Illinois Retake Rules & Pass Rates

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

The handbook does not list a separate retake charge; it says the application fee buys three attempts at each exam within one year of payment. After that the applicant must re-apply and pay again.

Source: Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, Chapter 2 'Driver's License Exams', p. 13: "You are allowed three attempts to pass each exam within one year from the date you paid your application fee." · Verified Aug 2026

60% pass; 2020-2023 pooled; all tests administered (first attempts not separated); knowledge test. The figure comes from a 2024 analysis of test results supplied by 36 state licensing agencies, pooled across 2020 to 2023. It counts every test administered, so retakes are mixed in with first attempts.

Source: USA TODAY Blueprint, 'Nearly 35% fail driver's license tests: Indiana leads the way' (Apr 18, 2024), analysis of test results provided by each state's licensing agency ("We analyzed knowledge and skill driver's license test results from 36 states from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2023. Test results were provided by the state organization overseeing driver's licensing and motor vehicles.") · Verified Aug 2026