DriveTest Canada

Guides

The rules, the tests and the paperwork, written out

15 guides, written to be read once and remembered. The national ones cover rules that do not change at a provincial border. The provincial ones cover the test you are actually booked for.

15 guides12 diagrams drawn40 signs drawn

Free to read, with no account and nothing held back until you pay.

A four way intersection seen from above and to one side, lane markings and crosswalks clearly painted, three vehicles approaching from different arms in low winter sun.

Getting started

1 guide

What to do first when you sit down to study, and which practice mode each step belongs to.
An empty practice lot with painted bays, a line of cones and a low fence at first light, with no vehicles anywhere on it.Read

How to study for a knowledge test

1 diagram drawn, 6 signs drawn, 7 parts

A method that uses the modes on this site in the order that actually works: a full test first, then reasons, then the topic that keeps catching you, then signs, then the deck of your own misses.

The rules of the road

2 guides

Who goes first, how a turn is made and what a line on the road is telling you. These hold wherever in Canada you are driving.
A multi lane road with a marked left turn bay and a painted island, seen from a footbridge above moderate traffic under flat daylight.Read

Right of way, and the cases people get wrong

5 diagrams drawn, 4 signs drawn, 7 parts

Six situations that account for most right of way mistakes, each one drawn out. Who goes first at a four way stop, what a green light does not give you, and when a median changes the answer.
A multi lane road with a marked left turn bay and a painted island, seen from a footbridge above moderate traffic under flat daylight.Read

Roundabouts, lane by lane

1 diagram drawn, 2 signs drawn, 6 parts

Which lane to take, when to yield, when to signal, and the one conflict that causes most roundabout collisions. Drawn out rather than described.

Reading the signs

1 guide

Shape, colour and border carry the meaning before you have read a word. This is how a sign is read at speed.
A row of three bare posts along a rural verge with no plates fitted, tall grass and a fence line behind them under soft overcast light.Read

Road sign shapes and colours, and how to read a sign you have never seen

35 signs drawn, 6 parts

Shape, colour and symbol carry the meaning before you read a word. Learn the pattern once and you can work out an unfamiliar sign before you have driven past it.

Sharing the road

1 guide

Cyclists, buses, pedestrians and trucks all have a claim on the same asphalt, and the test asks who yields to whom.
A city street with a transit bus stopped at a curb bulb and a cyclist passing to its left inside a painted lane, seen from behind at a distance.Read

Sharing the road with cyclists, pedestrians, motorcycles and trucks

4 diagrams drawn, 8 signs drawn, 6 parts

Four kinds of road user, four different ways drivers hurt them, and the one habit that prevents each. Drawn out, with the mirrors and the space you cannot see.

Weather and light

1 guide

Snow, ice, rain and darkness change stopping distance and sight lines, and the answer changes with them.
A driver view of a rain soaked road at night, water sheeting across the surface and reflected light smeared over it, the wipers caught mid sweep.Read

Winter driving, and what actually changes

2 diagrams drawn, 3 signs drawn, 6 parts

Snow, slush, freezing rain and black ice are four different problems. What changes about your speed, your gap and your hands, and what to do when the car lets go.

When something goes wrong

1 guide

What the law asks of you at the roadside, what has to be reported and in what order it has to be done.
A quiet pull off bay at dusk with a stopped car showing its hazard lights, seen from far enough behind that no detail of the vehicle reads.Read

What to do after a collision

1 diagram drawn, 6 parts

Stop, make the scene safe, check for injuries, exchange the right information, and say nothing you cannot stand behind. What holds everywhere, and what changes by province.

Licences and sittings

8 guides

The stages, the conditions attached to each one, and what the sitting itself asks in each province we cover.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

How graduated licensing works across Canada

1 diagram drawn, 6 parts

Every province runs its own version of the same three step licence. Here is what the learner stage, the middle stage and the full licence mean, and where the four biggest provinces differ.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

What is on the G1 knowledge test

1 diagram drawn, 7 signs drawn, 7 parts

The G1 is two tests sat in one session and scored separately. Here is what each half asks, what the fee already covers, and where people lose it.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

The G1 and G2 restrictions, explained

1 diagram drawn, 3 signs drawn, 6 parts

What a G1 driver may and may not do, what changes when you pass the first road test, and why the conditions belong to the stage rather than to you.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

How Ontario road tests are marked, and what an automatic fail is

3 diagrams drawn, 7 parts

What the examiner is recording, why there is no published number of mistakes you are allowed, which actions end a test on the spot, and what the pass rate data says about where you book.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

What is on the ICBC knowledge test

1 diagram drawn, 7 signs drawn, 7 parts

One test, one score and a clock. What the questions cover, what the mark is, what a failed attempt costs you in time, and the language option most people never ask about.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

The L and N stages, and what each one restricts

2 diagrams drawn, 6 parts

What a 7L driver may do, what carries on into the 7N, why the sign on the back of the car changes how traffic treats you, and how long each stage lasts.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

What is on the Class 7 knowledge test, and how the early exit works

2 diagrams drawn, 6 signs drawn, 7 parts

Alberta draws your questions from a much larger pool and stops the test the moment either counter fills. Here is what that changes about how you answer.
A plain waiting area with a row of empty seats beside a window looking onto a snow covered car park, no signage anywhere on the walls.Read

How the SAAQ process works: the course, the wait and the exam

1 diagram drawn, 5 signs drawn, 7 parts

Quebec starts at a driving school rather than a test counter, and the knowledge test only opens months into the learner licence. Here is the order things actually happen in.

Where the rest of it lives

The province pages carry the exam format, the fees and the waiting periods, each with the authority that publishes them. These four are the rest of the site.

Practice tests, by province

Five modes, from a short drill to the full sitting

Start

The published pass rate data

Ontario centres, as released, with the licence it came under

Open

Every road sign we draw

Hand drawn vector, on the standard the plate is made to

Open

How we source what we publish

Where each figure comes from and when it was last checked

Read