You’ve been driving for years, you arrive in Québec, and exchanging your licence goes — in many cases — through the SAAQ knowledge test: the same Class 5 theory exam new drivers take. It isn’t a formality, and it isn’t a test of your ability to drive: it’s a precise exam on Québec’s rules and road signs, and it should be prepared as one.
Depending on the licence you hold, the SAAQ may require you to pass the knowledge test — the exact rules depend on your situation, and the SAAQ is where to confirm them. Two things, though, are the same for everyone: the test is taken on a computer, at a service centre, in the format 28 questions · 3 sections · 75% each — and each attempt costs $13.50. Check the current fee when you book.
The particularity of the exchange path: it generally doesn’t go through driving school. Nobody structures your preparation, hands you course notes, or tells you when you’re ready. It all rests on you — and that, much more than the test itself, is the real difficulty.
It’s the most common trap — and many licence-exchange candidates discover the test through a first fail. Fifteen years of driving teaches you nothing about Québec’s own right-of-way rules, nor about its road signs, nor about the numbered limits and rules that the test’s questions examine with precision. The test doesn’t grade your ease at the wheel: it grades your knowledge of the rules here — section by section, with no overall average.
And the stakes are real: a failed section means a mandatory wait of 28 days before the retake. When a job is waiting on the licence, those weeks count.
Permis 101 has a path built for licence exchanges: you say so at the start, and the app structures the preparation driving school won’t provide — every question explained with its reference to the official guides, and a per-section readiness score that tells you when to book.
In many cases, yes: a lot of newcomers have to pass the Class 5 knowledge test, even with years of driving behind them. The exact rules depend on the licence you hold — check your own situation with the SAAQ.
The exchange path generally doesn’t go through the driving-school program for new drivers — which is precisely why preparing for the test rests entirely on you. Your exact situation is something to confirm with the SAAQ.
Yes — you choose between French and English. The SAAQ may also offer the test in Arabic, Spanish or Mandarin, on request.
A section below the threshold means a mandatory wait of 28 days before the retake — but only the failed sections have to be redone. The 28-day rule has its own page, with ways to use the wait.
Permis 101 has a path built for licence exchanges: the test in its real format, every question explained, and a verdict per section that tells you when to book.
Download on the App StoreFree to start · $19.99 CAD once · No subscription
Permis 101 is an independent app, not affiliated with the SAAQ. For official information and to book your test, go to the SAAQ.