1.3 A Source-Based Study Plan and the Numbers That Cause Errors

A Source-Based Study Plan and the Numbers That Cause Errors

The test requires 27 correct answers out of 30, but TMR does not publish a detailed percentage blueprint for each topic. A reliable study plan therefore begins with the official scope, not a guessed weighting. Read Your Keys to Driving in Queensland for general rules and the Queensland Motorcycle Riders’ Guide for licensing, motorcycle rules, technique and risk management. Check current Queensland Government pages for items that change over time, such as fees, penalties, approved motorcycle models and administrative processes.

Build a rule card correctly

For each rule, record four things:

1. Who it applies to—learner, provisional, open RE, open R or every road user.
2. When it applies—such as school-zone hours, traffic being slow or stationary, or the first year of RE.
3. What the rider must or must not do.
4. The number only after the first three are clear.

This prevents a common error: remembering “30 km/h” but applying it to a learner. Thirty kilometres per hour is the maximum speed for lawful lane or edge filtering, but filtering is still unavailable to a learner or provisional rider. Likewise, “one year” could refer to car-licence history, a supervisor’s open-licence history, the passenger ban after obtaining RE, the zero-BAC first year, or the learner period attached to a pre-learner exemption.

High-value numbers and their conditions

• 30 questions; 27 correct: knowledge-test format and pass score.
• Once a day; 5 years: maximum test frequency and validity of a pass.
• 1 year in the past 5: relevant car-licence history before applying for RE learner.
• 90 days: standard RE learner tenure before upgrading.
• 1 year: learner tenure after the relevant pre-learner exemption.
• 2 years: normal RE provisional or open tenure before class R.
• 20 metres: rear visibility of the motorcycle L or P character.
• 0.00 BAC: learner and provisional riders, plus the first year of RE provisional or open.
• 30 km/h: maximum lane- or edge-filtering speed for an eligible open rider.
• 3 seconds / more than 6 seconds: crash-avoidance space in good / poor conditions.
• 6 seconds: minimum view of the road ahead; slow if that vision is unavailable.
• 1.5 motorcycle lengths: space when stopped behind another vehicle.
• 1.5 mm: minimum tyre tread depth across the tread surface in the official rider guide.

For speed zones, always read the sign. Queensland defaults are 50 km/h in a built-up area and 100 km/h outside a built-up area when no other limit is signed. A shared zone is 10 km/h. Most school zones operate at 40 km/h on roads ordinarily signed 50, 60 or 70, and at 60 km/h where the ordinary speed is 80 or above. Times vary, so the displayed sign controls.

Learn the official riding sequences

The rider guide repeatedly tests concepts as sequences:

• 12–6–3: look 12 seconds ahead, retain at least 6 seconds of vision, and maintain at least 3 seconds of crash-avoidance space.
• Look–Push–Go: look through the turn, apply steering pressure, and accelerate only as the motorcycle straightens.
• Set up and squeeze: take up brake free play gently, then build pressure smoothly, using both brakes.
• Start wide–buffer the head-on zone–finish tight: the low-risk curve line, adjusted for surface, sight and traffic.

Do not replace these official terms with a private acronym. The test can use the language in the published guide.

Resolve apparent conflicts

General road rules apply to motorcycles, but motorcycle-specific provisions can change how a rider uses a lane. For example, a motorcycle may use any part of its lane for safety and an eligible open rider may lane filter or edge filter under exact conditions. Those exceptions do not cancel speed limits, signalling duties, safe-overtaking rules or the duty to maintain control.

Also separate legal requirements from recommended safety practice. An approved and fastened helmet is law; abrasion-resistant clothing is strongly recommended. A three-second crash-avoidance space is the rider-guide standard; a claim that every rider must check a mirror at an exact five-second interval is not published as a statute.

Three-pass revision

First, read each official chapter for meaning. Second, create scenario cards that vary licence type, speed zone and road condition. Third, take the official practice questions and explain why every distractor fails. If an answer depends on a volatile fact, verify it on an official Queensland page on the day of study. This method prepares you to classify the situation before reaching for a memorised number—the core skill behind a high-accuracy result.