Alcohol drink equivalents — Alaska Permit Test
Alcohol drink equivalents on the Alaska permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
The type of alcohol makes no difference to its effect; it is the amount of alcohol that enters the body that counts.
Drinkers who switch to beer thinking it is milder get just as impaired, because the body only feels how much alcohol it took in.
It’s the amount of alcohol which enters the body that counts.
In Alaska's manual, 4 ounces of wine holds the same amount of alcohol as 12 ounces of beer or a single shot of 80 proof alcohol.
A glass of wine is not a lighter choice than a beer, so counting drinks only works if each kind is counted the same.
The same amount of alcohol is present in 12 ounces of beer as in a single shot (1 1/2 ounce) of 80 proof alcohol or 4 ounces of wine.
A single shot of 80 proof alcohol holds the same amount of alcohol as 12 ounces of beer.
A small shot looks like less than a can of beer, but it carries the same alcohol and impairs a driver just as much.
The same amount of alcohol is present in 12 ounces of beer as in a single shot (1 1/2 ounce) of 80 proof alcohol or 4 ounces of wine.
On the test
What decides how much a drink affects your body and mind?
The amount of alcohol in it. Drinkers who switch to beer thinking it is milder get just as impaired, because the body only feels how much alcohol it took in. Alaska Driver Manual, p.22: “It’s the amount of alcohol which enters the body that counts.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Alaska Driver Manual, published by the Alaska Department of Administration, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AK.pdf (Alaska Driver Manual, REV.10/2025, Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14 and re-checked 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AK.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/drivermanual/ (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/instruction-permit/ (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/your-first-alaska-drivers-license/ (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://www.akleg.gov/basis/aac.asp?media=print&secStart=2.90.010&secEnd=2.90.990 (2 AAC 90, read 2026-10-04; 2 AAC 90.420(h)(2) sets the knowledge test's retest wait and no figure)