The NSW Driver Knowledge Test is passed before you apply for a learner licence. In person, it has 45 questions: 15 general knowledge and 30 road safety. Transport for NSW sets separate pass marks of 12 and 29, so two road safety mistakes fail even when your total looks strong.
How is one 45-question sitting marked?
Questions 1 to 15 give you some room. Twelve correct means 80%, and three wrong answers still leave you on the pass mark. A fourth wrong answer drops that section to 11 out of 15, which fails. Passing all 15 creates no spare marks for the next section.
Questions 16 to 45 allow almost no room. A mark of 29 of 30 is about 96.7%, and only one wrong answer is available across the section. Two wrong answers make the road safety result 28 out of 30, which fails even if you answered every general knowledge question correctly. Both thresholds are set in the Transport for NSW DKT material.
Read the result by section, not only by total. A total of 41 can pass if it consists of 12 general knowledge answers and 29 road safety answers. A total of 43 can fail if it consists of 15 general knowledge answers and 28 road safety answers. The location of each mistake matters more than the headline score.
What do questions 1 to 15 ask you to know?
The general knowledge section covers the legal and practical foundations of driving in NSW. Expect licensing rules, vehicle requirements, penalties, signs, parking, indicators, breakdowns and the basic mechanics of sharing the road. The published bank includes questions about such details as parking near a kerb, using headlights, towing and checking tyre pressure before a long drive.
These questions can feel miscellaneous because they move between paperwork, vehicle condition and road use. Treating them as trivia makes revision harder. Sort each miss into a subject, then connect it to a reason: a rule protects visibility, keeps a vehicle roadworthy, tells other road users what you intend, or sets the conditions under which your licence remains valid.
Once you repeatedly score at least 12 out of 15, general knowledge should no longer take most of your study time. Keep checking it, because four mistakes still fail, but direct the larger share of revision towards road safety. A perfect first section cannot rescue a second section that falls below 29.
Why do questions 16 to 45 decide so many results?
Road safety questions test decisions that have immediate consequences on the road. The section includes traffic signs and situations involving speed, following distance, intersections, giving way, vulnerable road users and choosing a safe response. A learner who knows the broad rule but misses one condition in a diagram can use the section's only available error at once.
The standard is deliberately tighter than in general knowledge. You are being tested on choices that must be dependable, not merely familiar. The single feature that catches NSW learners out is the 29 out of 30 requirement: one slip on a give way rule or speed limit uses the entire margin, and the next slip ends the sitting.
Read every option as a complete claim. Words such as always, only, before and unless can change the legal meaning. With an artwork question, identify road markings, signs, vehicle positions and intended movements before reading the answers. This slows down guessing without requiring you to spend equal time on a straightforward sign and a crowded intersection diagram.
Worked sitting: why 42 can pass and 43 can fail
Take a 45-question in-person practice run. In questions 1 to 15 you miss questions 4 and 11, both about vehicle and licence requirements, and finish general knowledge on 13 out of 15. That clears the required 12, leaving the first part safely passed but adding no credit to the next part.
Pass row. In questions 16 to 45, you answer the first 22 road safety questions correctly, miss question 38 on a give way diagram, then answer questions 39 to 45 correctly. Your road safety mark is 29 out of 30. The calculation is 13 plus 29, giving 42 out of 45 overall, and both section marks pass.
Fail row. On another run you get every general knowledge answer right, so you begin with 15 out of 15. In road safety you miss question 22 on a shared zone speed limit and question 41 on an intersection diagram. Your road safety mark is 28 out of 30. The calculation is 15 plus 28, giving 43 out of 45 overall, but the sitting fails.
The failed 43 is higher than the passing 42, which is why percentages from undivided quizzes can mislead. When you practise on the NSW learner hub, write two marks beside every completed run. A result such as 14/15 and 28/30 tells you exactly why another sitting is needed, while 42/45 by itself does not.
Where do the NSW DKT questions come from?
Transport for NSW publishes the actual Class C car question bank, not merely sample questions. The current PDF, as downloaded and parsed by this site, has 94 pages and 358 questions. It is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, which allows the real questions to appear here with attribution rather than being rewritten to resemble the test.
Of the 358 questions, 194 depend on artwork or a diagram. That count comes from this site's own parse of the Transport for NSW file. Text-only revision therefore leaves a large part of the bank untouched. Signs, lane markings and vehicle positions are part of the question, not decoration around it.
