The NSW Driver Knowledge Test bank is not a flat list of trivia. The Transport for NSW car bank parsed on 27 August 2026 contains 358 published questions across 12 topics, with 194 picture-dependent questions and 164 text-only questions. Intersections, signs, lanes and road safety decisions take far more space than paperwork.
That matters because the in-person NSW DKT is marked in two sections: 15 general knowledge questions needing 12 correct, then 30 road safety questions needing 29 correct. Those section marks come from Transport for NSW and Service NSW material checked on 27 August 2026. A learner can know many easy facts and still fail if the tighter road safety section exposes one repeated weakness.
The bank is weighted towards road decisions
Road decisions dominate the source. The parsed Transport for NSW bank has 225 road safety questions, 79 general knowledge questions, 51 traffic signs questions and 3 integrity questions, checked from the published file on 27 August 2026. Those 225 road safety questions sit behind the part of the real test that allows only one wrong answer.
The largest named topic is General Knowledge, with 79 questions. That count can look comforting, because it includes licence rules, vehicle condition, penalties and everyday responsibilities. It is also the part where the real test allows three errors from 15 questions, according to the NSW DKT format checked on 27 August 2026. General Knowledge still matters, but it is not where the margin is tightest.
The next two large topic groups are Intersections and Traffic Signs, with 51 questions each in the parsed bank. They are different study jobs. Intersections ask you to choose a safe legal movement from a situation. Traffic Signs ask you to recognise instructions and warnings quickly. Both counts, 51 and 51, come from the same Transport for NSW bank parse on 27 August 2026.
The 12 topics do not need equal study time
Start with the topic counts, not the order they happen to appear in a practice run. After General Knowledge, Intersections and Traffic Signs, the bank has 45 Traffic Lights and Lanes questions, 29 Negligent Driving questions, 28 Pedestrians questions, 24 Fatigue and Defensive Driving questions, 20 Alcohol and Drugs questions, 13 Speed Limits questions, 12 Seat Belts and Restraints questions, 3 ICAC integrity questions and 3 Bicycle Safety questions. Those 12 topic counts were computed from this site's structured copy of the Transport for NSW file retrieved on 27 August 2026.
Do not turn that list into a promise about your next draw. Transport for NSW publishes the bank, but a sitting is still a selection. The useful point is exposure. A learner who repeatedly misses Intersections is weak inside one of the largest groups. A learner who misses the 3 Bicycle Safety questions should still repair that gap, but the repair is narrower.
The practical order is: fix any topic that can fail the road safety section, then return to smaller topics that cost easy marks. Browse the source text at /nsw/questions before drilling. The browser keeps the 12 topics separate, so a score problem in Traffic Lights and Lanes does not get hidden inside a single whole-test percentage.
Diagrams are part of the question, not decoration
The published bank uses pictures heavily. This site's parse counted 194 picture-dependent questions and 164 text-only questions in the 358-question Transport for NSW car bank, checked on 27 August 2026. That split is why a learner who studies only written stems may feel prepared and then freeze when a diagram changes the answer.
Traffic Signs is the clearest example: all 51 Traffic Signs questions in the parsed bank depend on a picture. Intersections has 40 picture-dependent questions out of its 51 questions, and Traffic Lights and Lanes has 35 picture-dependent questions out of 45. Those three groups alone explain why sign shape, lane markings, signal colour and vehicle position cannot be treated as background detail.
Aussie Learner does not copy official artwork from the PDF. The text of the Transport for NSW bank is published under CC BY 4.0, but the site uses its own drawn artwork where a picture is needed. Until a picture-dependent item has safe replacement artwork, it stays readable in /nsw/questions and is kept out of scored draws. That is why the source bank can have 358 questions while a practice draw uses only items the site can show correctly.
