Two wheels
Motorcycle permit practice tests
A separate motorcycle test covers countersteering, lane position and braking through 130 questions that explain the technique behind every answer.
- Full rider practice test25 question practice run drawn from 130, pass with 20
- Cornering, braking and swerving19 questions, every answer explained
- Lane position and being seen22 questions, every answer explained
- Surface hazards21 questions, every answer explained
- Gear and the pre ride check22 questions, every answer explained
What the motorcycle test actually covers
Controls and basic operation
Clutch, throttle, both brakes, the friction zone and starting on a hill.
Gear and the pre ride check
Helmets, eye protection, what to wear, and the checks before you set off.
Lane position and being seen
The three lane positions, following distance and staying out of blind spots.
Surface hazards
Gravel, paint, metal, rail crossings and everything that matters more on two wheels.
Cornering, braking and swerving
Countersteering, entry speed, braking in a curve and choosing swerve over brake.
Passengers, groups and impairment
Carrying a passenger or cargo, staggered formation, alcohol, fatigue and weather.
Motorcycle rules by state
Only 5 agencies publish the motorcycle test format anywhere we could confirm, far fewer than for car tests. Every state page says plainly which situation it is in, and carries the course waiver rule where an official source states one.
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Does a rider course actually skip the test?
Of the 51 jurisdictions on this site, 42 have a rider course rule we could confirm from an official source and quote on the state page.
Nineteen states still make you sit the written test
They waive only the riding test. Every applicant still has to pass the written knowledge test.
The other 23 can cover both tests
An approved course stands in for both tests, though several attach a condition worth reading before you pay.
Illinois and Pennsylvania
Both tests are covered only for riders 18 and over.
Texas
Waives the knowledge test for every applicant, but the riding test only for adults who already hold an unrestricted Texas license.
Vermont
The 15 hour Basic Rider Course covers both, while its Experienced Rider course covers only the riding test.
Oregon
Team Oregon Basic Rider Training with the in person classroom satisfies both tests. The same course with the online classroom satisfies only the riding test.
The completion certificate expires
The second trap is that the deadlines are nothing alike. Book the course and the license appointment in that order, with the gap sized to your own state.
What this site knows about the test format, and what it does not
Five of the 51 agencies publish enough about the motorcycle knowledge test for us to mark the format verified: Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana and New York.
Tennessee disagrees with itself
Sources split between 30 questions with 24 correct and 25 with 20, and the page says so.
The five confirmed formats
Read them together, because they show how little a national average tells you.
Delaware
25 questions with 20 correct to pass. Its Basic RiderCourse waives the written test as well as the riding test, so the format only matters to riders who skip the course.
Massachusetts
Sets the bar at 18 of 25, or 72 percent, and lets applicants sit the exam by webcam instead of visiting a Service Center.
Montana
Administrative rule 23.3.154 takes five points off a 100 point scale for each wrong answer and requires 15 of 20.
New York
Same 20 question, 14 correct exam as car applicants, plus one rule on top: at least two of the four road sign questions have to be right whatever the total score.
Florida
Verified because no separate motorcycle written exam exists. The 50 question Class E test every car driver takes doubles as it, with the required Basic RiderCourse supplying the two wheel evaluation.
The gear questions are part safety guidance and part state statute
Seven of the 22 questions in the gear set cite a statute rather than safety guidance, and that is the half riders never see coming.
California helmet and bars
Vehicle Code 27803 requires a helmet on both the rider and the passenger at every age. Vehicle Code 27801 caps handlebar height so your hands on the grips sit no more than six inches above shoulder height.
Texas headgear exception
Transportation Code 661.003 requires headgear but writes an exception into the offense itself for a rider at least 21 who has finished an approved training course or carries qualifying health coverage.
Florida eye protection
Statutes 316.211 require an approved eye protective device of every operator regardless of age.
Cross a state line and the gear that satisfied one of those laws may not satisfy the next, which is its own question in the set.
Helmets meet FMVSS 218
Shown by a DOT label on the shell. A helmet that took a hard impact gets replaced even when it looks undamaged, because the liner crushes once to absorb energy and cannot crush again in the same place.
A correct fit stays snug
All the way around, and it does not rock when you shake your head.
Eyes still need covering
Eye protection is still needed behind a windscreen, because a screen does not keep wind, insects and grit out of your eyes at riding speed.
