Free South Carolina DMV practice tests

Walk-ins for regular and motorcycle skills tests run 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on every day besides Wednesday, and 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. The 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. slot is appointment-only. For the knowledge test the SCDMV asks you to reach a branch before 4 p.m. Confirm the hours for your branch before driving over, since these are agency operating hours rather than statute.

The Driver-Related Fees table lists ten driver products. The knowledge test is $2 each, a beginner's permit $2.50 whether original, renewal, duplicate or modified, an eight-year license $25, and a duplicate or modified license or ID $10. No row on that table prices the road test. Card payments add $1 plus 1.7 percent, which the agency states is not an SCDMV fee. Verify every figure on the fee page before you pay.

No. Searched for this page: the manual revised 06/2024, the eight dmv.sc.gov pages this guide cites and all of SC Code Title 56 Chapter 1. None gives a question count, a passing mark, a percentage or a clock, and the word "score" appears in none of them. The law fixes only the subject matter, in § 56-1-130(A). The manual's Section 12 prints ten sample questions with an answer key — a study aid, and not a statement of how long the real test is.

Yes, and the manual has not caught up. Section 56-1-50(G), added by 2024 Act No. 146 effective 13 November 2024, lets a person eighteen or older attempt the driving test after holding a permit for at least thirty days. Applicants aged 15 to 17 still hold 180 days. The thirty-day track does not apply to motorcycle permits or to permits for vehicles of 26,001 pounds gross weight or more, and the manual revised 06/2024 still prints 180 days regardless of age.

Thirty calendar days, and it does not shorten with age or driving experience. The ladder before it is two business days after a first failure — the SCDMV's example is failing Monday and returning Thursday — and seven calendar days after a second. Nothing published sets a matching wait after a failed knowledge test, so treat the timing of a written retake as a question for the branch counter.

It can. A permit lasts no more than twelve months and renews for further twelve-month periods at $2.50, but § 56-1-50(D) lets the department refuse to renew or issue a new one where the examining officer has reason to believe the applicant has not made a bona fide effort to pass the required road test, or does not appear to have the aptitude to pass it. Motorcycle permits also carry a hard ceiling: the SCDMV says a Class M permit cannot be renewed more than three times.

The SCDMV says an authorized adult must sign in person at a branch with a picture ID, unless a driver training school representative signs and submits it instead. The seven categories are § 56-1-100(A)'s: father, mother, guardian, an individual with custody, care and control, a person set forth in subsection (C)(3) — foster or preadoptive parent, or someone responsible for a child in a childcare facility or group home — with written Department of Social Services approval, someone standing in loco parentis for at least sixty continuous days, or any responsible adult with notarized written permission from one of the others.

Section 56-1-220(C) caps it: the department's minimum standards shall not require a greater degree of vision than 20/40 corrected in one eye. A branch screening checks for 20/40 or better; fail it and a licensed eye care professional examines you on a certificate valid 36 months. Correction that gets you there is noted on the card, and driving without it is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $100 or up to thirty days.

Eight years from the date of issue, under § 56-1-210(A), at $25 under § 56-1-140(A). Renewal is available on or before the expiration date, by mail or electronically where the license is digitized, and every route runs through a vision check. Let it lapse nine months or less and you renew without testing; past nine months you are back to vision, knowledge and skills tests at a branch.

At one centralized location, which is why the branch hands you a temporary driving certificate instead of a card. It is valid up to 30 days for driving, voting and identification where accepted, and carries a QR code that tracks your card through production and mailing. The card follows in seven to 15 business days, or seven to ten when you renew online. An expiring card comes back hole-punched and still works as photo ID where accepted.