Maryland Permit Practice Test 1
This free Maryland practice test has 30 multiple-choice questions covering road signs, right-of-way, speed limits, and safe driving — the same topics the MVA tests. The real MVA Knowledge Test (25-question noncommercial Class C test for the Learner's Instructional Permit) has 25 questions, and you need 22 correct (88%) to pass.
Question 1 of 30
1. You are 17 and have held your Maryland provisional license for two months. With no supervising driver aboard, which passengers under 18 may ride with you?
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Correct answer: D. For the first 151 days with a Maryland provisional license, drivers under 18 may not carry passengers under 18 unless they are immediate family or a qualified supervising driver rides along. Plan on about five months of family-only trips.
2. You hold only a learner's permit and your supervising adult is unavailable. When may you drive by yourself?
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Correct answer: C. A permit never allows solo driving; a qualified supervisor must ride with you every time. Getting caught alone can mean tickets, permit suspension, and a longer wait for your license. Shortcuts here only stretch out the process.
3. How much of a traffic lane is a motorcycle entitled to use?
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Correct answer: D. A motorcycle is entitled to a complete traffic lane, and you may not squeeze past one inside that lane. Riders need the full width to dodge hazards. Treat a motorcycle's lane like a car's lane: whole and off-limits.
4. What is a reliable way to judge whether you are following the vehicle ahead too closely?
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Correct answer: A. Pick a fixed marker like a pole or shadow; when the vehicle ahead passes it, count seconds until you arrive. Counting seconds works at any speed, unlike guessing car lengths. The road itself becomes your measuring tape.
5. How does alcohol change the skills you rely on to drive?
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Correct answer: B. Alcohol slows your reactions, throws off coordination, and blurs and narrows vision, so every core driving skill suffers at once. Impairment starts before you feel drunk. Think of alcohol as turning down every dial you drive with.
6. Why do speed limits drop in highway work zones?
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Correct answer: A. Work zones squeeze traffic past workers, machinery, narrowed lanes, and sudden stops, so limits drop to give everyone more reaction time. Many places also raise fines there. Slow down where people are standing next to moving traffic.
7. Ahead of a raised concrete median you see a white sign reading KEEP RIGHT with an arrow curving to the right. What should you do?
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Correct answer: A. KEEP RIGHT tells you the roadway splits around an island, median, or obstruction, and all traffic must pass on the right side. Passing left would put you into oncoming lanes. Follow the arrow around the obstacle, then continue straight.
8. The vehicle ahead displays an orange triangle with a red border on its rear. What does that tell you?
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Correct answer: D. The orange triangle is the slow-moving vehicle emblem, common on farm equipment and horse-drawn wagons. You close in on these vehicles faster than you expect, so back off early and pass only with a clear, legal gap.
9. In a work zone, an orange sign warns of a flagger ahead. The flagger signals you to stop, even though the traffic light beyond is green. What should you do?
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Correct answer: C. Flaggers control traffic through work zones, and you must obey their directions even when they conflict with posted signs or signals. They can see hazards you cannot. Remember: in a work zone, the person outranks the light.
10. A teen walks into a Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) office in Maryland to apply for a first learner's permit. The office can accept the application once the teen is what age?
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Correct answer: B. The MVA accepts learner's permit applications at age 15 years, 9 months in Maryland. Bring proof of identity, residency, and usually a parent's signature, then pass the knowledge and vision screenings. Age is simply the first box to check.
11. A tire blows out while you are driving at highway speed. What is the safest response?
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Correct answer: B. During a blowout, hold the wheel firmly, lift off the gas, and let the car slow on its own before easing off the road. Hard braking on three good tires invites a spin. Steady hands beat fast feet.
12. After two drinks at a barbecue in Maryland, you consider driving home. For a driver 21 or older, that becomes illegal starting at which BAC?
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Correct answer: A. Driving in Maryland becomes a per-se DUI at a BAC of 0.08%. Drinks affect people differently, so you cannot reliably guess your number. When you have been drinking, the smart decision is simply to skip driving.
13. Before you can get a Maryland provisional license, how many supervised practice hours must a driver under age 25 record in the Practice and Skills Log?
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Correct answer: B. Maryland's Rookie Driver program requires at least 60 supervised practice hours, with at least 10 driven at night — from 30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise. Remember 60/10: six times ten, one tenth after dark.
14. You are low on fuel on a long highway drive. Signs of which color point you to services such as gas, food, lodging, and hospitals?
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Correct answer: B. Blue signs mark motorist services, including fuel, food, lodging, rest areas, and hospitals. They let travelers plan a stop before leaving the highway. When your body or your car needs something, look for blue.
