To obtain a Washington driver’s license before you turn 18, you must obtain a learner’s permit to practice driving under supervision. For an intermediate license, you must be at least 16 years old, hold the permit for six months, complete an approved driver’s education course, complete 50 hours of additional supervised driving (including 10 hours at night), and pass a driving (road) test.
You can apply for a learner’s permit as early as age 15 if you’ve already enrolled in a driver’s education course; otherwise, you must wait till age 15½ to apply for a permit. Requirements for a permit include obtaining signed consent from your parent or guardian and passing a vision screening, a medical screening, and a knowledge (permit) test on driving theory.
If you’re at least 18 years old, you must still pass the vision and medical screenings, the permit (knowledge) test, and the driving (road) test before you can be issued a driver’s license. However, a learner’s permit and a driver’s education course are optional. You must apply for a learner’s permit if you plan to apply for a license online or you need more supervised driving practice before taking the driving test. (Note that you must hold a learner’s permit to take the driving portion of a driver’s education course.)
You can take the knowledge and driving tests at select DOL driver license offices or your driver’s education course provider if they offer these tests. (Most of them do.)
All questions on the official knowledge test are based on the official Washington DOL driver’s 2025 handbook (Washington DOL Handbook (WA Driver's Manual) 2025). The Washington DOL publishes versions of this manual in seven languages, of which we currently offer three: English, Russian, and Spanish. Each version is in PDF format and can be easily downloaded from this webpage.
We have also created an audiobook of the official driver’s handbook. It’s formatted as a series of seven downloadable MP3 files, one for each section of the manual. You can download each MP3 file from this webpage. The audiobook has a total running time of about 3 hours, 18 minutes, and 41 seconds, so you should be able to go through it in a few days.
Finally, we offer our own permit test study guide (available elsewhere on this website) to ensure you’ll be ready to head for the knowledge test location when the big exam day finally arrives. It provides useful last-minute tips on how to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the test, which documents you must take with you, what fees you may have to pay, and which test questions are most often missed.