Drink sizes and designated drivers — Montana Permit Test
Drink sizes and designated drivers on the Montana permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
One alcoholic drink is 1-1/2 ounces of 80-proof liquor, one shot glass, straight or with a mixer.
A drinker who pours a heavy glass of whiskey and calls it one drink may have had two or three.
One alcoholic drink is: 1-1/2 ounces of 80-proof liquor (one shot glass), straight or with a mixer;
One alcoholic drink is 12 ounces of commercial beer: a regular size can, bottle, mug or glass.
A drinker who counts a large pitcher pour as one beer is counting wrong.
12 ounces of commercial beer (a regular size can, bottle, mug, or glass); or a 5-ounce glass of wine.
One alcoholic drink is a 5-ounce glass of wine.
A large wine glass filled to the top can hold two drinks in one.
12 ounces of commercial beer (a regular size can, bottle, mug, or glass); or a 5-ounce glass of wine.
Microbrews and craft beers often contain more alcohol than a 12-ounce commercial beer.
A drinker who counts each craft beer as one drink may have had far more than they think.
Microbrews and craft beers often contain more alcohol than a 12-ounce commercial beer.
Specialty drinks can have more alcohol in them and can be the same as having several normal drinks.
One fancy cocktail can put a driver where three beers would.
Specialty drinks can have more alcohol in them and are the same as having several normal drinks.
When going out where people will drink, go with two or more people and agree that one of you will not drink; the group can rotate who is the designated driver.
A group that decides who drives only at closing time often ends up with no sober driver at all.
Arrange to go with two or more people and agree that one of you will not drink alcohol.
On the test
How much 80-proof liquor counts as one alcoholic drink?
1-1/2 ounces. A drinker who pours a heavy glass of whiskey and calls it one drink may have had two or three. Montana Driver Manual, p.71: “One alcoholic drink is: 1-1/2 ounces of 80-proof liquor (one shot glass), straight or with a mixer;”
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 Montana Driver Manual, published by the Montana Department of Justice, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/MT.pdf (Montana Driver Manual, Revised April 2024, Montana Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division, retrieved 2026-09-14 and re-checked 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/MT.pages.txt (scripts/mt-text.sh: pdftotext -layout except printed pp.24-26, which are plain; the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/MT-exam.html (Administrative Rules of Montana 23.3.121, Road Signs and Road Rules, as reproduced by the Legal Information Institute, read 2026-10-04; states the seven-miss pass mark; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://mvdmt.gov/forms-driver-license/ (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)