15. The signal shows a green arrow for your left turn. What does having a 'protected' turn mean?
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Correct answer: B. A green arrow gives you a protected turn: conflicting traffic is held by a red signal. Still glance for people or vehicles already in the intersection, because protected means favored, not guaranteed safe.
16. You are counting down the days until you can start driving in Maryland. The earliest age you can hold a learner's permit is which of these?
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Correct answer: D. The countdown ends at 15 years, 9 months, the minimum learner's permit age in Maryland. Starting at the minimum is smart: more months of supervised practice before licensure means more experience with traffic, weather, and night driving while coached.
17. A friend in Maryland says, 'I feel fine, so I can drive.' Feelings aside, the law sets the illegal BAC for drivers 21 and older at which number?
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Correct answer: B. Feeling fine proves nothing; alcohol dulls the very judgment you use to check yourself. In Maryland, 0.08% is the per-se limit for adults, and measurable impairment often shows up well before a driver reaches it.
18. What is double parking, and why is it against the rules?
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Correct answer: D. Double parking means standing or parking in the roadway alongside a vehicle already parked at the curb. It blocks a travel lane, hides pedestrians, and pins in the parked car, so the practice is prohibited on public streets.
19. While planning a road trip across Maryland, you look up the fastest speed any of its highways allow. What is that statewide maximum?
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Correct answer: A. Maryland's top speed limit is 70 mph, found only on its fastest designated highways. Expect lower posted limits on most stretches, and remember signs always control: the maximum applies only where a sign actually posts it.
20. You are passing a slow truck on a Maryland highway posted at the state's maximum limit. Even while passing, your legal ceiling stays at which speed?
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Correct answer: B. Passing grants zero extra speed allowance; in Maryland the ceiling on those top-posted highways stays 70 mph. If you cannot complete the pass within the limit, wait for a better gap. The limit binds every maneuver, always.
21. You have failed the Maryland knowledge test twice. How long must you wait before trying again?
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Correct answer: C. After one failure, Maryland's MVA lets you retest as soon as the next business day, but once you have failed two or more times you must wait at least seven calendar days. Use that week to restudy the manual.
22. An orange sign with a black arrow reads DETOUR. What is this sign telling you?
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Correct answer: A. Detour signs guide you along a temporary route when the normal road is closed, often for construction or an emergency. Keep following the arrows until the detour ends, and the route will return you to your original road.
23. Can prescription pills or over-the-counter cold medicine lead to an impaired-driving charge?
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Correct answer: A. Impaired-driving laws care about your condition, not the label on the bottle, so prescription and over-the-counter medicines that cause drowsiness or slow reactions can bring a DUI charge. Read warning labels before you drive, not after.
24. You are delivering food to a house on an unposted residential street in Maryland. Unless a sign changes it, what speed limit applies?
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Correct answer: A. Unposted residential streets in Maryland carry a default limit of 30 mph. The rule exists so drivers can stop for the unexpected, like a car backing out of a driveway. When a sign is posted, obey the sign instead.
25. You are under 18 with a Maryland provisional license. Which trip could you legally drive alone at 1:30 a.m.?
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Correct answer: A. Maryland bars unsupervised provisional drivers under 18 from driving between midnight and 5 a.m., except to or from a job, an official school activity, an organized volunteer program, or an athletic event. If it is not on that list, wait for morning.
26. On a highway, you look for the way to your destination city. What kind of information do signs with a green background give you?
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Correct answer: D. Green guide signs point the way, listing destinations, how many miles remain, and which exits to take. They inform rather than command, so no action is required. Think of green as the color that says go this way.
27. Under Maryland's zero-tolerance law, what BAC level counts as a violation for a driver under 21?
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Correct answer: B. Maryland's zero-tolerance law sets the under-21 threshold at 0.02%, far stricter than the adult standard. Underage drinking is illegal to begin with, so the safest and simplest rule is zero alcohol before driving, always.
28. A traffic light turns steady yellow as you approach the intersection. What does this signal tell you?
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Correct answer: A. A steady yellow light warns that the signal is about to turn red. Stop if you can do it safely; if you are too close to stop smoothly, continue through with caution. Yellow means prepare, not race.
29. Your headlights suddenly go dark while you are driving at night. What should you do first?
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Correct answer: C. First flick the headlight switch and dimmer, since the problem may be a loose connection; then use parking, hazard, or turn lights to stay visible while you leave the road. Never keep driving blind hoping the lights return.
30. You are on an entrance ramp about to merge onto a freeway. Who is responsible for yielding?
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Correct answer: A. Drivers merging onto a freeway must yield to traffic already on it, using the ramp to match speed and slide into a gap. Through traffic cannot stop safely at highway speeds, so the entering driver adapts.
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