Ontario
What is on the G1 knowledge test
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.
What the G1 kiosk actually asks you, how the two halves are scored against each other, and what happens on the day from the counter to the result.
The Ontario G1 is the first thing standing between you and a licence, and it is not one test. It is two, sat in the same session at the same kiosk, scored independently of one another. That design decides how you should prepare for it, and most people find out about it afterwards.
This page sets out what each half asks, what the whole thing costs, what happens on the day, and the mistakes that turn a comfortable pass into a retake. Every figure on it comes from what the Ontario Ministry of Transportation publishes, with the source printed beside it.
Two tests in one sitting
The kiosk asks you about road signs and about rules of the road, and it keeps two scores rather than one. Each half has its own mark to reach, and both have to reach it on the same attempt. There is no combined total, so a strong result on signs cannot rescue a weak result on rules.
That is the single most useful thing to know before you study. It means the sensible plan is to bring your weaker half up rather than to push your stronger half higher, because the stronger half earns you nothing above its own mark.
It also means one weak subject can end an otherwise good sitting. People who fail the G1 have usually not failed broadly. They have run out of room in one half while the other half was fine.
The Ontario G1 knowledge test has 40 questions, 20 on road signs and 20 on rules of the road.
40
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27You need 16 correct out of 20 in each G1 section, and the two sections are scored independently.
16
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27The signs half
The signs half shows you a sign and asks what it means, or describes a situation and asks which sign belongs to it. It covers the regulatory signs that carry the law, the yellow warning signs about what the road is doing next, the orange temporary signs around road work, the school and playground signs, and the railway signs.
It is the half that responds fastest to study, because the material is finite and visual. Learn the layer underneath the pictures first: an octagon means stop and nothing else uses that outline, a triangle standing on its point means yield, a yellow diamond warns, an orange diamond warns about something temporary, and a red ring with a slash prohibits whatever is drawn inside it.
Once that pattern is in place, the individual signs stop being separate facts and a sign you have never seen is still readable. Our own drawings of the signs are on this site, and they are drawn against the published shape and colour standards rather than copied from ministry artwork.
- Stop
- Yield
- No left turn
- Maximum speed
- School zone
- Railway crossbuck
- Construction ahead
Try it on real questions
Both halves, with separate progress on each, ending the way the kiosk ends.
The rules half
The rules half is where most people lose it. It covers right of way, speed and following distance, passing and lane use, parking and stopping, sharing the road with cyclists, pedestrians and heavy vehicles, alcohol and distraction, what you must do after a collision, and the paperwork side of a licence.
The Ontario specifics inside it are worth naming, because they are what a driver from elsewhere gets wrong. A right turn on a red light is allowed here after a complete stop, and so is a left turn on a red from one one way street onto another, unless a sign says otherwise. A flashing green light or a green arrow beside a round green gives you an advanced turn while oncoming traffic is still held.
The school bus rule is the one the test asks about most. Red lamps flashing and the stop arm out stops traffic in both directions on a road with no median. Where a raised median or a barrier divides the road, the far side keeps moving. A painted centre line is not a median, and that distinction is exactly the kind of thing this half is built on.
Stopping for a school bus
- Your vehicle
- Another vehicle
- Where it goes
What it costs, and what the fee already covers
Ontario charges a package rather than a test fee. What you pay on the first visit covers the knowledge test, the vision test and your first road test at the next stage, so part of it is credit toward something you will not sit for a year or more.
A knowledge test retake is charged on its own, at a much smaller amount. So a failed attempt costs you the retake and the trip back rather than the whole package again, which is worth knowing before you talk yourself out of booking.
Both figures are below with the source they come from. Fees move, so check them against the ministry before you plan around them.
Ontario charges $159.75 for the package covering the G1 knowledge test, the vision test and a first G2 road test.
$159.75
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27A G1 knowledge test retake in Ontario costs $15.75.
