If you've looked at Ontario's DriveTest pass rates and noticed some centres sitting well below 70%, you're probably wondering whether booking there is setting yourself up to fail. The short answer: not necessarily. Pass rates reflect the test-taking population as much as the test itself. Here's what the numbers actually show and what they mean for your booking decision.
Bottom 10 Centres by G2 Pass Rate
Out of Ontario's 56 DriveTest centres, these ten have the lowest G2 road test pass rates:
- Brampton — 58%
- Orangeville — 60%
- Toronto Downsview — 60%
- Newmarket — 61%
- Toronto Etobicoke — 61%
- Brantford — 63%
- Mississauga — 63%
- Toronto Metro East — 63%
- Kitchener — 64%
- Thunder Bay — 64%
Tillsonburg and Woodstock also sit at 64%, tied with Kitchener and Thunder Bay. Hamilton (66%) and St Catharines (66%) are the next lowest. The pattern is hard to miss: seven of the bottom ten are in the Greater Toronto Area. Brampton holds the lowest G2 pass rate in the province at 58%, a full 30 percentage points below Kapuskasing's 88% at the top of the provincial rankings.
Bottom 10 Centres by G Pass Rate
The G test rankings tell a similar story, though not identical:
- Brampton — 58%
- Toronto Downsview — 58%
- Toronto Etobicoke — 59%
- Tillsonburg — 61%
- Woodstock — 61%
- Orangeville — 62%
- Toronto Port Union — 62%
- Guelph — 63%
- Newmarket — 63%
- Toronto Metro East — 63%
Brampton and Toronto Downsview share the bottom spot at 58% for the G test. Tillsonburg and Woodstock, two smaller Southwestern Ontario centres, break into the G bottom ten even though they didn't rank as poorly for the G2. Meanwhile, Kitchener and Thunder Bay — both in the G2 bottom ten — climb out of the lowest tier for the G test. You can explore the full dataset on the pass rates page.
What's Behind the Lower Numbers
It's tempting to assume that low-pass-rate centres have harsher examiners or more difficult routes. The reality is more complicated.
Test volume matters. GTA centres process far more tests per day than rural locations. A centre running back-to-back tests from morning to evening creates tighter scheduling, heavier traffic on test routes, and less flexibility if something goes sideways during your drive. Compare that to a Northern Ontario centre running a handful of tests per morning session on quiet residential streets.
Demographics skew the numbers. GTA centres draw from a population with a higher proportion of new-to-Canada drivers, younger first-time test-takers, and people who may have had less on-road practice before booking. These demographic differences affect pass rates without reflecting anything about the centre itself.
Urban driving is harder to learn. Taking your G2 test in Brampton means dealing with multi-lane intersections, dense pedestrian traffic, and aggressive drivers around you. In Kapuskasing, the test covers quieter two-lane roads with minimal traffic. Both use the same provincial scoring criteria, but the environments create very different challenges for the person behind the wheel.
Orangeville is the outlier. Despite being a smaller town in Central Ontario, Orangeville posts a 60% G2 pass rate — one of the lowest outside the GTA. Its location draws test-takers from surrounding rural areas and from the Brampton region, where drivers sometimes assume a smaller town will be easier. Arriving underprepared for unfamiliar roads can backfire.
Should You Avoid These Centres?
Not as a rule. Here's why.
If you live in Brampton and train on Brampton roads, you know the intersections, the traffic flow, and the common hazards. That familiarity counts for more than a few percentage points of pass rate difference. Driving to a small-town centre for a test won't help if you've never practised there and get thrown off by unfamiliar roads and lane markings.
The G vs G2 pass rate comparison shows that the gap between G and G2 pass rates at most centres is small — usually one to four percentage points. That means the centre-specific factors are consistent across both tests. A centre with a low G2 rate tends to have a low G rate for the same structural reasons, not because the examiners are stricter.
There are situations where switching makes sense:
You're flexible on location and have time to practise in a new area. If you can spend a few sessions driving around a nearby higher-rate centre before your test, the route familiarity advantage transfers with you. Someone in Toronto Etobicoke (61% G2) might consider Oakville (70% G2) if they're willing to do practice drives in the area first.
You've already failed once at a low-rate centre. A change of scenery can help if test-day anxiety at a specific location is a factor. The test itself is the same everywhere — same scoring sheet, same manoeuvres — but your mental state matters. Check which centres we cover if you want to look at other options.
Wait times are long and cancellations open up elsewhere. If your local centre is booked out months ahead and a higher-rate centre has openings sooner, you get two advantages at once.
There are also situations where switching is a waste:
You'd be driving an hour or more to an unfamiliar area. Route familiarity is worth more than a ten-point pass rate difference. Knowing where the school zones, stop signs, and tricky left turns are is a real advantage that statistics can't measure.
You're already well-prepared. If you've done 50-plus hours of practice, know your manoeuvres cold, and your instructor says you're ready, the centre's aggregate pass rate is mostly noise. The 42% who fail at Brampton include everyone from first-attempt nervous beginners to people who haven't practised parallel parking once.
How to Pick the Right Centre for You
Instead of avoiding low-rate centres automatically, use the data as one input alongside these factors.
Availability. A centre with a 75% pass rate but a three-month wait isn't better than a 63% centre with a slot next week — if you're ready now. Cancellations free up slots daily, especially during peak evening hours when the most openings appear.
Practice territory. Book your test where you've driven the most. Knowing the roads around the centre is one of the most reliable ways to reduce test-day surprises, and no amount of pass rate shopping replaces real preparation.
Your comfort zone. Some people drive better in busy urban traffic because that's all they've ever known. Others freeze up in it. Be honest about which environment brings out your best driving, not which one has the best numbers on paper.
The pass rate at your centre is a population average. It describes what happened to thousands of other test-takers. It is not a prediction of your individual result. A well-prepared driver at a 58% centre has better odds than an underprepared one at an 88% centre.
If you want to catch an earlier cancellation at any Ontario DriveTest centre, sign up for SMS alerts and you'll get notified the moment a slot opens up.