The Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) introduced a revision to the theory test in December, which has been blamed for the a slight decline in overall pass rates and a much larger fall in pass rates for the theory test alone.

The Estonian Driving Schools Association (Eesti Autokoolide Liit) has said that it has not seen all the questions but noted that, compared with last year, the overall pass rate across all categories of driving tests has fallen by 14 percent.

The association said: "The working group, which included representatives from the Estonian driving schools association, validated only a small portion of the questions."

"For this reason we cannot say that all the questions are in order, as we have not seen them. In the first month of this year, the pass rate for theory exams has dropped by 14 percent, and now stands at 62 percent in January," the statement went on.

"We cannot determine the reasons for the low percentages," the association added.

According to the association, the strongest indicator is the B-category initial driving license exams, where the fall stood at 17 percent—from 76 percent of test takers passing last year, to a January pass rate of 59 percent.

"However, the results are much better than seen in September last year, when in some categories the pass rate was only around 10 percent," the association added.

According to student feedback, the images accompanying exam questions can sometimes be too busy and detailed.

The association noted: "We have received feedback from students that the images next to the questions are sometimes too colorful and full of details, making answering more difficult."

"Additionally, students have reported intermittent difficulties in understanding the wording of the questions," the statement went on.

The Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) has been criticized for its failure to update driving exam theory questions in September last year, and the revision introduced in December has resulted in a slight decline in pass rates.

In response to the criticism, starting from November, the administration has been gradually incorporating revised theory exam questions into test tickets.

By December 19 last year, only the new questions were being used in traffic theory exams.

On the recent pass rates, the Transport Administration stated it: "Has not collected separate feedback, as the newly implemented questions have undergone both a working group review and testing.'"

The administration added that it monitors the completion of theory exams and tracks the most frequently answered incorrect questions.

It added it is prepared to make the necessary adjustments where needed, and will review constructive feedback.

On September 19 last year, the Transport Administration announced that it had updated the traffic theory exam questions to better reflect real-life situations, while giving its assurance that the difficulty level remained unchanged.

The driving schools association, however, believes that the Transport Administration introduced poorer quality exam questions, causing theory exam results to drop six to seven times below normal levels.

Following extensive criticism, the Transport Administration decided at the end of September to restore the previous theory exam questions from the new year and gradually introduce revised, new questions.

In 2025, the pass rate for the traffic theory exam alone (ie. excluding the practical test) has run at 62 percent so far, which is lower than previous years, when the average pass rate exceeded 70 percent, according to statistics from the Transport Administration.

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