Colorado documents its permit process in unusual detail — form numbers, retest fees to the cent, an exemption measured in miles. What it never publishes is how many questions the written test has. This page collects every figure that is written down.
What the DMV publishes about the exam
Not the question count, and not the pass mark. Study sites print 25 questions with 20 to pass; at least one prints 18. Neither traces back to the DMV, so we do not repeat either.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Question count | Not published |
| Pass mark | Not published |
| Written retest fee | $11.50 per attempt after the first |
| Drive skills retest fee | $15.40 per attempt after the first |
| Drive test frequency | Once per day |
| Languages in office | English and Spanish only |
If you need another language you may bring your own translator, and the DMV provides ASL interpreters on request. The exam can also be read aloud at the testing station if you bring plug-in headphones.
Colorado fingerprints permit applicants
For the photograph you remove glasses, bulky clothing and any hat or headwear, except where worn for religious reasons. You leave with a temporary paper permit; the card arrives within 30 days, and you carry the paper until it does.
Your age decides your driver education
| Age at application | Required before the permit |
|---|---|
| 15 to 15 years 6 months | 30-hour driver education course |
| 15 years 6 months to 16 | 4-hour driver awareness program, or the 30-hour course |
| 16 to 18 | No course required for the permit |
| 18 to 21 | No course, and no holding period — eligible for the driving test immediately |
Six months of patience saves 26 hours of classroom time. That is the single most useful thing a 15-year-old can know about Colorado licensing.
The permit
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 15 |
| Validity | 3 years, or until your 21st birthday, whichever comes first |
| Holding period | 12 full months, or until your 18th birthday |
| Supervision | A licensed driver 21 or older in the front passenger seat |
| Minor license expiry | 20 days after your 21st birthday |
A permit is also required at any age if you have never held a license, or if your license has been expired or canceled for more than 12 months. New residents apply within 30 days, and out-of-state permit time and logged hours both carry over.
The affidavit is a real commitment
Under 18, a parent, guardian or responsible adult over 21 signs the DR 2460 Affidavit of Liability in front of a DMV employee or a notary, showing a valid Colorado license.
By signing they accept financial responsibility for any accident the minor causes and agree to attend any hearing about the minor’s license. The signature can be withdrawn later with form DR 2464, after which a new signer and a new permit are needed. A parent without a Colorado license may appoint an Alternate Permit Supervisor on the affidavit instead.
Fifty hours, ten at night, and the 30-mile rule
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Supervised driving | 50 hours, of which 10 at night |
| Logging | DR 2324 sheets or the RoadReady app — printed either way |
| Behind-the-wheel training | 6 hours with an approved third-party school |
| Waived at | 16 years and 6 months |
| Living more than 30 miles from a full-time school | 12 hours of supervised driving instead, for a total of 62 |
For the 30-mile exemption, bring a printed map of the route from home to the nearest approved full-time driving school to prove the distance. The drive skills test itself is conducted by approved third-party schools, not the DMV.
Your first year of licensure
| Period | Passengers |
|---|---|
| First 6 months | Only passengers 21 or older |
| Next 6 months | One passenger under 21 |
| After 1 year, or at 18 | More than one passenger under 21 |
Siblings ride with you at any time, and the limits lift during a medical emergency.
For the first year you may not drive between midnight and 5 a.m., unless with a parent or legal guardian, traveling to or from school or a school-authorized activity with a signed statement from the school, traveling to or from work with a signed statement from your employer, dealing with a medical emergency, or emancipated.
Speed, and what the statute actually fixes
Colorado’s speed law starts from a principle rather than a number. C.R.S. 42-4-1101(1) requires that no person drive at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions then existing.
On top of that sits one hard ceiling. Under 42-4-1101(8)(b) the maximum lawful speed limit is 75 mph, and subsection (8)(d) states that neither state nor local authorities may authorize any speed limit exceeding 75 mph on any highway. Municipal authorities set arterial street limits by traffic survey under 42-4-1102, and those become effective only when signs are erected.
Colorado also sets prima facie limits for particular road types in 42-4-1101(2). We have not listed those individual figures here because we could not verify them against the statute text directly, and we would rather show a gap than print a number we have not read. Go by the posted signs.
Use this properly
When a state does not publish its pass mark, counting how many answers you can afford to lose is guesswork. Study to be comfortably right instead. What Colorado does publish is the price of getting it wrong: $11.50 a retest, and a driving test you can only sit once a day.
Read the Colorado Driver Handbook, use this page to check the numbers stuck, then take the full practice test. Bank the easy marks with the signs and markings test, and see the whole process on the Colorado permit guide.
Disclaimer: Pass The Permit is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles or any government agency. Fees and rules change. Always confirm current figures against the official Colorado Driver Handbook, dmv.colorado.gov and the Colorado Revised Statutes.