Frequently Asked Questions

It is a DMV-approved course that provides the essential knowledge (and skills) that new drivers require to be able to drive safely on New York highways. The course covers many important topics, including:

• driving within the highway transportation system

• driver habits and skills

• feelings, attitudes, and risk-taking

• alcohol, other drugs, and driving

Note: The Online Pre-licensing Course will not give you hands-on driving instruction or prepare you for the driver license road test.

The Online Pre-Licensing Course includes approximately 5 hours of instruction. New drivers must complete the course before taking a DMV road test and applying for a driver license.

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age, possess a valid NYS Photo Learner Permit, and have access to a device capable of connecting to the internet to take the NYS Online Pre-Licensing Course. Class DJ/MJ applicants shall not be eligible to participate in the Online Pre-Licensing Course. A class DJ license is a Junior Operator license for teenagers aged 16-17. A class MJ license is a Junior Motorcycle license for teenagers aged 16-17.

Individuals applying for registration in an Online Pre-Licensing course must provide their date of birth as it appears on the individual’s learner permit.

The DMV issues a temporary learner permit without a photo ID immediately after you pass the written examination at a DMV office, The DMV will mail a valid learner permit with a photo ID within two weeks after you passed the written examination. Before you can register for the 5-hour Online Pre-Licensing Course, the DMV requires proof of a valid a learner permit with a photo ID.

The DMV requires a student to complete the course within a minimum time frame of 270 minutes.  The 5-hour Online Pre-Licensing course satisfies this legal requirement. You don’t have to complete it all in one sitting. You can log in and out as many times as you require. Every time you log in, our system takes you right back to where you last log off. Throughout the course you will be timed. A green line above to the right of the page shows your progress in the course. You are not permitted to advance to the next lesson (module)/unit  until you have satisfy the minimum required time for that module/unit.

Step 1: Register for the course

Registration is simple and straight forward. You enroll on the school’s website to register for the course. You begin registration by establishing an account, where you will be ask to create a username and password, and provide a valid email address. You will then be required to provide the following basic personal information:

• First, Middle Initial and Last name (as in the DMV learner permit)

• Current mailing Address and phone number

• Date of Birth (as in the DMV learner permit)

• Permit Expiration Date: Month, Date, and Year (as in the DMV learner permit)

• Permit Document Number (back of the learner permit, starts with an alphabet followed by 7 digits (numbers)

Next, you will sign a DMV-required “Company – Student” contract which provides all the information you need to know about the course, You have to agree to the terms of the contract before you are permitted to register and make a payment. Once you sign the contract, you will proceed to make your payment. Once the payment has been accepted, you will be prompted to take a “biometric facial feature” capture, which will be used to validate your identity as you progress through the course contents at several checkpoints. Finally, to complete your registration, you will be asked to create a bank of 10 personal identity questions and answers, which will be used to validate your identity throughout the course at several checkpoints.

Step 2: Course Completion

The course consist of 6 Lessons (Modules) with  text, and videos. At the end of each Lesson, you will be asked to take a 4-question multiple-choice content quiz. You are required to answer at least 3 of the 4 questions correctly to pass the quiz and proceed to the next lesson. You will be given 3 consecutive attempts to pass each lesson quiz. Per the legal requirement of the DMV, if you are not able to  pass the lesson quiz on your third attempt, you must restart the course from the beginning. When you complete the sixth (6th) module (final) quizzes, you will be considered as having successfully completed the course.

Time Frame for Completing the Course

Please take note that you are legally required to complete the course within 30 days of registration. If you are unable to complete the course within that time frame, you will be required to register and start the course over again from the beginning. The company will not charge you to start the course all over again.

Step 3: Course Evaluation Questionnaire

Course Evaluation Questionnaire. The DMV requires that students complete a “Course Evaluation Questionnaire” to enable an evaluation by the DMV on the use of the internet for the administration of the Online Pre-Licensing Course. Students must complete the “Course Evaluation Questionnaire” before their completion of the course is reported to the DMV.

Students’ experiences with DMV  internet Pre-licensing course will be evaluated relative to the following factors:

(a) Overall course satisfaction;
(b) Perception that the course was interesting;
(c) Perception that the course was easy to use; and
(d) Perception that the course will positively influence their future driving performance.

