Alcohol myths — Maine Permit Test
Alcohol myths on the Maine permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A 12 oz. can of beer has about the same alcohol as a 1 oz. shot of 100 proof liquor or a 4 oz. glass of table wine.
A driver who sticks to beer to stay safe can drink as much alcohol as one drinking shots.
There is approximately the same amount of alcohol in a 12 oz. can of beer as there is in a 1 oz. shot of 100 proof hard liquor or a 4 oz. glass of table wine (or a 10 oz. wine cooler).
Your liver removes alcohol at a constant rate, so nothing but time will sober you up; coffee, a cold shower or exercise will not.
A driver who drinks coffee before leaving the party is just as drunk, only more awake.
Because everyone's liver oxidizes alcohol at a constant rate, nothing but time will sober you up.
Switching drinks does not make people drunk; drinking too much does.
A driver who thinks sticking to one kind of drink keeps them sober may drink more than ever.
Switching doesn't usually make much of a difference.
On the test
A 12 oz. can of beer has about the same alcohol as which of these?
A 4 oz. glass of table wine. A driver who sticks to beer to stay safe can drink as much alcohol as one drinking shots. Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.30: “There is approximately the same amount of alcohol in a 12 oz. can of beer as there is in a 1 oz. shot of 100 proof hard liquor or a 4 oz. glass of table wine (or a 10 oz. wine cooler).”
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 Maine Driver’s License Manual, published by the Maine Secretary of State, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME.pdf (Maine Driver’s License Manual, Rev 4/24, Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME.pages.txt (scripts/me-text.sh: plain pdftotext except physical 82, which is -layout; the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME-exam.html (Maine BMV, Drivers License Exam page, https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/driver-licenses-and-ids/car-license/drivers-license-exam, read 2026-10-04; states both exam figures; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/driver-licenses-and-ids/car-license/driver-license-manual-and-Maine-motorist-handbook-and-study-guide (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)