You may see larger bank totals elsewhere. Older copies from a previous agency period contain material that is not in the current file, and some services still mix that material into their practice sets. The 358 figure here reflects only the current file on nsw.gov.au, and it will change if Transport for NSW replaces that file.
How do you turn the bank into useful practice?
Start with the Road User Handbook to learn the rule, then work through the NSW question bank to see how Transport for NSW tests it. The handbook gives context that an answer key cannot. The bank then exposes precise wording and diagrams. Reading the handbook alone can leave you unprepared for the format, while memorising answers alone can fail when you have not understood what changes the answer.
Do not treat another state's questions as interchangeable with NSW questions. Many basic road rules are shared, but licence stages, local penalties, terminology and some operating rules differ. NSW gives you a rare advantage because its in-person Class C bank is public. Use that source first, and check any interstate material against a current NSW source before relying on it.
A single pass through the whole bank on the night before is a weak readiness test. At 358 questions, one pass can reveal unfamiliar items but gives little chance to revisit them or check whether the underlying rule now makes sense. Spread practice across topics, repeat missed questions after a gap, then sit full 45-question runs in the DKT simulator.
Full runs matter because they reproduce the change in pressure after question 15. Short quizzes are useful for repairing one subject, but they do not teach you to protect the one-error allowance across 30 road safety questions. Use short work for learning and complete runs for proof. Readiness means passing both sections repeatedly, not recognising most answers once.
Should you sit the DKT online or at a centre?
NSW now has two delivery paths. The 45-question structure described above is the in-person DKT and matches the published Class C bank. Transport for NSW labels that bank as material for the in-person test. The alternative is DKT Online, introduced statewide in 2024 as an interactive course followed by its own final test.
Online row. DKT Online takes roughly 4 to 6 hours across three learning modules, according to Service NSW. You need a MyServiceNSW Account, a NSW residential address and an accepted Australian identity document to enrol. The final test has no time limit but must be completed in one session without help or reference material.
In-person row. The in-person DKT is a booked, multiple-choice computer test at a Service NSW centre for people aged at least 16. It remains available if you prefer a centre, need an interpreter or meet another listed reason. You pay for each attempt. Check the booking transaction for the identity documents and current requirements that apply to you.
A former Service NSW practice URL returned a not found page when we checked it, and at that point the main official path presented to learners was the paid DKT Online course. The current Service NSW handbook page again links a free in-person practice test and warns not to use it for DKT Online. Aussie Learner remains free to use, needs no account and has no paywall.
How does NSW compare with the other systems?
New South Wales row. Knowledge test: 45 in-person questions in two sections. Pass requirement: 12 of 15 general knowledge and 29 of 30 road safety. Learner requirement: 120 supervised hours for drivers under 25. Source: Transport for NSW and Service NSW.
Victoria row. Knowledge test: 32 questions. Pass requirement: 78%. Cost context: $50.80 for the in-person test and appointment, with the learner permit issue listed as free on the VicRoads Ls and Ps fees page. Learner requirement: 120 logbook hours. Practical result: 72.2% pass rate. Source: VicRoads and Victorian open data.
Queensland row. Knowledge path: PrepL. Cost context: $29.70 covering the course and assessment. Learner requirement: 100 logbook hours. Practical result: 61% Q-SAFE pass rate. Source: Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, including its open data.
Western Australia row. Knowledge test: theory test. Cost context: $22.40 for the first sitting and $19.20 for each resit. Learner requirement: 50 supervised hours, including 5 at night. Practical result: 42.3% pass rate. Source: WA transport information and open data.
South Australia row. Knowledge test: theory test through myLs online or at Service SA. Cost context: about $40. The delivery choice, rather than a NSW-style two-part pass mark, is the useful contrast here. Source: myLicence and Service SA.
Tasmania row. Knowledge test: booked through Service Tasmania. Cost context: free. No statewide practical pass rate with a named publisher is held here. Tasmania shows why a free knowledge test says nothing about the later practical assessment. Source: Service Tasmania knowledge test information.
Australian Capital Territory row. Knowledge test: 35 questions. Pass requirement: 31 correct, which allows four errors across the test. NSW instead allows three errors in general knowledge but only one in road safety. Source: ACT Government.
What is your wrong-answer pattern telling you?
Record the subject and the reason for each miss. A knowledge gap means you did not know the rule. A reading miss means you overlooked a limiting word. A diagram miss means you failed to identify a sign, line or vehicle movement. A rushed miss means you knew the rule but answered before checking every option. Each type needs a different correction.
