What to Expect at Your G1 Test in Ontario
Everything between walking into a DriveTest centre and walking out with a licence, in the order it happens.
Greenhorn Driving School
Published July 29, 2026 · 11 min read
Almost everything written about the G1 knowledge test is about the questions. Very little of it is about the day itself, which is where people actually come unstuck. They bring the wrong piece of identification, they leave their glasses at home, or they arrive twenty minutes before the centre closes and get turned away.
This is the whole visit, start to finish, based on what DriveTest and the Ministry of Transportation currently publish. Where the official sources are vague or contradict each other, we say so rather than filling the gap with a confident guess.
Not timed
DriveTest gives you as long as you need, until the office closes. Most people finish in 20 to 30 minutes.
80% to pass
The published pass mark is a total score of at least 80%, and each section is judged against its own standard.
Same day
Your test is marked on the spot and you leave with a paper licence that is valid for up to 90 days.
$16 a retry
A failed attempt costs $16 to redo, and within a year you only redo the section you missed.
Before You Go
To apply for a G1 you have to be at least 16 years old and a resident of Ontario rather than a visitor. There is no upper age limit and no requirement to have taken a course first.
One thing changed recently and most guides have not caught up. Since May 11, 2026, applicants for a class G licence also have to declare that Ontario is their primary place of residence and that their presence in Canada is legal. It is a declaration you make as part of the application, not a document you bring.
You do not book anything. Knowledge tests are walk-in and first come first served at every DriveTest centre in the province. If you are not sure which one is closest, our guide to every DriveTest centre in Ontario lists all 92 with addresses and which ones run the knowledge test. What you bring is short: original identification, a way to pay, and your glasses or contacts if you need them to drive.
The ID That Actually Works
DriveTest is checking exactly two things: your legal name, and your date of birth with the day, month, and year all stated. One document can prove both, which is why most people just bring a passport and are done in a minute.
The absolute rule is that documents have to be original and valid. Photocopies are not accepted, and neither are certified copies unless the document itself is one of the specific certified copies DriveTest names, such as an Ontario Certified Copy of Statement of Live Birth.
Documents that prove both on their own
- A valid passport (Canadian or foreign)
- A Canadian or United States birth certificate
- A Permanent Resident Card
- An Ontario Photo Card
- A Record of Landing (IMM 1000) or Confirmation of Permanent Residence (IMM 5292) with a valid passport
- A study permit, work permit, or visitor record (IMM 1442)
- A Secure Certificate of Indian Status issued on or after December 15, 2009
- A Canadian Citizenship Card with a photo, issued before February 1, 2012
The full list, including the documents accepted from temporary residents and Canadian military personnel, is on DriveTest’s acceptable identification page.
Four ways people get sent home
Newer citizenship certificates do not count
Canadian citizenship documents issued on or after February 1, 2012 are not accepted as proof of either your name or your date of birth. The older photo Citizenship Card issued before that date still is. If your certificate is recent, bring your passport instead.
Older Quebec birth certificates do not count
Quebec birth certificates issued before January 1, 1994 are not accepted. This catches people who were born in Quebec, moved to Ontario as children, and have carried the same certificate ever since.
An Ontario Photo Card has to be surrendered
You cannot hold an Ontario Photo Card and a driver’s licence at the same time, so you give the card up when you get your G1. Tell them if you have ever held one, even an expired or cancelled one, or your licence can be delayed.
Names have to match, or be linked
If the name on your ID does not match the name you are applying under, you need a document that connects them: a marriage certificate, a change of name certificate, a court order, or a sworn affidavit.
About the signature requirement
Plenty of guides still list a third thing to prove, your signature. DriveTest’s current acceptable identification page asks only for legal name and date of birth. Your signature is captured at the counter so it can be printed on the card, not proven with a document you bring.
The Vision Screening
Before the knowledge test you do a vision screening at the counter. Any customer service agent can run it and it takes a couple of minutes. You look into a screen reader, read out a series of letters or numbers that get smaller as you go, and say when a flashing light appears and whether it is on your left or your right.
The standard for a G1 is vision no poorer than 20/50 with both eyes open and examined together, with or without corrective lenses, plus a total horizontal field of 120 degrees. That second number is the peripheral vision part, which is what the flashing lights are testing.
If you need glasses or contacts to drive, bring them and wear them for the screening. Passing while wearing them puts an X condition on your licence, which simply means you have to wear them when you drive. Adding or removing that condition later is free.
Failing the vision screening does not end your visit permanently. You are given a form to take to your own vision specialist, and once it is completed you can bring it back to any DriveTest centre and carry on with the application. A vision examination result stays valid for six months. Worth knowing: ServiceOntario does not do vision tests for licences, only DriveTest does.
The Knowledge Test Itself
The questions are written by the Ministry of Transportation, they are multiple choice, and they come from the material in the Official MTO Driver’s Handbook. For a G1 they cover road signs and the rules of the road.
The single most useful thing to know is that the test is not timed. DriveTest states plainly that you can take all the time you need to finish, until the office closes. Most people take 20 to 30 minutes. Nobody is going to hurry you, and rushing is a self-inflicted problem.
The room is proctored. If you are caught cheating or disrupting other people, you are asked to leave, you get an unsuccessful mark, you lose the fee you paid, and you have to wait until the following day to try again. That is the only official waiting period attached to the knowledge test.
It is marked on the spot, so you know before you leave the room.
What Passing Actually Means
This is the part where nearly every practice site, including the big ones, states something more precise than the official sources actually say. Here is the honest version.
What DriveTest publishes
The test has two or three sections, one on signs and one on rules of the road, and you need a total score of at least 80% to pass. No question count is published anywhere official.
