The format of the real test, with the source and the date we checked it.
| Test | Questions | Minutes | Correct to pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorcycle and moped (AM) | 40 | 45 | 35 |
Source: Motorcycle and moped (AM), 2026-05-06, checked on 2026-09-15
Every question in our bank for this test, grouped by the study area it belongs to.
€45
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test Car or Bike, dated 2025-02-20, checked on 2026-09-15
A, A1, A2 and AM
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15
16 years
Source: Citizens Information, Categories of motor vehicles and minimum age of drivers in Ireland, dated 2025-07-07, checked on 2026-09-15
A1, AM or W 16; B, BE 17; A2, C1, C1E 18; A 20; C, CE, D1, D1E 21; D, DE 24 years
Source: Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011, S.I. No. 483 of 2011, reg. 2(d), substituting Reg. 9 of S.I. No. 537 of 2006, undated, checked on 2026-09-15
16 years
Source: Citizens Information, Learner driving permits for cars and work vehicles, dated 2025-09-29, checked on 2026-09-15
A theory test pass is needed before a first learner permit in any category
Source: Citizens Information, Learner driving permits for cars and work vehicles, dated 2025-09-29, checked on 2026-09-15
16 hours in 4 modules
Source: Citizens Information, Learner permit rules for specific vehicle categories, dated 2025-09-29, checked on 2026-09-15
May ride unaccompanied on public roads; L plates on a yellow fluorescent hi-viz tabard; no passengers; no motorway
Source: Citizens Information, Learner permit rules for specific vehicle categories, dated 2025-09-29, checked on 2026-09-15
2 years
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15
Choose an answer, then open the explanation to see the rule it comes from.
One of these signs tells traffic to keep straight ahead. Which one?
Correct answerCorrect answer: D
Sign D is the keep straight ahead sign. Under Regulation 4(1) of the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 a mandatory sign shows the route traffic must take, and this one, in Part 1 of Schedule 1, requires traffic to go straight on rather than turn.
CitationSource: Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 (S.I. No. 433 of 2025), Regulation 4(1)(a); Schedule 1, Part 1, checked on 2026-09-16.
Ahead, a splitter island divides the traffic stream and this sign stands at its near end. How do you read this sign?
Correct answer: D
You are looking at the pass either side sign. Listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, it is a mandatory sign under Regulation 4(1) and shows that traffic may go by on the left or on the right.
CitationSource: Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 (S.I. No. 433 of 2025), Regulation 4(1)(a); Schedule 1, Part 1, checked on 2026-09-16.
On a one-way street, this sign stands at the approach end of a traffic island. Which side must you pass?
Correct answer: D
The keep right sign is a mandatory sign under Regulation 4 of the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, Schedule 1, Part 1. Traffic must pass to the right of the sign. That is a different sign from keep left. It is not optional when the road is quiet, not limited to cyclists, and not an edge marking.
CitationSource: Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 (S.I. No. 433 of 2025), Regulation 4(1)(a); Schedule 1, Part 1, checked on 2026-09-15.
Which sign bans going straight ahead?
Correct answerCorrect answer: D
Sign D is the no straight ahead sign. It is a prohibitory sign in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025. Under Regulation 14(2)(a) a vehicle must not go in the direction of the arrow shown, which here is straight on.
CitationSource: Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 (S.I. No. 433 of 2025), Regulation 14(2)(a); Schedule 2, Part 1, checked on 2026-09-16.
Driving through a town, you come up to a junction with this sign. What does it mean?
Correct answer: D
That is the no left turn sign. Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 lists it as a prohibitory sign. Regulation 14(2)(a) means a vehicle must not go the way its arrow points, which is a left turn.
CitationSource: Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025 (S.I. No. 433 of 2025), Regulation 14(2)(a); Schedule 2, Part 1, checked on 2026-09-16.
There is no separate moped paper: a moped is category AM, and category AM sits the motorcycle theory test. The pass covers the whole motorcycle group, so the standard does not drop because the machine is small. What is genuinely different about a moped is the licence around the test, and that is where this page starts.
Book a theory test for a moped and you are booking the motorcycle group test, the same one sat by a learner going for a scooter on A1 or a full size motorcycle on A. One certificate comes out of it and it serves the whole group, which is the reason nothing is scaled down for a smaller engine. Say that plainly at the start because the alternative is a rider arriving expecting a short paper about mopeds.
