Ontario
What is on the G1 knowledge test
DriveTest publishes two or three sections and a total score of at least 80 percent. Here is what it says about the format, fee and test day.
What DriveTest publishes about the G1 format and score, 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. DriveTest says knowledge tests have two or three sections and require a total score of at least 80 percent. It does not publish a G1 question count or a fixed score for each section.
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.
What DriveTest publishes about the format
DriveTest says the test has two or three sections, with signs and rules of the road given as examples. It publishes a total score of at least 80 percent to pass.
If you retry within one year, only the sections that did not meet MTO standards have to be repeated. DriveTest does not publish the question count or a fixed mark for each section.
Our simulation is a study format. It uses 20 sign questions and 20 rules questions, and asks for 16 correct in each practice section. Those counts are not presented as the official test format.
DriveTest requires a total score of at least 80 percent to pass an Ontario knowledge test.
80%
DriveTest, Knowledge Testsverified 2026-09-15The 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
Our 20 sign and 20 rules format, with separate progress for each practice section.
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 a knowledge test, a Class G2 road test and a five-year licence, 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 a knowledge test, a Class G2 road test and a five-year licence.
$159.75
DriveTest, Fees for Drivers' Licences and Testsverified 2026-09-15An extra Ontario knowledge test attempt costs $16.00.
$16
DriveTest, Fees for Drivers' Licences and Testsverified 2026-09-15
The day itself
You sit the G1 in person at a DriveTest centre. Paper is available at every location and a computer is available at some. No appointment is required. 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 test is marked on the spot. Pass 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
- DriveTest publishes two or three sections and a total score of at least 80 percent.
- Our simulation uses separate sign and rules sections as a study format.
- Signs reward learning shape and colour before individual pictures.
- The fee is a package that includes a knowledge test, a Class G2 road test and a five-year licence.
- 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?
DriveTest does not publish a question count for the G1 test. It says knowledge tests have two or three sections.
How many mistakes can you make on the G1 test?
DriveTest does not publish a fixed mistake count. It requires a total score of at least 80 percent.
What happens if I pass one section and fail the other?
If you retry within one year, you repeat only the sections that did not meet MTO standards.
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, with identification and a vision screening on the same visit. Paper is available at every location and a computer at some locations. No appointment is required.
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
- DriveTest, Knowledge Tests
Last checked 2026-09-15
- DriveTest, Fees for Drivers' Licences and Tests
Last checked 2026-09-15
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.