Getting your first Texas license at 18 to 24? The law puts a six-hour course first

Do you need drivers ed at 18 to get a Texas license?

Yes, if it is your first license and you do not hold a valid license from another U.S. state. §521.1601 bars DPS from issuing a license to anyone younger than 25 without a driver education certificate.

Texas has required driver education for teenagers for a long time. In 2010 it extended the idea upward, and the intent was that people who missed driver education in high school should not simply age out of it. A license from another country, or an out-of-state license that expired long ago, changes the answer in ways people do not expect; the rule by age and license sorts every case.

In what order do you do everything?

Course first, then documents, then the DPS appointment, then the ITAD video, then the tests. The video goes late because its certificate lasts 90 days and the road-test queue at the slowest offices can be longer than that (current waits by office).

1. Finish the six-hour course. You get the ADE-1317 certificate, which is what you bring to DPS. Passing the course satisfies the highway sign and traffic law portions of the DPS knowledge exam.
2. Gather your documents. Identity, lawful presence and 2 Texas residency documents. One of the two documents must show the applicant has lived in Texas for at least 30 days.
3. Book the DPS appointment. DPS serves driver license applicants by appointment, and the road-test queue depends on the office you pick.
4. Watch the 1-hour ITAD video. Impact Texas Adult Drivers (ITAD) must be done before the driving skills test, and the certificate is good for 90 days. Watch it once you have a test date.
5. Take the tests at DPS. Pay the $33 fee and take the vision test and the driving skills test. The card follows in 2–3 weeks.

What is in the six hours?

Texas defines the course as 360 minutes, of which at least 330 must be instruction and the balance may be breaks. It is self-paced, so you are not sitting in one six-hour block unless you want to. The content is set by the state, not the provider: licensing and registration, right-of-way, signs and signals, controlling traffic flow, alcohol and other drugs, sharing the road, managing risk, and a final examination on highway signs and traffic laws.

The adult version is shorter than the teen course (six hours rather than 32), and there is no behind-the-wheel component and no parent involvement. It is a classroom requirement delivered online.

What does finishing the course change at DPS?

It satisfies the highway sign and traffic law portions of the DPS knowledge exam. Under §521.167, finishing an approved course means you are not required to take the highway sign and traffic law parts of the DPS examination, once a licensed driver education instructor confirms you passed them.

You still take the vision test. You still take the driving skills test, and that is the part with the queue. And no course can promise you a license.

Common questions