EXCLUSIVE: Why Wyoming Learners Keep Failing Written Driving Test

For many new drivers, the road test is supposed to be the intimidating part: an examiner in the passenger seat, real traffic outside the windshield and every turn, stop and lane change being watched.

Wyoming’s own testing records tell a very different story. From 2017 through September 2025, roughly 85% of behind-the-wheel driving tests in the state ended in a pass. The written permit test passed just 42.6% of attempts over the same period, meaning more than half ended in failure.

Across those years, Wyoming recorded 275,091 failed written tests compared with just 12,862 failed road tests — about 21 written-test failures for every failed driving test.

But the numbers do not necessarily mean Wyoming residents understand how to operate a vehicle better than they understand traffic laws.

Lucas Waldenbäck, co-founder of driver-education platform Zutobi, argues that the striking gap says more about how people prepare for each test.

“It shows that learners prepare for the two stages very differently. The road test comes later, usually after weeks or months behind the wheel. For teens, that means at least 50 supervised hours. The written test comes first, and Wyoming doesn’t require any formal training before it, for teens or adults,” he told the Wyoming Star.

That distinction matters.

The written exam consists of 25 multiple-choice questions covering road signs, right-of-way, safe-driving practices and Wyoming traffic laws. A test-taker must answer at least 20 correctly, an 80% score, to pass.

For teenage drivers, the road test generally arrives only after considerably more preparation. Wyoming’s graduated licensing process requires 50 hours of supervised driving, including 10 hours at night, before a teen can obtain an intermediate permit through the standard path.

Waldenbäck says that creates two very different learning environments.

“Many learners skim the manual and try to remember the answers, instead of understanding the rules behind them. The test is built to catch exactly that. So I’d read these numbers less as ‘the written test is too hard’ and more as ‘it’s the stage people prepare for least,” he noted.

The structure of the testing system itself may also help explain why the written failure count is so high.

WYDOT’s records count tests, not individual people. They do not distinguish between someone sitting the exam for the first time and someone returning after an earlier failure. The underlying state data therefore cannot be used to say that 57% of individual Wyoming learners ultimately fail to obtain a permit.

Waldenbäck says same-day retakes can further inflate the number of unsuccessful attempts.

“A lot. When you can retake a test the same day, it becomes something you try rather than something you prepare for. Some learners treat the first attempt as a practice round to see what the questions look like, and every one of those attempts counts in the data,” he explained.

That caveat is important because Wyoming administers far more written exams than road tests. Between 2017 and 2024, the state averaged about 54,500 knowledge tests annually, compared with roughly 9,000 to 10,000 road tests per year. Overall, Wyoming administered about 5.7 written tests for every driving test.

“The road test works the other way,” Waldenbäck said. “Learners have to book it, bring an insured vehicle and, on the standard teen path, log 50 supervised hours first. By the time someone sits the road test, they’ve usually had real practice and someone telling them they’re ready. Nobody does that check before the written test.”

The pattern has also been remarkably persistent.

Wyoming’s written-test pass rate has not reached 50% in any year for which records are available. It peaked at 46% in 2019 and fell as low as 38% in 2023 and again during the first nine months of 2025.

That consistency complicates any argument that the problem is simply an unusually difficult year or a temporary drop in performance.

Waldenbäck instead points to the way learners study.

“Mostly the way people study. The material isn’t advanced. It’s what every driver on the road should know. But 20 correct answers out of 25 leaves room for only five mistakes, and memorized answers fall apart when a question is worded differently or describes a real situation, like two cars reaching a four-way stop at the same time.”

That is the difference between recognizing an answer and understanding a rule.

A driver who has memorized that one particular practice question has answer “B” may struggle when the same principle appears in a new scenario. Someone who understands why right-of-way rules work the way they do is more likely to recognize the correct response regardless of how the question is phrased.

“Learners who understand why a rule exists can answer any version of the question,” Waldenbäck said.

Zutobi’s own approach reflects that argument. The company uses short video lessons, Wyoming-specific practice questions and simulated exams modeled on the state’s 25-question format. For behind-the-wheel preparation, it also provides families with a structured guide for completing supervised driving hours.

“The goal isn’t just to pass a test,” Waldenbäck said. “It’s to become a safe, confident driver.”

There is one number in the latest data that warrants watching, however.

During January through September 2025, the road-test pass rate fell to 81.7%, the lowest figure in the available dataset. Wyoming recorded 1,478 failed road tests during those nine months — already slightly more than the 1,463 failures recorded during all of 2024.

Even so, Waldenbäck cautions against interpreting that as evidence that Wyoming drivers are steadily becoming less prepared.

“I’d be cautious. The 2025 figures only cover January to September, and WYDOT changed its system in October 2025, so the full-year picture isn’t available yet. The written pass rate of 38% is almost the same as in 2023, and in 2024 it went back up to 45%. That looks more like movement within a range than a clear decline,” he said.

He sees the road-test trend as more worthy of longer-term attention.

“The road test is the one I’d watch: it has edged down from 89% in 2015 to 82% in 2025. That’s a small shift, and pass rates can change for many reasons, including who is testing and how tests are scored.”

The state records support that cautious interpretation. Road-test pass rates have remained within a relatively narrow band of 82% to 89% over more than a decade, while written-test performance has stayed consistently much lower.

“For me, the bigger story isn’t 2025,” Waldenbäck said. “The written test pass rate hasn’t reached 50% in any year on record, so this isn’t a new problem. It’s a long-standing one.”

That may be the most useful way to understand Wyoming’s unusual testing gap. The statistics do not show that most Wyoming residents are incapable of learning the rules of the road. Nor do they establish that the written exam itself is excessively difficult. They show that the two stages of licensing arrive after very different levels of preparation.

Before the road test, many learners have spent dozens of hours practicing with another driver and received repeated feedback on mistakes.

Before the written test, there is no comparable safeguard ensuring that someone understands the material before walking through the door.

And in Wyoming, the numbers suggest that difference matters.