Driving Tests

Texas Learner License Test: Where to Take It, Pass Score, Spanish

informational·how to guide·Published July 25, 2026

Where do I take the Texas learner license test, and what score do I need?

You take the Texas learner license knowledge test, also called the written exam, in your driver education course if your provider gives it. If not, you take it at a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) driver license office. You need 70 percent or better to pass. By law, DPS offers a Spanish version in each county, and you can choose to take it in writing.

Where these rules come from

This guide uses the Texas Driver Handbook (revised January 2026), the DPS teen learner license page and Texas Transportation Code Chapter 521, all as of 2026. It also uses the DPS pages on driver education, adult applications and school knowledge tests, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) parent-taught pages and Texas Education Code Chapter 1001. Confirm the rules with the Texas Department of Public Safety (dps.texas.gov) before you drive.

Where do you take the Texas permit test?

With your provider. Texas law lets a licensed in-person or online driver education provider give the vision, highway sign and traffic law parts of the exam to its own students. A parent-taught course provider may give the highway sign and traffic law parts. A provider's test counts for the parts that it gives. Providers may offer the test but do not have to, so ask yours before you sign up.
At DPS. If you did not take the knowledge test in the classroom part of driver education, you take it at the driver license office when you apply for your learner license.

Which Texas knowledge test path fits you?

Your driver education provider gives the knowledge test

Take it in the course. It counts for the parts that the provider gives. Bring the evidence that you passed to your DPS learner license visit. DPS also lists a vision exam as a step of that visit.

Your provider does not give the test

Take the knowledge test at the DPS driver license office during your learner license visit.

You are 18 to 24

Finish a 6-hour adult driver education course before testing. You can then do the testing at a DPS office or with a third-party provider. After an approved adults-only course, you skip the sign and traffic law parts if a licensed driver education instructor confirms that you passed them. The guide to adult driver education in Texas explains the course.

You are 25 or older

No driver education course is required. Take the knowledge test at a DPS office or with a third-party provider.

You are 18 or older and surrender a valid license from another state

The handbook says you do not take the knowledge and driving exams.

What score do you need to pass the Texas knowledge test?

You need a grade of 70 percent or better to pass any Texas knowledge exam. The Class C knowledge exam is the knowledge exam for first-time applicants, and DPS cannot issue a license until you pass each required exam. The question on the knowledge exam passing percentage checks this rule.
Your application fee covers three tries at each part of the exam. If you fail the first try, your application stays on file for 90 days. After 90 days or three failed tries, you need a new application and a new fee. The guide to Texas learner license cost and retakes gives the fee amounts.

What the Texas knowledge test covers

Highway signs that regulate, warn or direct traffic: you must identify them and understand them in English.
The traffic laws of Texas.
The rights and responsibilities of motorists toward bicyclists.
The effect of a wireless device, or of other actions that distract a driver, on safe driving.

Can you take the Texas learner license test in Spanish?

Yes. Texas law requires DPS to offer, in each county, an alternate exam for Spanish-speaking applicants who cannot take the regular exam in English. It is the same exam, with all directions and written material in Spanish, but the text of highway signs stays in English. A driver education school can order the exams from DPS in English only or in English and Spanish, so ask your school which version it has. The Texas Driver Handbook also comes as a Spanish PDF.

Can you take the Texas knowledge test in writing?

Yes. DPS must let each applicant take the sign, traffic law, bicyclist and distraction parts in writing, in addition to or instead of a mechanical, electronic or other testing method. If you take a part both ways, you pass that part when you pass either version. DPS must tell each person who takes the exam about this right, so you can ask for the written version when you test.

How to study for the Texas knowledge test

Study the current Texas Driver Handbook. Every driver education student must have access to a current edition.
Check yourself one topic at a time. For example, the question on what a stop sign requires checks a sign rule.
Our practice tests and question pages are free and in English only, and they are not questions from the real test.

Key takeaways

Take the knowledge test with your driver education provider if it gives the test. If not, take it at a DPS driver license office.
You need 70 percent or better. The fee covers three tries at each part for one application.
The test covers highway signs, Texas traffic laws, bicyclists and distracted driving.
DPS must offer a Spanish version in each county and let you take the test in writing.
Next step: practice on the free Texas Class C learner license practice test.

Texas learner license test: common questions

Do I have to retake the knowledge test at DPS if I passed it at my driving school?

No, not for the parts that the school gave: a provider's test counts for those parts. Bring the evidence that you passed the knowledge exam to your DPS appointment. A driving school may give the vision, sign and traffic law parts. A parent-taught provider may give only the sign and traffic law parts.

Can my online driver ed course give me the permit test?

It can. Texas law lets a licensed online driver education provider give the vision, highway sign and traffic law parts of the exam to its own students. Ask your provider whether it gives the test and how. If it does not give the test, you take it at a DPS driver license office.

Do I need an appointment to take the permit test at DPS?

Plan on one: learner license applicants schedule an appointment at their local driver license office. If you are under 18, bring a parent or legal guardian, evidence that waives parental authorization, or the notarized application signed by a parent or guardian. You pay the fee before any exam starts.

Do I take the vision test with the knowledge test?

At DPS, yes: the vision exam is a step of the learner license visit. A licensed in-person or online driving school may also give the vision part with the sign and traffic law parts. A parent-taught provider may give only the sign and traffic law parts, so parent-taught students plan on the vision exam at DPS.

Can I take the Texas permit test at 14?

You can start the classroom part of driver education at 14, but you cannot apply for a learner license until you are at least 15. A parent-taught student can take the written exam at 15 or older, after enough classroom instruction and with the DE-964 certificate of completion from the course provider.