Step 4: Confirming your course completion to the DMV

When you successfully complete the course, National Driving and Traffic School will notify you via electronic means of your completion. Note that this notification is not a confirmation of your completion. Additionally, we will submit a “Course Completion Confirmation” to the DMV via electronic means. On receipt of the Course Completion Confirmation, the DMV will enter your course completion in your driver record. Please note that it can take up to 24 – 48 hours for the course completion to be entered in your driver record. Once your completion is entered on your driver record, you can schedule your road test either online or by telephone at 1-518-402-2100.  The scheduling system will not ask you for a completion certificate.

You must answer at least 3 of the 4 multiple-choice content questions correctly with regards to the end-of-lesson content quiz, in order to pass the quiz and proceed to the next lesson. Per the DMV requirement, you have 1 minute to answer each quiz question. If you don’t answer the quiz question within the required time frame, it will be marked as incorrect. You have 3 consecutive attempts to pass each lesson quiz. Per the  DMV’s legal requirements, if you don’t pass the lesson quiz on your third consecutive attempt, you must restart the course from the beginning.

The company is required by law to verify students’ identity while they are taking the course, to make sure they are the same person that registered for the course, and that they are actively participating in the course itself.

In these validation methods, Students will be asked to re-confirm that they are the individuals who have registered for, actively participated in, and have acquired the DMV minimum required time of 270 minutes to be considered as having completed the 5-hour online pre-licensing course.

Three types of “Student Identity, Participation and Time Validation” methods are utilized rapidly to identify warning signs of fraudulence or for noncompliance adherence use by a student, if any. National Driving and Traffic School uses the following three (3) methods of validation of “Students’ identity, participation and minimum time requirement spent.

Method 1. “Identity” Validation Using Students’ Email Addresses Provided During Registration. After registration, before starting the course, the School will send Students an email validation link to the email address provided in registration. Students must click on a “Confirm Email” link within the email to confirm their registration and identity. A successful “Email Identity” validation ensures that Students are the same individuals that registered for the course.

In addition to the email identity validation at registration, all communications between the School and Students regarding payment confirmation, registration confirmation, resolving forgot password issues/ passwords reset, gaining access to the course after an account lockout, and all other School-Students’ communication will require a Students’ identity validation using Students email addresses.

Method 2. Validation Using Students’ “Personal Identity” Questions. The School will start Students’ personal identity question validation process at registration by asking for the Students’ basic identification factors such as the first, middle initial, last name, DOB, and customer identification number (CID)”, as they appear on Students’ learner permit. In addition, Students shall, at registration, create answers to a bank of 10 “Personal Identity Questions” relating to their personal preferences for a range of subjects. These Students’ basic identification factors and shared knowledge-based questions and answers will subsequently be used during Students’ personal identity question validation processes at specific checkpoints.

Note that students will not be considered legally as having completed the course, and will not be given any credit if they have given basic personal information that are different from those in their learner permit. DMV will not be able to record students’ completion in students’ driver record, and students will not be permitted to take the road test to obtain a driver license.

Method 3. Using “Biometric Facial Identifiers” as Students’ “Digital Fingerprints” to Digitally Validate Registered Students at “Designated Checkpoints”. At the point of registration, a digitally automated system will be used to first capture a student’s “facial patterns” and transform them into digital data (“a Digital Fingerprint”). These “Biometric Facial Identifiers” of a student will then be used subsequently (after a first capture) at several checkpoints to validate the student’s Identity in just a few seconds using his or her facial features (geometry): spacing of the eyes, bridge of the nose, the contour of the lips, ears, chin, etc.

As Students progress through the course, at specific checkpoints, the system will prompt Students to validate Students’ identity by undertaking another face capture within a time frame of 45 seconds. This checkpoint face capture will be matched with the one initially captured. All subsequent face captures at designated checkpoints will not be saved at any time, and once it is processed, they will be “forgotten,” reducing both compliance implications and potential security risks. In accordance with the requirements of the DMV, these biometric facial feature capture processes will validate that Students who registered for the course are the same individuals actively participating and completing the course.

You must have access to a computer, smart phone, or tablet to take this course. The device must have an internet browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge, or any other preferred browser. Students are encouraged to download the latest version of their browser for security reasons. Student must have a secure and stable internet connection and an active email account.

A refund is not permitted by the DMV if you are unable to complete the course within 30 days of registration. You may re-register for a new course and complete the full course as initially required. The company may at its discretion not charge a full fee for anyone who registers for a new course. Instead, a fee of $10 for use of Biometric Technology services will be charged. This fee is required by a third party local company who supplies and administer the use of the biometric technology, including the security that is required in the validation process.

