How Canada's driving knowledge tests compare

We could confirm a pass mark for 8 of the 11 tests on file. Newfoundland and Labrador sits at the top at 85%. Alberta comes next at 83.33%, 1.67 points lower. Five tests share 80%: Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. Quebec has the lowest mark, 75%, which is 10 points below the top. Manitoba, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island give no pass mark on the official pages we read, so they stay out of this order rather than counting as zero.

A percentage is a poor way to feel these gaps, so turn one into questions. Alberta asks for 25 correct out of 30. At the 80% that five tests use, the same 30 questions would need 24. The 3.33 point difference comes down to one question.

The highest mark is also the hardest to plan around. Newfoundland and Labrador states 85% and no question count, so a learner cannot work out how many wrong answers that allows, and we will not estimate it.

Where the question count and the mark are both published, the sum is simple: questions minus the correct answers needed.

• Alberta: 5 wrong out of 30
• British Columbia: 10 wrong out of 50
• The Northwest Territories: 4 wrong out of 20, in each of 2 parts
• Nova Scotia: 4 wrong out of 20, in each of 2 parts

As a share of the questions in front of you, Alberta leaves the least room, 16.67%, and British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia the most, 20%. Counted in single answers the order changes: the tightest limit is 4 wrong in one scored block, in the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia, and the widest is 10, in British Columbia.

Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan publish a pass mark with no question count we can use, so the mistakes they allow cannot be worked out. They are left out of that list, and we have not filled the gap with a guess.

Scoring by part changes what a score means. Four tests score their parts separately: Quebec, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. In the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia a learner who is perfect on one part and misses 5 on another finishes on 87.5% overall and still fails. That score beats every single score mark in the table, 85% included.

So Quebec's 75% is not the soft option it looks like at the bottom of the order. It has to be reached in each of 3 parts, and one weak part is enough to fail.

Ontario goes the other way. It publishes 2 or 3 sections and one total of 80%. Results remain valid for one year. A retry within that year covers only the sections that did not meet MTO standards.

Four of the 11 tests can be sat online by a new learner, and the conditions differ.

• British Columbia: Since June 9, 2026, ICBC lets you take the passenger vehicle (class 5 and 7) and motorcycle (class 6 and 8) knowledge tests online, on a computer with a webcam. You have up to 72 hours after registering to start, and 45 minutes to finish in a single session, and the $15 test fee is paid online. Passing does not hand you the licence: you still visit a driver licensing office, where you pay the licence fee separately.
• New Brunswick: The Class 7 road-sign and rules tests are available online or in person.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: The English Class 5 written test is available through MyGovNL.
• Nova Scotia: Use a desktop or laptop with a webcam. Phones and tablets are not supported.

In Saskatchewan it depends on how you are learning. High School Driver Education students write online through MySGI. Self-study applicants test in person.

Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island test in person, even where the booking or the payment can be done online.

The Northwest Territories is unclear. The examination can be booked and paid online, but the official pages do not say the test itself is online. First-time licence service is in person.

We could not confirm how Quebec delivers the test.

Sitting online does not finish the job. In all four, an online pass still ends with a trip to an office before the licence is in your hand.

The pass mark moves less than people tend to assume. The marks we could confirm sit within 10 points of each other, and 5 of the 8 are the same number.

Price moves far more. Leaving out any fee sold as a package, a first sitting runs from $12 in Manitoba to $50 in Saskatchewan, which is 4.17 times as much. That top figure is two charges added together: $25 for the basic knowledge exam and $25 for the sign exam, per attempt. Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador give no amount we can compare.

Time is handled in four different ways: a limit for the whole test, a limit for each part, no limit at all and an expected length with no limit we could confirm. Where a limit and a question count are both published, you get 45 seconds a question in the Northwest Territories, 54 seconds a question in British Columbia and 90 seconds a question in Nova Scotia. Ontario does not time the test at all and says to expect 20 to 30 minutes. Quebec gives no limit that we could confirm and says the test takes 30 to 60 minutes. Manitoba gives 30 minutes but no question count we can use, so its pace cannot be worked out.

Language has a wider range than price: more than 100 in Saskatchewan, 32 in Ontario, 30 in Manitoba, 25 in Alberta, 12 in British Columbia, 3 in Newfoundland and Labrador and 2 in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The top figure comes with a catch. The basic written exam can be translated into more than 100 languages. We could not confirm a language list for Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Prince Edward Island.

The age you can sit the test runs from 14 in Alberta to 16 in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan the lowest age carries a condition, and most applicants must be 16. We could not confirm a minimum age for this test in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec.

Quebec also puts the test somewhere else in the process. You can only sit it after holding a valid learner licence for at least 10 months on the test date. So a fail there lands at least 10 months into the learner stage rather than at the start of it.