I moved to Florida from New York last fall and honestly underestimated the written test. I'd been driving for 12 years so I figured I'd skim the handbook and be fine. Spent maybe 45 minutes on it, went in, and got 14 out of 20 wrong. They sent me home. That was embarrassing.
Second attempt I took it seriously. Spent about three evenings reading the Florida Driver's Handbook cover to cover, then used a Florida DMV Practice Test to drill questions until I was consistently hitting 90% or above. The questions I kept missing were traffic signs — I'd never learned a few of the Florida-specific ones — and right-of-way rules at uncontrolled intersections. Those show up a lot.
Passed second attempt with an 18 out of 20. The practice questions were the difference — not the handbook reading. Reading tells you the rules but the practice questions show you how the rules get tested, which is its own skill. Anyone moving from another state, don't assume your driving experience translates. The written test is its own thing.
Same situation — moved from Ohio and assumed I'd be fine. The road sign section got me. There are a few Florida-specific warning signs I'd genuinely never seen before. Give that section extra time.
The right-of-way questions are sneaky. They'll describe a four-way stop with specific conditions and you have to know exactly who goes first. I missed two of those on my first attempt and they're all rule-based, not intuition-based.
I passed on my first attempt but I put in about four hours total across two days. Practice questions really do matter more than just reading. You learn the tricky phrasing from them, which the actual exam uses constantly.
The school bus laws in Florida are stricter than most states and they test you on exact stopping distances and conditions. Worth memorizing that section specifically rather than just reading it once.