Jacket, gloves, boots
A jacket is for abrasion resistance and for giving armor something to mount to, not for warmth. Gloves come up in gauntlet form because the cuff closes the gap at the wrist. Boots have to clear the ankle, grip properly, and carry no laces or hooks that can catch.
Surface hazards, the part a car test never asks about
A car rolls over most of what sits on a road surface. A motorcycle balances on two contact patches about the size of a hand, so the same debris becomes a handling problem.
The 21 questions in this set do not share one answer, and treating them as though they do is how riders lose the marks. There are three answers, and the first one is the one people skip.
Avoid it inside your lane
If you safely can. That is the correct first move for a metal utility plate or manhole cover in the wet, for a small object such as tire tread or a dropped board, and for rails or expansion joints running parallel to your direction of travel.
If you cannot avoid it, cross it clean
Slow before the hazard, get the motorcycle upright, and cross straight through on a steady light throttle without braking or steering on top of it. That is the answer for sand and gravel, for painted lines and crosswalk stencils, which are slicker than the pavement around them, for wet leaves, which behave close to ice, and for the metal plate you could not get around.
The rest get their own technique
Diagonal tracks, potholes and steel grid decks each want a different move, listed below.
Tracks and grooves
Tracks that run diagonally across your direction of travel want a path that crosses them nearer a right angle, if that can be done without leaving your lane. Parallel grooves want the same angle so a tire never tracks along inside one.
Potholes and objects you cannot dodge
Slowed early, squared up and lifted slightly off the seat so your legs take the impact.
Open steel grid bridge deck
Hold a light steady grip and let the motorcycle wander rather than chasing every twitch.
GROOVED PAVEMENT
The yellow diamond carries a small motorcycle plaque underneath, a warning aimed at two wheeled traffic specifically.
Metal bridge deck
The metal bridge deck warning also carries a small motorcycle plaque underneath. Two of these hazards get their own road sign, which is unusual.
Why a motorcycle test is its own thing
A car test asks what a sign means and who goes first. A motorcycle test asks how a machine that stays up by moving behaves when you brake, lean or hit gravel.
The rules of the road carry over, so the work here is the riding, not relearning signs. Three ideas do most of the damage when riders get them wrong.
Use the front brake
The front brake supplies most of your stopping power, and refusing to use it is what makes stopping distances long.
Countersteer above walking pace
A motorcycle turns by countersteering, so pressing the right grip sends you right, which feels backwards until it does not.
Lane position is visibility
Where you sit in the lane decides whether a driver ever sees you at all.
Three different clocks on a motorcycle permit
Car learner permits are usually governed by one limit, a calendar. Motorcycle permits are governed by three, and the state pages show all three types in use.
A calendar
The familiar limit, and the ranges are wide.
A map
Vermont's permit stops working the moment you cross the state line. Tennessee ties riding to a seven mile radius around the address on the permit.
A count
The one nobody plans for, because a car permit rarely has one.
Pennsylvania
Class M learner's permit only three times within five years, four in total. Every attempt requires passing the knowledge test again from scratch.
Michigan
Two temporary instruction permits in any ten year span. Once those run out the only remaining route to the endorsement is the full rider safety course.
Read the permit terms on your state page at the same time as the test format. Which of the three clocks applies is not something you can infer from a neighboring state.
The credential is not always an endorsement
Most states add a code to a license you already hold. Enough of them do something else that it is worth checking before you assume.
Alaska and Wisconsin
They license motorcycling as a vehicle class in its own right, with Alaska splitting that class three ways into M1, M2 and M3.
Nevada
Prints Class M alongside the driver's existing class on one license rather than issuing a distinct endorsement code.
Louisiana
Never creates a standalone motorcycle credential at all, not even a separate permit card, and stamps the Class M endorsement onto whatever license the rider already carries.
Maine
Offers a license restricted to motorcycle operation only under its restriction code 5, so a rider who never intends to drive a car can still hold a real Maine license.
New Mexico displacement codes
Not one blanket credential: W for 100cc and up, Y for 50 to 99cc, and Z for anything smaller, each tested on a matching machine.
New Jersey 500cc cap
A rider who passes the road test on a motorcycle of 231cc or smaller is permanently capped at 500cc afterward. That restriction lifts only by completing the state's Motorcycle Safety Education Program.
Texas young rider codes
Two restriction codes on a young rider's Class M: a J for supervised riding and, below age 16, an I capping the machine at 250cc, each lifted on its own schedule rather than together.
Practice the riding, then read your state's paperwork.
130 rider questions across 51 jurisdictions, free, with nothing to sign up for.