page: about 30 minutes, according to the Department for Infrastructure and Transport. For Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, the agency material we reviewed gave no official sitting-time limit.
Where no limit is published, do not practise against a made-up countdown. Practise reading accurately, then check the booking confirmation for any instructions that apply to your appointment. If the agency later publishes a timer, that current instruction should replace any older third-party claim. Travel, identity checks and service-centre waiting are separate from the question sitting and cannot be given one national duration.
Why does the pass rule matter more than the total?
When you mark a practice set, record whether the real test uses one overall score or separate gates. A total score is enough for the confirmed Queensland and Western Australian formats. New South Wales needs a separate result for general knowledge and road safety, while South Australia needs a perfect give way part before the second part can matter. This prevents a reassuring total from hiding a failing section.
Set your practice target above the bare minimum so one unfamiliar question does not decide the result, but keep the official line visible. The pass mark calculator can convert a confirmed question total and required score into an allowed-error margin. It includes the Northern Territory's 26 of 30 mark from the NT Government's licence page. Tasmania remains unscored until an agency source supplies the missing facts.
For New South Wales, work through the published bank one section at a time rather than treating all questions as interchangeable. Transport for NSW releases its 358-question car bank under CC BY 4.0, so you are practising on the real material. Matching practice to the two official cut-offs makes your result diagnostic: it shows whether general knowledge or road safety needs more work.
Common questions
- Question
- How many questions is the learners test in Australia?
- It depends on where you sit it, because each jurisdiction runs its own test. New South Wales sets 45, Victoria 32, Queensland 30, Western Australia 30, South Australia 50, the Australian Capital Territory 35 and the Northern Territory 30, on each agency's published figures. Service Tasmania does not publish a count, so Tasmania is left blank here.
- Question
- How many questions can I get wrong on the learners test?
- Queensland allows 3 wrong, Western Australia 6 and the Northern Territory 4. The Australian Capital Territory has a headline margin of 4, but only among the general questions, because the mandatory ones must all be right. New South Wales allows 3 wrong in general knowledge and 1 in road safety, and South Australia allows none in part one and 10 in part two. Victoria's derived margin is 7.
- Question
- Is the learners test timed in Australia?
- Not on any national basis. Service NSW says the DKT Online final has no time limit but must be finished in one session, and South Australian official guidance puts its centre theory test at about 30 minutes. The other jurisdictions reviewed publish no sitting-time limit, so this guide does not estimate one.
- Question
- How long does the NSW DKT Online take?
- Allow 4 to 6 hours for the whole course, which is the Service NSW figure for the learning modules and the final test combined. It is not a timed question sitting. You can save your progress through the learning content, but the final itself must be done in one session, and it has no time limit.
- Question
- How long does Queensland PrepL take?
- Roughly 4 to 6 hours, worked at your own pace, according to Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads. That time covers learning activities as well as assessment. The final assessment has 30 questions and needs 27 correct, and the department gives no separate time limit for that question set.
- Question
- What if I get one give way question wrong in South Australia?
- Then you do not clear the first part of the centre theory test. Service SA requires all 8 give way questions to be correct before part two counts. The allowance of 10 wrong answers applies only to the later 42-question road rules and safety part, so no score there can cancel the earlier error.
- Question
- Why is Tasmania's question count missing?
- Service Tasmania confirms the test routes and that the service has no charge, but its page gives no question count or pass mark. Copying a number from another practice site would not make it official, so the gap stays open until an agency source fills it. The Northern Territory, by contrast, publishes 30 questions with 26 correct to pass.
Sources
- Service NSW, Common questions about Driver Knowledge Test onlineChecked
- Transport for NSW, Driver Knowledge Test questions for car licenceChecked
- Queensland Government, Driver tests, written and onlineChecked
- Transport WA, Take the Computerised Theory TestChecked
- VicRoads, Practice learner permit knowledge testChecked
- South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport, Theory testChecked
- Service Tasmania, Complete a learner driver licence knowledge testChecked
- NT Government, Get your driver licenceChecked
- ACT Government, Approval of Pre-Learner Licence Training CourseChecked