North Dakota Driving Test Pass Rates: Road Test Failures Are Up 46% in Two Years, and More Than 4 in 10 Fail the Written Test (Official DOT Data)

In North Dakota, the road test pass rate has fallen every year since 2023, and the number of people failing it has jumped 46% in just two years. The written knowledge test is the opposite. It’s slowly improving, yet more than 4 in 10 people still fail it every single year. We went through three years of official North Dakota DOT data to show you what’s really happening, what’s on each test, and how to prepare for both.

Data source: North Dakota Department of Transportation, Driver License Division. Class D / non-commercial passenger license road tests and written knowledge tests, 2023 to 2025.

The North Dakota Road Test

How many people take the North Dakota road test each year?

North Dakota administered 15,487 road tests in 2025, up about 16% from 13,386 in 2023. That works out to roughly 15,000 tests a year, or close to 300 every week.

What is the North Dakota road test pass rate?

The road test pass rate was 75% in 2025. Across all three years, about 78% of tests ended in a pass: 34,603 passes out of 44,335 tests, with 9,732 failures.

How has the North Dakota road test pass rate changed?

It has dropped every year in the data. The pass rate went from 81% in 2023 to 78% in 2024 to 75% in 2025, while the fail rate climbed from 19% to 22% to 25%. In 2025, 1 in 4 people who took the road test left without a pass.

The raw failure count has risen faster than the rate. In 2023, 2,599 people failed. In 2025, 3,799 did, an increase of 46% in two years. 2025 marks both the lowest pass rate and the highest failure count in the three years of data.

One number makes the shift clear. North Dakota gave almost exactly the same number of road tests in 2025 as in 2024, just 25 more, but 465 more people failed.

Source: North Dakota DOT Driver License Division, 2023 to 2025.

The North Dakota Written (Knowledge) Test

What is the North Dakota written test pass rate?

The written test pass rate was 57% in 2025. Across the three years, about 56% of test-takers passed: 51,492 passes out of 91,791 tests.

How has the North Dakota written test pass rate changed?

The written test is the one part of the data that’s improving. Its pass rate has risen slightly every year, from 55% in 2023 to 56% in 2024 to 57% in 2025. Even so, more than 4 in 10 people fail it every year. In 2025, 12,668 people did not pass, though that was the lowest failure count of the three years, down from 14,016 in 2024.

Source: North Dakota DOT Driver License Division, 2023 to 2025.

More North Dakotans Fail the Written Test Than the Road Test

Put the two tests side by side, and the gap is clear. In 2025, 43% of people failed the written knowledge test, compared with 25% on the road test. A smaller share of people pass the written test (57%) than pass the road test (75%).

Far more people sit it, too. North Dakota gave 29,743 written tests in 2025 versus 15,487 road tests, nearly twice as many. Across the full three years, more than twice as many written tests were taken as road tests (91,791 vs. 44,335).

The two tests are also trending in opposite directions: the road test pass rate is sliding, while the written test pass rate is slowly rising.

A note on what the data does and doesn’t show. The North Dakota figures aren’t broken down by age or by first-time versus repeat test-takers. Because first attempts and retakes are counted together, the headline pass rates reflect everyone who sat the test, so a first-timer can’t read their own odds directly off these numbers.

What the North Dakota Driving Test Involves

What’s on the North Dakota knowledge test?

The North Dakota knowledge test has 25 multiple-choice questions, and you need at least 20 correct, a score of 80%, to pass. Questions are based on the state’s Noncommercial (Class D) Driver’s Guide and cover road signs, signals, and pavement markings, traffic laws, winter driving, parking, distracted driving, and Absolute Sobriety laws and penalties. You can take it in person at a DOT site or online through the state’s KnowToDrive system.

What happens on the North Dakota road test?

The road test is by appointment. Before you drive, the examiner checks that your vehicle is registered and safe to operate. Then they ride along and assess whether you can handle the car safely while following traffic laws.

North Dakota also runs a Road Test Waiver Program: students who complete approved behind-the-wheel and classroom driver education at an approved driving school can have the Class D road test waived, with the DOT randomly re-testing some of them to keep standards in check. Drivers who take that route don’t appear in the road-test totals above.

How to Pass the North Dakota Driving Test on Your First Try

Zutobi’s North Dakota course summarizes the ND Driver’s Guide into short, readable chapters and pairs it with unlimited state-specific practice tests and an exam simulator that mirrors the real 25-question format. You practice under the same conditions you’ll face on test day.

Zutobi teaches every road rule through a short, narrated video with a visual demonstration: right-of-way, merging, parking, and winter conditions. You watch each scenario play out while you hear the explanation. That combination builds the kind of understanding you can use on the road with an examiner beside you, not just recall on a written test. It runs through a simple four-step loop: a summarized handbook, a video, a quiz, and then a simulator.

FAQ

What is the pass rate for the North Dakota road test?

The North Dakota road test pass rate was 75% in 2025, based on 15,487 tests. From 2023 to 2025, about 78% of road tests ended in a pass.

What is the pass rate for the North Dakota written (knowledge) test?

The written test pass rate was 57% in 2025. More than 4 in 10 people fail it every year. The fail rate has run 43% to 45% across 2023 to 2025.

How many people fail the North Dakota driving test each year?

In 2025, 3,799 people failed the road test, and 12,668 failed the written knowledge test. Road test failures have risen 46% since 2023.

How many people take the North Dakota driving test each year?

In 2025, North Dakota administered 15,487 road tests and 29,743 written tests, nearly twice as many written tests as road tests.

Has the North Dakota driving test pass rate changed?

The road test pass rate has fallen every year in the data, from 81% in 2023 to 75% in 2025. The written test pass rate has risen slightly over the same period, from 55% to 57%. The data doesn’t show why.

What does the North Dakota knowledge test cover?

It has 25 multiple-choice questions based on the state’s Class D Driver’s Guide, and you need 20 correct (80%) to pass. Topics include road signs, traffic laws, winter driving, parking, distracted driving, and Absolute Sobriety laws.

What is the best app to prepare for the North Dakota driving test?

Zutobi is built for both North Dakota tests. It combines a summarized version of the state handbook with a video-led format, a North Dakota exam simulator, and a parent-teen training guide created by a certified driving instructor, so people can prepare for the written test and the road test in one place.