$15.75
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27
The day itself
You sit the G1 in person at a DriveTest centre, on a kiosk. There is no paper version and no version you can take at home. Bring identification that satisfies the ministry requirements, and expect a vision screening on the same visit.
DriveTest is a private operator working under contract to the ministry, so the counter staff, the kiosk and the road test examiner all belong to the same contracted network rather than to a government office. Centres differ in how busy they are and in how long you wait, and there are more than fifty five of them across the province.
The kiosk gives you the result at the end of the session rather than as you go. Pass both halves and you leave with a G1, which is a licence with conditions attached rather than a permit to teach yourself.
More than 55 DriveTest centres run knowledge and road tests across Ontario.
55
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27What passing starts
The G1 begins a wait rather than ending one. You hold it for a set period before you are allowed to take the first road test, and an approved driver education course is the only thing that shortens that period. The course does not change the questions, the mark or the road test. It changes the calendar.
From a fresh G1 to a full G licence takes roughly two years, most of it fixed by rule rather than by how quickly you learn. Planning around that is more useful than trying to compress it.
The conditions attached to the G1 start the moment you pass, and they are enforceable at the roadside. A supervising driver in the front passenger seat, no alcohol in your system, a working seat belt for everyone in the car, no high speed provincial highways unless a licensed driving instructor is beside you, and no driving during the overnight hours the ministry sets.
You hold a G1 for 12 months before you can take the G2 road test.
12
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27An approved driver education course cuts the G1 hold to 8 months.
8
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27Going from a fresh G1 to a full G licence takes roughly 20 to 24 months.
20 to 24
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee scheduleverified 2026-08-27
Where people lose it
The first way is uneven preparation. Signs feel like progress and rules feel like homework, so people arrive strong on one half and thin on the other, and the split scoring punishes exactly that.
The second is reading the question too quickly. A good number of the rules questions turn on one word: must rather than may, or a detail like a median that changes the answer completely. On a kiosk with no clock pressure worth worrying about, there is no reason to move fast.
The third is studying from somebody else. The Ontario handbook and the ministry pages are the authority, and a rule remembered from another province or from a friend who sat the test years ago is how a confident answer turns out to be wrong.
Worth remembering
- The G1 is two tests in one sitting, scored separately. Both halves have to clear their own mark.
- A strong signs score cannot rescue a weak rules score, so study the half you like less.
- Signs reward learning shape and colour before individual pictures.
- The fee is a package that already covers the vision test and your first road test.
- A retake of the knowledge test alone costs far less than the package did.
- Passing starts a fixed waiting period. An approved course is the only way to shorten it.
Questions people ask
How many questions are on the G1 test?
Forty. The kiosk gives you twenty on road signs and twenty on rules of the road, and it scores the two halves separately rather than adding them together.
How many mistakes can you make on the G1 test?
Four in each half. You need sixteen correct out of twenty on signs and sixteen correct out of twenty on rules, so a fifth wrong answer in either half ends your chance of passing that half.
What happens if I pass one section and fail the other?
You have not passed the G1. Both halves have to reach the mark on the same attempt, and each is judged on its own, so the next step is a retake of the knowledge test.
Is the G1 test hard?
It is not a hard test to pass with a week of the right preparation, and it catches people who prepared unevenly. The split scoring means the half you neglected decides the result, whatever you scored on the other one.
Where do I take the G1 test?
In person at a DriveTest centre, on a kiosk, with identification and a vision screening on the same visit. There is no paper version and no version you can sit at home.
Now answer some questions on it
Read next
How graduated licensing works across Canada
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.
The G1 and G2 restrictions, explained
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.
Sources for the figures on this page
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee schedule
Last checked 2026-08-27
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, G1 licensing rules and DriveTest fee schedule
Reported as a range of roughly 20 to 24 months. The value carries the upper end of that range.
Last checked 2026-08-27
Every practice question carries its own authority as well, shown with the answer.