Riders who already hold a car licence often assume it carries over. It does not. The car test covers its own set of categories and AM is not among them, so a moped permit still needs this test even with a full car licence in your pocket. Citizens Information sets out which theory test covers which licence categories, and it is worth reading that table once before paying for anything.
The same point works in your favour going up. The certificate this test produces is the one you would hand in later for an A1 or an A2 permit, so a rider who starts on a moped and moves to a bigger machine does not sit the theory test again, as long as the certificate is still in force when that permit application goes in. Riders who leave it too long pay twice.
Category AM is the licence category for mopeds and light quadricycles. In the age table set by the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011 it sits on the entry rung alongside A1 and category W, which is why a moped is the first motor vehicle most people in Ireland can legally ride on a public road.
Below that entry age no vehicle may be used in a public place at all. The age attaches to using the vehicle, not to owning it, and nothing about the moped itself moves it: a slow machine on a quiet road is a motor vehicle as far as the licence table is concerned, and a field or a yard is not the escape hatch people think it is once the public has access to it.
One limit shows up the moment the licence is in your hand rather than while you are learning. The Roads Regulations 1994 let a vehicle onto a motorway only where it can hold 50 kilometres per hour on the level and, where an internal combustion engine drives it, only where that engine is over 50 cc. Most mopeds fail on one limb or the other. So the motorway rule a car learner reads as a temporary restriction is a standing one for a moped, and questions about motorway use are worth reading with that in mind.
The theory test comes first. A pass is the precondition for a first learner permit in any category under the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006, so the moped sequence runs theory test, then learner permit, then initial basic training with an approved instructor. People lose weeks by doing it in the wrong order, usually by buying the machine first and then discovering they cannot ride it home.
Initial basic training is the step moped riders most often underestimate. It is not a formality and it is not an afternoon: the modules for AM and A1 run in a set order and finish on the road. The Road Traffic (Courses of Instruction) (Motorcycles) Regulations 2011 also require you to carry the certificate while riding, so it is a document that lives in your jacket rather than in a drawer at home.
After that the permit conditions apply, and they are the ones named above rather than the car ones. This is the part a car learner never has to think about: there is nobody in a passenger seat to catch a misread junction, because there is no passenger seat. Every early mistake is made alone. That is the honest argument for doing the reading before the permit rather than after it. The mock test and the practice sets on this page run on the same category the exam runs on, so the time goes into the paper you will actually sit.
Source: Citizens Information, Categories of motor vehicles and minimum age of drivers in Ireland, checked on 2026-09-16
Source: Citizens Information, Driver theory test, checked on 2026-09-16
Source: Citizens Information, Learner permit rules for specific vehicle categories, checked on 2026-09-16
Source: Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011, reg. 2(d), checked on 2026-09-16
Source: Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006, reg. 20(5)(a)(v), checked on 2026-09-16
Source: Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Courses of Instruction) (Motorcycles) Regulations 2011, regs. 3 and 4, checked on 2026-09-16
Source: Irish Statute Book, Roads Regulations 1994, art. 7(2), checked on 2026-09-16
The moped theory test has 40 questions in 45 minutes, and you pass with 35 correct answers.
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15
The test fee is €45. No limit on the number of attempts; the fee is paid each time.
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test Car or Bike, dated 2025-02-20, checked on 2026-09-15
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15
One pass of this test covers licence categories A, A1, A2 and AM.
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15
The minimum age for category AM (moped) is 16 years.
Source: Citizens Information, Categories of motor vehicles and minimum age of drivers in Ireland, dated 2025-07-07, checked on 2026-09-15
Yes, the test is available in Irish as well as English.
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15
For a first AM or A1 learner permit, Initial Basic Training (IBT) is 16 hours in 4 modules.
Source: Citizens Information, Learner permit rules for specific vehicle categories, dated 2025-09-29, checked on 2026-09-15
With a valid IBT certificate you may ride unaccompanied on public roads. The conditions that still apply: L plates on a yellow fluorescent hi-viz tabard, no passengers and no motorway.
Source: Citizens Information, Learner permit rules for specific vehicle categories, dated 2025-09-29, checked on 2026-09-15
A learner permit application to the NDLS costs €45, first time or renewal. Your theory test pass certificate is valid for 2 years from the date of the test.
Source: National Driver Licence Service (NDLS), Fees, undated, checked on 2026-09-15
Source: Prometric Ireland Ltd (Driver Theory Test Service), Driver Theory Test FAQs, dated 2026-08-14, checked on 2026-09-15