The Texas written driving test study guide below covers the laws and numbers the DPS actually pulls its 30 multiple-choice questions from. You need 21 correct out of 30 to pass, and the questions come straight from the Texas Driver Handbook and the Transportation Code. The people who fail usually know the concepts and miss the specifics, so this guide leans on the exact figures the exam rewards.
How the Test Is Built
You take the exam on a computer at a DPS driver license office. Questions cover right-of-way, speed limits, road signs, pavement markings, alcohol laws, and safe driving. Sign identification is mixed throughout rather than isolated in its own section. The test is offered in English and Spanish only.1Department of Public Safety. Testing in Other Languages
Appointments are required. A self-service kiosk in some lobbies can occasionally book a same-day slot when one opens, but that’s a gamble.2Department of Public Safety. Driver License Services – Appointments Book through txdpsscheduler.com early, especially in summer.
Right-of-Way Rules
Right-of-way questions appear on nearly every version of the test, and the rules shift with the intersection type. At an uncontrolled intersection with no signs or signals, you yield to any vehicle approaching from your right.3State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 545.151 – Vehicle Approaching or Entering Intersection If a vehicle is already in the intersection when you arrive, you yield to it regardless of direction.
Coming off a two-lane road onto a divided highway or a road with three or more marked lanes, you must stop and yield to traffic already on the larger road or close enough to be a hazard.3State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 545.151 – Vehicle Approaching or Entering Intersection Same rule applies when an unpaved road meets a paved one: you stop and let the paved-road traffic go first.
Pedestrians have the right-of-way at any crosswalk where no traffic signal is operating. You must stop if a pedestrian is on your half of the roadway, or is approaching closely enough from the other half to be in danger. You also cannot pass another vehicle that has stopped at a crosswalk to let someone cross.4State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 552.003 – Pedestrian Right-of-Way at Crosswalk
Default Speed Limits
Texas sets default speed limits by statute for stretches where no sign is posted. The exam-relevant ones:
- Urban districts: 30 mph on streets, 15 mph in alleys
- Numbered highways outside urban areas (U.S. highways, state highways, farm-to-market roads): 70 mph
- Non-numbered highways outside urban areas: 60 mph
- Beaches and county roads next to public beaches: 15 mph
These are the statutory defaults.5State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 545.352 – Prima Facie Speed Limits TxDOT can post higher or lower limits based on engineering studies, which is why some highways read 75 or 80 mph. The posted sign always controls; the defaults apply only where no sign exists.
School zones deserve their own attention. When the flashing beacons on a school-zone sign are active, drop to the reduced speed shown on the sign. Those beacons run during arrival, lunch, and dismissal. Blowing through an active school zone is one of the most common tickets in Texas and a favorite test topic.
Signaling Distance
Texas law requires continuous signaling for at least the last 100 feet before a turn. The same rule applies to lane changes and to pulling away from a parked position.6Texas Statutes. Texas Transportation Code 545.104 – Signaling Turns; Use of Turn Signals The 100-foot minimum is the number the test is after.
Move Over or Slow Down
This one generates test questions because the specific numbers matter. Approaching a stopped emergency vehicle, tow truck, or TxDOT maintenance vehicle with lights flashing, you must move into a lane that isn’t next to them if the road has two or more lanes going your direction. If you can’t change lanes safely, slow to at least 20 mph below the posted limit when the limit is 25 mph or higher. On roads with a limit under 25 mph, slow to 5 mph.7Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas Transportation Code 545.157 – Passing Certain Vehicles
Expect the question to ask what speed you reduce to. The answer is the calculation: posted limit minus 20. If the limit is 60, you drop to 40. If it’s 70, you drop to 50.
Stopping for a School Bus
When a school bus is stopped with red lights flashing and the stop arm out, you must stop, whether you’re behind it or approaching from the opposite direction. Stay stopped until the bus starts moving again, the driver waves you on, or the lights stop flashing.8State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 545.066 – Passing a School Bus
The one exception is a divided highway with a physical barrier or median between the roadways. On the opposite side of that kind of divided road, you don’t have to stop. A left-turn lane alone does not count as a divider. If the only thing between you and the bus is a center turn lane, you must stop.8State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 545.066 – Passing a School Bus That distinction trips up both real drivers and test takers.
Signs by Shape and Color
Sign questions focus on shape and color, because those two features identify a sign before you read the words on it. Memorize these pairings:
- Octagon, red: stop (the only sign that uses this shape)
- Inverted triangle, red and white: yield
- Diamond, yellow: warning (curves, construction, lane changes ahead)
- Rectangle, white background with black text: regulatory (speed limits, turn restrictions, lane-use rules)
- Pentagon, yellow-green: school zone or school crossing
- Round, yellow: railroad crossing ahead
Pavement Markings
Yellow lines separate traffic moving in opposite directions. A solid yellow line means no passing; a broken yellow line means passing is allowed when safe. White lines separate lanes moving the same direction, with solid white lines discouraging lane changes in areas where weaving is dangerous. A double solid white line is a hard barrier you must not cross.
Alcohol and Impaired Driving
Texas defines intoxication two ways: a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher, or not having normal use of your mental or physical faculties because of alcohol or drugs.9State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.01 – Definitions The second definition matters because a DWI charge is possible at any BAC if an officer determines you’ve lost normal function.
For anyone under 21, Texas applies zero tolerance. A minor faces criminal charges for driving with any detectable amount of alcohol. A DWI or alcohol-related conviction before age 21 triggers an automatic one-year license suspension.10State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 521.342 – Person Under 21 Years of Age
Implied Consent
By driving on Texas roads, you’ve already agreed to provide a breath or blood sample if arrested for suspected DWI. That is the implied consent law.11State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 724.012 – Taking of Specimen Refusing costs a 180-day license suspension on the first refusal, and that suspension is administrative, so it applies regardless of whether you’re eventually convicted of anything.12State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 724.035 – Suspension or Denial of License on Refusal
If You Don’t Pass
Failing isn’t the end of the process, but it slows you down. You can retake the knowledge test, though DPS typically requires a waiting period between attempts. You’re generally allowed three attempts on a single application. Fail all three and the application is denied; you start over and pay a new fee. Each retake also carries a small retest charge.
Most people who fail say they underestimated the specifics. They knew the concept and missed the exact number. Focus your studying on the statutory details the test loves: the 100-foot signaling rule, the posted-limit-minus-20 calculation under the Move Over law, the 0.08 BAC threshold, and the default speed limits by road type. Read the Texas Driver Handbook, available free as a PDF on the DPS website, at least twice, and pay special attention to right-of-way and alcohol laws. Those two topics account for a disproportionate share of the questions.