What everyone repeats
40 questions, 20 on signs and 20 on rules, with 16 correct needed in each. This is the model every practice test uses, ours included, and it lines up with the 80%. It is just not something MTO puts in writing.
There is one official line that settles the part that actually matters. DriveTest says that if you retry within a year, you only have to redo “the sections that did not meet MTO standards.” Sections are therefore judged individually against a standard of their own.
The practical consequence: a brilliant score on road signs will not rescue a weak score on rules of the road. Most people who fail have studied the signs, because signs are visual and feel like progress, and skimmed the rules. Split your preparation evenly, and use our signs-only and rules-only practice runs to find out which side you are actually weak on.
Paper, Computer, or Verbal
There are three ways to take the knowledge test: computerized, handwritten, and verbal. Most people assume the computer is standard and paper is the fallback, and it is the other way round. DriveTest lists the paper version as available at all locations and the computer version at some locations.
If your centre has kiosks, take the computerized one. Every computerized kiosk has an audio function with the ability to skip and repeat questions, and the results come up immediately. The verbal test, where an employee or an approved interpreter reads the test to you, is appointment only and free.
The computerized test is also where the language options live, and there are far more of them than most people know about. That is a whole guide of its own: the 32 languages the G1 test is offered in, and the free audio option.
What You Walk Out With
Once you have passed, your photo and signature are captured for the licence card. The photo has real standards attached to it and being asked to redo it is a common, avoidable delay.
Licence photo rules
- Your whole face has to be visible and unobstructed
- Neutral, relaxed expression, so no smiling
- Facing straight at the camera, head not tilted
- Hair off your eyes
- Headwear for religious or medical reasons is fine as long as it does not cover any part of your face
- You may be asked to take off anything else, including hats, glasses, and headphones
Then you are handed a temporary driver’s licence. It is paper, it lets you drive under G1 conditions, and it is valid for up to 90 days. Your plastic photo card arrives later by mail. DriveTest does not publish a delivery time for a first licence, so treat the 90 days as your window: if the card has not arrived before the paper one expires, ServiceOntario can extend the temporary licence.
From that moment the G1 conditions apply. Zero blood alcohol, an accompanying driver with a full licence and at least four years of driving experience beside you, no driving between midnight and 5 a.m., and no 400-series highways posted above 80 km/h or high-speed expressways such as the QEW, the Don Valley Parkway, and the Gardiner. The one way around that last restriction is that your accompanying driver is a licensed driving instructor, which is why a first highway lesson usually happens with one.
If You Fail
Failing costs $16 and a return trip. There is no mandatory waiting period: DriveTest states that applicants can take the knowledge test as many times as they need to pass, and the only enforced wait in the whole process is the next-day penalty for cheating.
The rule worth writing down is the one-year clock. Your results are valid for one year, and if you retry within that year you only redo the sections that did not meet the standard. Fail the rules section, come back next week, and you sit the rules section alone. Leave it thirteen months and you start over from nothing.
What the retake actually costs you, and where the real money traps are in the whole licensing process, is covered in our guide to G1 booking and fees.
When to Show Up
There are 92 DriveTest centres in Ontario and they all offer the knowledge test on a first come, first served basis. DriveTest’s own advice, repeated on several of its pages, is to arrive at least one hour before the office closes. That is a recommendation rather than a published cut-off time, but it exists because people get turned away.
Saturdays and school holidays are the worst times to go, which DriveTest says outright. Only some centres open on Saturdays at all. Before you drive over, check the live wait times DriveTest publishes for each centre. They are updated through the day and the spread between neighbouring centres is often the difference between five minutes and an hour.
One more option almost nobody knows about: the ServiceOntario location at Bay and College in downtown Toronto also administers knowledge tests, by appointment.
What Actually Goes Wrong on the Day
After enough students have gone through this, the failure modes are boringly consistent, and none of them are about difficult questions.
- The wrong piece of ID. Usually a photocopy, a recent citizenship certificate, or an expired passport.
- Glasses left at home. If you need them to read a menu, you need them for the screen reader.
- Arriving late in the day. An hour before closing is the floor, not the target, and the queue is not the test.
- Studying signs and skimming rules. Signs feel like progress because they are visual. The rules section is where people lose it.
- Rushing. The test is untimed. Reading a question twice costs you nothing at all.
Walk In Already Knowing the Answers
Our G1 practice test is free, has no ads, and needs no account. 200 questions covering signs and rules of the road, a full 40-question mock test in the real format, an explanation on every answer, and unlimited retakes.
The rest of the G1 series
Common Questions About G1 Test Day
The knowledge test itself is not timed. DriveTest says you can take all the time you need until the office closes, and that the test typically takes 20 to 30 minutes. Budget far longer for the visit as a whole, because you are queueing, showing ID, paying, and doing the vision screening before you sit down.
No. Knowledge tests at DriveTest centres are walk-in, first come first served, and there is no online booking system for them. The exceptions are a verbal test or a test with an interpreter, which are appointment only, and the ServiceOntario location at Bay and College in Toronto, which takes knowledge tests by appointment.
You need original, valid identification proving your legal name and your full date of birth, meaning the day, month, and year. One document can cover both, for example a passport, a Canadian or United States birth certificate, a Permanent Resident Card, or an Ontario Photo Card. Photocopies are not accepted.
You pay $16 and try again, and there is no mandatory waiting period. Your results stay valid for one year, and if you come back within that year you only have to redo the section that did not meet the standard. Leave it longer than a year and you start the whole test over.
Yes. The test is marked on the spot, and if you pass you are issued a paper temporary licence before you leave. It lets you drive under G1 conditions and is valid for up to 90 days. The plastic photo card comes later in the mail, and if it has not arrived by the time the paper one expires, ServiceOntario can extend it.
