Illinois Passing Score & Test Length

80

Source: 92 Ill. Adm. Code 1030.80(b): "a minimum of 35 questions, of which 80% percent must be answered correctly in order to be eligible for a Class D license." · Verified Aug 2026

Illinois rule sets a floor rather than a fixed length: the Class D written exam must have at least 35 questions, of which 80 percent must be answered correctly. The Secretary of State does not publish an exact count.

Source: 92 Ill. Adm. Code 1030.80(b) (Driver's License Testing/Written Test, as amended eff. July 1, 2026): "a written test consisting of a minimum of 35 questions, of which 80% percent must be answered correctly" · Verified Aug 2026

Illinois sets the pass mark as a percentage of a test whose length is a floor, not a fixed count: the written exam must have at least 35 questions and 80 percent must be answered correctly. On the shortest permitted exam that is 28 correct. A longer exam raises the number of correct answers needed, because the 80 percent standard is what the rule actually fixes.

Source: 92 Ill. Adm. Code 1030.80(b) (Written Test): "a written test consisting of a minimum of 35 questions, of which 80% percent must be answered correctly in order to be eligible for a Class D license." Neither Illinois Rules of the Road 2026 nor the Secretary of State's driver-services pages publish a question count or pass mark. · Verified Sep 2026

Illinois publishes no time limit for the written exam. Rules of the Road describes what the exam covers and the conduct rules enforced while you sit it, but names no duration, and the Secretary of State's driver-services pages do not either. Plan for the office's hours rather than a clock on the test.

Source: Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, Chapter 2: Written Exam, p. 14, which lists the exam's contents and no duration; Secretary of State driver's license pages, checked 2026-09-21, which publish no time limit. Recorded as an explicit absence rather than a guess. · Verified Sep 2026

Illinois does not publish whether the written exam is taken on paper or at a computer terminal. The law is deliberately open on the point: the knowledge examination may be administered at a Secretary of State facility, remotely over the internet, or in any other manner the Secretary sets by administrative rule. That is permission rather than practice. For an ordinary Class D applicant today the exam is taken in person, because the Secretary of State's own renewal page says you must visit a DMV if you need to take a written exam. Do not plan around a delivery method the state has not committed to; it can change without a change in the law.

Source: 625 ILCS 5/6-109(b): the examination "may be administered at a Secretary of State facility, remotely via the Internet, or in a manner otherwise specified by the Secretary of State by administrative rule." Illinois Secretary of State, Driver's License and State ID Card Renewal, checked 2026-09-21: "You cannot renew online and must visit a DMV if: ... You need to take a written exam or road test." Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, Chapter 2, pp. 13-14, describes the exam's contents and names no format. · Verified Sep 2026

Illinois does not make you wait to retake the written test. If you fail the first attempt, you may try again the same day during the office's normal business hours. Two limits sit on top of that. The office will refuse a same-day second attempt if your first attempt showed you to be a danger to public safety, and on the road test specifically there is no third attempt on a day you have already failed. The attempts themselves are capped rather than the days between them: your application fee covers three attempts at the written and road tests within one year of your first attempt, the first attempt counting as one of the three, and a fourth means a new application and a new fee. A separate stop applies to the road test only, after six failures: a seventh attempt needs a favorable medical report on file, unless one was filed within the previous 90 days. The longer waiting periods people sometimes quote after a failure (30 days, 90 days, a year) belong to commercial learner's permit and CDL applicants, not to an ordinary Class D applicant. One 30-day bar does reach a Class D applicant, but cheating triggers it rather than failing: anyone caught cheating on a written test is deemed to have failed it and cannot retake it for 30 days.

Source: 92 Ill. Adm. Code 1030.86(e): "An applicant for an Illinois driver's license may be allowed to attempt the written and/or road tests a second time after a failure in the same day during normal business hours ... However, if the applicant demonstrates a danger to public safety during the first attempt ... a second attempt during the same day will not be allowed. An applicant will not be allowed to make a third attempt to pass a road test on the same day ... If an applicant fails the road test six times, the individual will not be permitted to attempt the road test a seventh time until a current favorable completed medical report form is submitted." Subsection (a) sets the three-attempts-in-one-year entitlement; subsections (b) to (d) set the 30-day, 90-day and one-year waits and apply only to CLP and CDL applicants. 92 Ill. Adm. Code 1030.80(k) carries the separate cheating bar: "Any person found cheating on any portion of a written test will be deemed to have failed that portion of the test. In addition, that person will be prohibited from retaking the written test for a period of 30 days." Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, Chapter 2, p. 13, prints the three-attempt rule and the 30-day cheating bar, and states no waiting period after an ordinary failure. · Verified Sep 2026

No per-section minimum

Source: 92 Ill. Adm. Code 1030.80(b): "An applicant for a Class D license will be required to take a written test consisting of a minimum of 35 questions, of which 80% percent must be answered correctly in order to be eligible for a Class D license." That single threshold is the only pass standard the rule sets for a Class D applicant; none of subsections (a) through (m) sets a per-section or per-category minimum, and the separate 24-question, 90% test at subsection (j) is the school bus permit rather than part of the Class D exam. Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, Chapter 2: Written Exam, p. 14, lists the exam content areas and states no per-section score. · Verified Sep 2026