South Australia asks two things of learners that no other jurisdiction does in quite the same way. The theory test opens with a section that allows no wrong answers at all, and once you have passed it you have to choose between two completely different routes to a provisional licence.
Part one: eight questions, eight correct
The theory test comes in two parts. Part one is eight give way questions and all eight have to be correct. There is no margin, no partial credit and no compensating for a miss with a strong second part. Get one wrong and that is the sitting. Part two is 42 questions with 32 correct to pass, which is a much more ordinary 76%. Both figures were checked against Service SA material on 27 August 2026, and the test costs $40, sat online through myLs or in person at Service SA.
An eight of eight requirement is a deliberate design choice rather than an accident of the format. Failure to give way is one of the most consistent causes of intersection crashes, and it is the error category that most often ends a practical test early elsewhere in the country. South Australia has chosen to gate the whole licence on it.
Why give way questions catch people out
Give way questions are diagram questions, and diagrams are read differently from text under time pressure. A learner who can state the rule at an unmarked intersection accurately can still get the diagram wrong by misreading which vehicle is which, or by missing that the intersection is a T junction rather than a crossroads.
The situations worth drilling until they are automatic are the ones the rules treat differently: unmarked intersections, T junctions, roundabouts, turning across oncoming traffic, entering a road from a driveway, and what changes when a give way sign or a stop sign is present. Each of these has a rule that is simple on its own and easy to confuse with its neighbours at speed.
Our South Australian questions are original and cite the rule behind each answer, because the state's handbook is Crown copyright rather than open licensed. The official material remains the authoritative source and is worth reading before you practise anything here.
The two pathways after the theory test
South Australia then offers a decision that most states do not. You can take the Vehicle On Road Test, which is a one off practical assessment of the kind other jurisdictions use. Or you can take the competency based training and assessment route, where an accredited instructor signs off individual competencies in a logbook as you demonstrate them.
The two suit different people. The one off test is cheaper and faster for a learner who is already driving well and has plenty of supervised practice available. The competency route spreads the assessment across many sessions with a professional instructor, which removes the single day of pressure and tends to suit learners without easy access to a supervising driver, at a higher total cost in instructor time.
Neither is a shortcut. Both end with a provisional licence and the same conditions on it. The choice is about which format matches how you learn and what practice you can actually get.
What we are still verifying
Supervised hour requirements in South Australia depend on which pathway you take, and we are checking the current figures against Service SA before publishing them rather than repeating numbers from elsewhere. South Australia also does not publish practical test outcomes the way New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia do, so we carry no state pass rate here. When either changes, the figure appears with its source and the date it was checked.
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 Service SA.