More Than Half Fail Wyoming’s Permit Test (Official State Data)

The road test is usually seen as the harder step to a license. Wyoming’s official records point the other way. This report breaks down the state’s own test data, compares the written and road tests, and shows at which stage most test-takers do not pass.

Data source: Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) knowledge-test records (2017-2025) and skills-test records (2015-2025). Knowledge-test data for 2015 and 2016 is not available. 2025 figures cover January to September only, as WYDOT modernized its system in October 2025. The records don’t separate first-time takers from people retaking the test.

Written Test vs. Driving Test: Wyoming’s Pass Rates Compared

Wyoming’s written-test records start in 2017 and its road-test records start in 2015. The cleanest comparison is the period where both overlap: 2017 to September 2025.

In that period, 84.7% of behind-the-wheel driving tests ended in a pass, while 42.6% of written permit tests did. That’s roughly 4 in 5 passing the road test, against about 2 in 5 passing the written one. The written test pass rate is almost exactly half the road test pass rate.

The gap between the two tests has stayed wide in every year, ranging from 37 percentage points in 2019 to 49 points in 2023.

How Many People Take Each Test?

Wyoming runs a steady volume of both tests every year.

On the written side, the state administers roughly 50,000 to 57,000 knowledge tests a year, an average of about 54,500 between 2017 and 2024. On the road side, it administers roughly 9,000 to 10,000 skills tests a year, with a record 10,313 in 2024.

Both tests recorded their lowest volume in 2020, a year affected by pandemic restrictions.

Overall, Wyoming gives about 5.7 written tests for every road test.

Permit Test, Year by Year (2017-2025)

Three things stand out in the year-by-year data:

• The pass rate has never reached 50%. In every year on record, more written tests ended in a fail than a pass, and the highest pass rate was 46% in 2019.
• The number of fails barely moves. Between 2017 and 2024, Wyoming recorded 29,589 to 32,713 failed written tests a year, about 85 a day. The number of passes varied twice as much, from 19,872 to 26,416, so changes in the pass rate come mostly from changes in the number of passes.
• The two lowest pass rates are the most recent: 38.1% in 2023 and 37.8% in January to September 2025.

Road Test, Year by Year (2015-2025)

The road test pass rate has held between 82% and 89% across all eleven years. Over that time, it has edged down: it averaged 88.7% in 2015 and 2016, compared with 86.3% in 2023 and 2024.

2025 recorded the lowest figure in the dataset at 81.7%. In its first nine months, Wyoming logged 1,478 failed road tests, more than in the whole of 2024 (1,463).

For Every Failed Road Test, Wyoming Records 21 Failed Permit Tests

The raw numbers show a second finding: the difference between the two tests is even larger in volume than in pass rates.

From 2017 to September 2025, Wyoming recorded 275,091 failed written tests and 12,862 failed road tests. That’s about 21 failed written tests for every failed road test.

Over the same period, the state administered 2.35 written tests for every written pass, compared with 1.18 road tests for every road pass. Written passes alone (204,170) outnumbered all road tests taken (83,918) by more than two to one.

Why is the volume gap so wide? The records do not say. One likely factor is retakes: with more than half of written tests ending in a fail, a share of test-takers likely sit the exam more than once. Another is that some learners take their road test through an approved driver education program rather than at WYDOT Driver Services. The data does not show how much each factor contributes.

What Wyoming’s Permit Test Asks

It’s 25 multiple-choice questions, and test-takers need 20 correct to pass, an 80% threshold. The questions are drawn from the Wyoming Driver License Manual and cover road signs, right-of-way rules, safe-driving practices and Wyoming traffic laws. The test is taken together with a vision screening when applying for a learner’s permit.

For teens, the permit is the first step of Wyoming’s graduated licensing process. The learner’s permit is available from age 15 and must be held for at least 10 days. An intermediate permit is available from age 16 and requires 50 hours of supervised driving, including 10 at night, plus a passing driving skills test.

The Best Way to Prepare for Wyoming’s Permit and Driving Tests

Most study tools only prepare learners for the permit test. Zutobi is the app that prepares for both.

For the written (permit) test:

• A video-led handbook, unique among US driver’s ed apps. Every Wyoming rule comes to life in a short narrated video that shows exactly how it works on the road, so learners see right-of-way, merging, and signs in action.
• An exam simulator matched to Wyoming’s real format: 25 questions with an 80% pass mark. Rehearsing the exact structure ahead of time means test-takers walk in already familiar with the format.
• More than 600 instructor-verified questions, updated each year as Wyoming’s laws change, so learners study accurate material.
• Practice modes that let learners isolate the topics they keep missing, such as road signs or right-of-way, and drill them until they stick.

For the road (driving) test:

• A Parent-Teen Training Guide built by a certified driving instructor, giving families a step-by-step curriculum across the 50 required supervised hours, with specific skills and common mistakes mapped out at each stage.
• Video lessons that show each rule exactly as it plays out on the road, from right-of-way at intersections to lane changes and merging, so learners see the correct behavior modeled before they attempt it behind the wheel.

FAQ

What is the pass rate for the Wyoming permit test? From 2017 to September 2025, the written permit test pass rate was 42.6%, meaning 57.4% of tests ended in a fail. In January to September 2025, the pass rate was 37.8%, the lowest on record.

What is the pass rate for the Wyoming road (driving) test? From 2017 to September 2025, the road test pass rate was 84.7%, with a fail rate of about 15%. Roughly 4 in 5 tests end in a pass.

Do more people fail the permit test or the driving test in Wyoming? The permit test, by a wide margin. In the same period, about 43% of written tests ended in a pass compared to about 85% of road tests. Wyoming recorded about 21 failed written tests for every failed road test.

Has the Wyoming permit test pass rate ever been above 50%? No. In every year of available data (2017 to 2025), the pass rate stayed between 37.8% and 46.1%.

How many questions are on the Wyoming permit test? The written test has 25 multiple-choice questions, and at least 20 correct answers (80%) are needed to pass.

What is the best way to study for each test? For the written test, focus on understanding rules in context and practicing in the real 25-question format rather than memorizing the full manual. For the road test, build structured, skill-by-skill practice into the 50 supervised hours rather than logging unfocused time. Zutobi covers both skillsets.