The 10 Hardest G1 Questions (and Why Each Wrong Answer Is Wrong)

Most G1 study guides tell you which answer is right. But people do not lose marks on those. They lose marks on questions where two answers both look right, and the wrong one is built to feel more right. The Ontario G1 test leans on a few categories that reliably trip people up: right-of-way at four-way stops, school bus rules, headlight law, the demerit-point system, and graduated licensing (G1/G2) restrictions. For how often people actually fail, see our G1 fail-rate breakdown.

Below are ten realistic questions from those categories. For each: all four options, the correct answer, and the part nobody else bothers with, why every wrong option is tempting and why it is still wrong. These are original questions written to match the official rules, not copied from any bank.

Right-of-way at four-way stops

1. Two cars reach a four-way stop at the same moment, on roads meeting at a right angle. Who goes first?

• A. The faster car
• B. The car on the left
• C. The car on the right
• D. Whoever signals first

Correct: C. When vehicles arrive together, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.

• A matches highway instinct ("clear the fast car"), but speed never assigns right-of-way at a stop where everyone has already stopped.
• B is the exact reversal of the rule, and the most-chosen wrong answer because it is a coin-flip half of people call backwards.
• D rewards signalling early, but a turn signal communicates intent, it does not grant priority.

2. You are going straight through a four-way stop. A car opposite you, arriving at the same time, signals a left turn across your path. Who has the right-of-way?

• A. The left-turning car, because it was there first
• B. You, because a vehicle going straight has priority over one turning left
• C. Neither, both must reverse and wait
• D. The car with the larger vehicle

Correct: B. Straight-through traffic has priority over an oncoming vehicle turning left across it.

• A invents a "first" the question rules out, they arrived together. It misapplies the valid first-come rule.
• C sounds cautious, and cautious answers feel safe on a test, but no rule requires reversing and it would create gridlock.
• D imports "bigger vehicle wins" from nowhere in the Highway Traffic Act. Size never decides right-of-way.

School bus rules

3. On a two-lane road with no median, a school bus ahead stops with its upper red lights flashing. You are approaching from the opposite direction. What must you do?

• A. Slow down and pass with caution
• B. Stop, no matter which direction you are travelling
• C. Keep going, oncoming traffic is exempt
• D. Stop only if children are visible

Correct: B. On a road with no median, traffic in both directions must stop at least 20 metres away, staying stopped until the lights stop flashing and the stop arm folds in.

• A feels responsible because slowing is usually safe, but "slow with caution" is not "stop," and the law requires a full stop.
• C confuses this road with a divided highway. The oncoming exemption exists only when a median separates the directions, and this road has none.
• D makes your stop conditional on seeing children, but the flashing red lights are the trigger. You stop whether or not a child is visible. Full rules are in our school bus stopping guide.

4. On a highway divided by a raised median, a school bus stops on the opposite side with red lights flashing. What must you do?

• A. Stop, the school bus law always applies
• B. Stop 20 metres back like everyone else
• C. Continue with caution, you are not required to stop
• D. Stop only if the stop arm is extended

Correct: C. When a median separates the two directions, only vehicles behind the bus must stop. Oncoming traffic on the far side of the median may proceed with care.

• A overgeneralizes the true "always applies" statement. The median is the specific exception.
• B applies the correct 20-metre distance to the wrong scenario. The distance is real but does not apply to you here.
• D treats the stop arm as decisive, when the deciding factor is the median. The stop arm is out either way.

Headlight law

5. When does Ontario law require your headlights on?

• A. Only between midnight and 5 a.m.
• B. From one-half hour before sunset to one-half hour after sunrise, and any time you cannot clearly see people or vehicles less than 150 metres away
• C. Only when it is fully dark
• D. Whenever the vehicle behind you has its lights on

Correct: B. Two triggers: the time window around sunset and sunrise, and low visibility (fog, rain, snow) limiting sight to under 150 metres.