How to read a section page
Use a section page as a diagnostic sheet. If you open /nsw/questions/intersections, you are looking at every published Intersections item from the NSW car bank, not a random sample. There are 51 Intersections questions in the parse checked on 27 August 2026, and 40 of those need a picture or diagram to be answerable.
Read the question first, then name the rule it tests before checking the correct answer. For a sign question, name the instruction or warning before looking at the options. For an intersection question, identify road markings, controls, vehicle positions and intended movements. The answer key tells you what Transport for NSW marks as correct, but the study value comes from knowing why the other options fail.
A section page is not a replacement for the Road User Handbook or DKT Online course. It is a map of the public question wording. The handbook or course teaches the rule, while /nsw/questions shows how the published bank asks it. Use both sources together: learn the rule, then check whether the real wording catches you out.
What a balanced NSW study week looks like
A balanced week starts with the largest risk. Spend one session on Intersections, one on Traffic Signs, and one on Traffic Lights and Lanes before moving to General Knowledge. Those first three topic groups contain 147 questions together in the parsed Transport for NSW bank, using the counts 51, 51 and 45 from the 27 August 2026 parse.
Then use one shorter session for topics that often become careless misses: Speed Limits, Seat Belts and Restraints, Alcohol and Drugs, Pedestrians, and Fatigue and Defensive Driving. Their individual counts are smaller than General Knowledge, but a wrong road safety answer can use the whole road safety allowance. The NSW road safety section needs 29 of 30, checked against Transport for NSW and Service NSW material on 27 August 2026.
Finish the week with a full-format run only after the weak topic has been repaired. If the miss pattern says Intersections, another whole run may only prove the same problem again. Go back to the topic page, read every stem in that group, and write the rule in plain words. Then sit a full run to confirm that the repair survives a mixed draw. For a wider view of format, fees and later stages, compare NSW with other jurisdictions at /compare.
Common questions
- Question
- How many questions are in the NSW DKT question bank?
- The Transport for NSW car question bank parsed by this site on 27 August 2026 contains 358 published questions. That is the source bank count, not a single sitting length. The in-person NSW DKT sitting has 45 questions, split into 15 general knowledge questions and 30 road safety questions.
- Question
- What topics are in the NSW DKT question bank?
- The parsed bank has 12 topics: General Knowledge, Intersections, Traffic Signs, Traffic Lights and Lanes, Negligent Driving, Pedestrians, Fatigue and Defensive Driving, Alcohol and Drugs, Speed Limits, Seat Belts and Restraints, ICAC integrity, and Bicycle Safety. Those topics come from the Transport for NSW bank retrieved on 27 August 2026.
- Question
- Which NSW DKT topics have the most questions?
- General Knowledge has 79 questions, Intersections has 51 questions, Traffic Signs has 51 questions, and Traffic Lights and Lanes has 45 questions in the parse checked on 27 August 2026. The largest groups should get deliberate study time because they create repeated chances for the same rule gap to appear.
- Question
- How many NSW DKT questions need pictures?
- The parsed Transport for NSW car bank has 194 picture-dependent questions and 164 text-only questions, checked on 27 August 2026. Picture-dependent items are readable in the NSW question browser, but they are not used in scored practice unless this site has safe replacement artwork for the scene.
- Question
- Are the NSW DKT questions on this site official?
- The New South Wales car question text comes from the Transport for NSW Driver Knowledge Test bank, published under CC BY 4.0 and retrieved on 27 August 2026. The site does not copy official pictures from the PDF. It uses original artwork where needed and keeps unfinished picture items out of scored draws.
- Question
- Should I memorise the NSW DKT question bank?
- Use the bank to learn the wording, but do not rely on memorising answer positions. The real sitting still tests whether you can apply the rule inside a mixed 45-question draw, with 12 of 15 needed in general knowledge and 29 of 30 needed in road safety. Understanding the rule is the durable part.
Sources
Every page below was opened and read on the date beside it. A page that could not be reached is not listed, and neither is the claim that would have rested on it.
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.