Note: Students will be given an option of receiving a full refund of all course fees when National Driving and Traffic School is unable to provide the course or any part of the course. In addition to the option of a full refund, students will be given the opportunity to reschedule the course when it becomes available.

The price of the course is $49.00 (inclusive of the $10 for the use of biometric technology for facial features recognition validation).

You may pay by one of the following methods:

• Credit card online

• Credit card by phone

• Check by mail to the address on our website.

Step 1: Applying for a Learner Permit

Getting a learner driver permit is the first step to getting a driver license. Permits are valid for approximately 5 years (the exact expiration date depends on your date of birth and the date that you apply). Check out the DMV website at  https://dmv.ny.gov/driver-license/get-learner-permit for up-to-date information on how to prepare and apply for a learner permit.

Step 2: Complete an Online 5-Hour Pre-Licensing Course before Taking the Road Test to Qualify for a Driver License

The online Pre-Licensing course is a 5-hour course you can take online if you are at least 18 years of age. National Driving and Traffic School offers one that is approved by the DMV.

Note. A 5-hour Online  Pre-Licensing Course completion is valid for one year from the date it is issued. You can schedule a road test within a year from the date that you completed your Online Pre-Licensing Course. Check the DMV website at https://dmv.ny.gov/schedule-road-test for the most current information.

Step 3: Passing a road test

On completing the 5-Hour Online Pre-Licensing the DMV will record the completion in your driver record. At this point, you may schedule your road test online at https://dmv.ny.gov/schedule-road-test.

Note: The road test scheduling system offers the earliest available dates and times at sites near the zip code you provide. Usually, the earliest date is within three to five weeks, but at peak testing periods during summer and school breaks it may be up to 10 weeks away. There are no waiting lists. Tests are almost always on weekdays (only rarely do the DMV offer them on a Saturday)

Be on time. Make sure you arrive up to 15 minutes before the time of your test.  If you are late, the license examiner may not be able to conduct your test and you will have to reschedule.

You will need the following to schedule a road test:

• A valid learner permit

• An original, unexpired Pre-Licensing Course Certificate (MV-278) or a driver education Certificate of Completion (MV-285).
  Note: Students taking an online pre-licensing course will not be required to present such certificates. An individual with a driver record showing completion of an online pre-licensing course is eligible to take a road test.

• The zip code of the area where you want to take your road test.

After you pass your test

• An interim license that allows you to drive will be available to you online – keep the interim license with your photo learner permit

• You will receive your photo driver license in the mail, in about 2 weeks

If you are under age 18 and have a Class DJ, MJ or DJMJ driver license, you must obey the restrictions for junior drivers (see Graduated Driver License (GDL) Law and restrictions on drivers under age 18)

What to do if you fail your test?

If you fail a non-commercial license road test, your learner permit remains valid until the expiration date. If your learner permit expires before your next road test, you must get a new learner permit. You can schedule another road test, but you must pay additional fees if you failed your first two road tests. You will need to wait at least one day to take the test again.

Bring the following documents with you:

• Your DMV photo learner permit

• Glasses or contacts if your permit indicates you need corrective lenses

• Your original Pre-licensing Course Certificate (MV-278) or Student Certificate of Completion (MV-285). Copies are not acceptable. Individuals with a driver record that shows a completion of an online pre-licensing course is exempted from these requirements

• if you are under 18, a Certification of Supervised Driving (PDF) (MV-262) completed by your parent or guardian – this must be given to the license examiner each time you take a road test

• A driver aged 21 or older who has a license valid to operate the test vehicle

• A vehicle to drive during the test that has a valid registration and inspection, operates properly and is in clean condition

• Only the accompanying driver of the vehicle (no other passengers) are allowed.

Company Security and Privacy Policies

Protection of Students’ confidential information is of paramount importance to the company. The School will use “Best Practice” security measures, such as encryption both for data at rest and data in transit. All authentication methods and data are protected and not stored or transmitted in clear text.

Students’ “Identity” data will be monitored for trends and patterns of abuse /fraud. The School will ensure that data collected, stored, and reported is consistent with what was received. Only the School’s dedicated employees will be authorized to input/ retrieve/change data collected. All devices that deal with data input, change, or deletion will be located is secured places, and made accessible only to dedicated authorized employees responsible for data input/change/deletion.
Students’ Access and Control Over Information Collected. Registered Students will always have access to their personal information and will be able to check on data entered, or make any necessary changes to them, if any. Students with any concern over personal data entered may contact our company’s Customer Service Representatives to resolve any of the issues they may have.