• A borrows the midnight-to-5 a.m. window from the unrelated G1 driving curfew. A trap for people who pattern-matched the numbers.
• C waits for full dark, but the law starts a half hour before sunset, the low-light period when crashes spike.
• D turns a courtesy into a rule. Matching other cars is good habit, not the legal standard.

Demerit points

6. How many demerit points lead to a licence suspension for a novice (G1/G2) driver?

• A. 15 or more
• B. 6 or more
• C. 9 or more
• D. There is no point limit for G1 drivers

Correct: C. For novice (G1/G2) drivers, 9 demerit points triggers a 60-day suspension. A warning letter goes out at 2 points and a second at 6.

• A is the fully-licensed threshold (suspension at 15). The most common wrong answer, because both numbers are real, just for different licence classes.
• B confuses the second warning letter (6 points) with suspension. Six points gets a letter, not a suspension.
• D assumes no cap, the opposite of the truth. Novices face a stricter threshold than full-licence holders.

Graduated licensing (G1/G2) restrictions

7. As a G1 driver, which may you NOT do, even with a qualified accompanying driver beside you?

• A. Drive on a 400-series highway with a posted limit over 80 km/h
• B. Drive on a city street
• C. Drive in the rain
• D. Drive with a passenger in the back seat

Correct: A. A G1 driver may not drive on 400-series highways with a limit over 80 km/h (or roads like the QEW, DVP, and Gardiner). The one exception: when your accompanying driver is a licensed driving instructor, not just any qualified driver.

• B, C, and D are all permitted. They feel like plausible "restrictions" because the G1 stage has so many, but streets, weather, and rear passengers are not among them.

8. Who qualifies as a G1's accompanying driver?

• A. Any fully licensed friend over 25
• B. A Class G (or higher) driver with at least 4 years of driving experience and a blood-alcohol level under .05
• C. Anyone with a G2 or higher
• D. A licensed driver in the front or back seat

Correct: B. The accompanying driver needs a full Class G licence, four or more years of experience, and a BAC below .05 while supervising.

• A fixates on age. There is no age rule for the supervisor, only an experience rule.
• C lets a G2 supervise, but a G2 is still a novice licence and cannot accompany a G1.
• D puts the supervisor in back, but they must sit in the front passenger seat to supervise.

9. You are a 17-year-old G1 driver. What is your legal blood-alcohol limit?

• A. Zero
• B. Under .05
• C. Under .08
• D. One drink is fine within the hour

Correct: A. Every G1 driver must have zero blood alcohol. The same zero rule applies to G2 drivers and all drivers aged 21 and under.

• B is the accompanying driver's limit (.05), not yours. People who just learned the supervisor rule carry that number over.
• C is the criminal impaired-driving benchmark for experienced adults, which does not apply to novices.
• D treats "one drink" as a safe margin, but there is no safe margin when the limit is zero.

Look-alike signs

10. A white square sign shows a number; a yellow diamond sign near a curve shows a lower number. What is the difference?

• A. They mean the same thing, drive the lower one
• B. The white square is the legal speed limit; the yellow diamond is an advisory safe speed for the condition ahead
• C. The yellow one is the enforceable limit
• D. The white one is only a suggestion

Correct: B. White rectangular signs are regulatory and legally binding. Yellow diamonds are warnings, and a speed on one is the recommended safe speed for the hazard ahead.

• A collapses two categories into one. Colour and shape encode law versus warning, so they cannot mean the same thing.
• C reverses the rule. Yellow always warns, it never sets the enforceable limit.
• D downgrades the regulatory sign to a suggestion. White regulatory signs are the ones you get ticketed for ignoring.

The pattern behind the traps

The wrong answers all work the same way. They reuse a real number from a different rule, stretch a true statement past its limit, or reward a safe-sounding instinct the law does not require. Learning why a distractor is wrong protects you against the next version of that trap, which is why our Ontario practice tests explain every option in the full bank, not just the correct one.