Revise a repeated subject from the handbook before answering more versions of the same question. For example, three intersection misses call for a fresh review of give way rules and diagrams, not another general quiz. If subjects vary but the misses share words such as except or only, practise reading the complete claim before selecting an answer.
Use section thresholds as your final check. Repeated marks of 13/15 and 29/30 are passes, but they leave little room for a difficult selection. Aim for a pattern that stays above both lines across several complete runs. The objective is not a perfect streak. It is evidence that a different selection of bank questions will not expose one unlearned rule.
What does the result screen show, and what next?
If you fail DKT Online, Service NSW says you can try the final test again after a 12-hour lockout. Your result shows the correct answer for each question, so use that wait to revisit the relevant course material. Attempts are covered by one fee, payable after you pass when applying for the licence.
If you fail the in-person DKT, the Road User Handbook says you may be able to sit again the same day if a place is available, or book another time. You pay for every in-person attempt: the NSW Government fee schedule effective 1 July 2026 lists the in-person DKT at $58 for each attempt, while DKT Online is $58 for unlimited attempts.
After an online pass, visit a Service NSW centre without a booking to apply for the learner licence once you are at least 16. Bring full proof of identity, a completed licence application form, glasses or contact lenses if you wear them, and payment for the test and licence fees. Service NSW notes that the pass is already recorded.
What happens after you pass the DKT?
Passing the DKT lets you apply for a learner licence, not drive alone. A learner under 25 must record 120 supervised hours before the driving test, including the requirements that apply to the logbook. Completing the Safer Drivers Course can provide 20 hours of credit. Those figures come from NSW Government logbook information, and the logbook hours planner turns them into a weekly plan.
Later, you must pass the Hazard Perception Test before the driving test for a P1 licence. It uses 15 touch-screen video clips, according to the NSW Government. The statewide driving test pass rate is about 56%, with outcomes for about 150 centres published by Transport for NSW. The driving test pass rates by centre cover that separate practical stage.
Common questions
- Question
- Are the NSW practice questions the real DKT questions?
- Yes for the in-person Class C test: Transport for NSW publishes the real bank, and its current 94-page file holds 358 questions. DKT Online works differently. It teaches through course material and ends with its own final test, and Service NSW says the in-person practice test should not be used to study for the online path.
- Question
- Is reading the NSW Road User Handbook enough to pass?
- The handbook teaches the rules and safe driving behaviour, so it should be your foundation. Add real question practice because the in-person test also checks how you read options and interpret diagrams. A strong preparation check is several full runs where both section marks pass, rather than one high overall percentage.
- Question
- Can I learn the whole NSW question bank the night before?
- You can read through it, but one pass across 358 questions is unlikely to show whether you understand every weak area, especially the 194 questions that depend on artwork or diagrams. Use the final evening to review recorded mistakes and complete one calm full run, not to replace earlier study.
- Question
- What happens if I fail the NSW DKT?
- For DKT Online, Service NSW says you can try again after 12 hours and attempts are included in one fee. For the in-person test, availability may allow another sitting that day, or you can book later, and each attempt has a fee. Check your result by section before choosing what to revise.
- Question
- What ID and account do I need for the NSW DKT?
- DKT Online requires a MyServiceNSW Account and an accepted Australian identity document at enrolment. After passing, take full proof of identity and the completed application form to a Service NSW centre. In-person candidates should check the booking transaction before attending, because required documents depend on their circumstances.
- Question
- Can I pass the NSW DKT with 43 out of 45?
- Yes, but only if no more than one mistake is in road safety and no more than three are in general knowledge. A split of 14/15 and 29/30 passes with 43. A split of 15/15 and 28/30 also totals 43 but fails because the road safety section is below its own pass mark.
- Question
- What happens straight after I pass the DKT?
- You apply for the learner licence through Service NSW and must be at least 16. Once the licence is issued, you can drive only under learner conditions with an eligible supervisor. If you are under 25, the next large requirement is the 120-hour supervised logbook before the later practical driving test.
Sources
- NSW Government, Driver Knowledge TestChecked
- Transport for NSW, Class C Driver Knowledge Test questionsChecked
- Service NSW, common questions about DKT OnlineChecked
- NSW Government, Road User HandbookChecked
- NSW Government, learner driver logbookChecked
- NSW Government, Hazard Perception TestChecked
- VicRoads: Ls and Ps feesChecked
- NSW Government, driver and rider licence feesChecked