MUST or advisable, and why the wording is the answer
The Highway Code uses the words MUST and MUST NOT only where something is a legal requirement, and everything else is advice. On motorcycles that line falls somewhere people do not expect, and it is worth more marks than any amount of general revision.
A helmet is a legal requirement. Rule 83: on all journeys the rider and pillion passenger must wear a protective helmet, it must comply with the Regulations, and it must be fastened securely. The only exemption is for followers of the Sikh religion while wearing a turban.
Eye protectors are not. Rule 84 says it is advisable to wear them, which is advice rather than law, and adds that any you do wear must comply with the Regulations. So the choice of whether to wear them is yours and the choice of what counts as a pair is not.
Both are obviously sensible. Only one of them is the law, and a question about it is testing whether you read the Code or somebody's summary of it.
Fluorescent by day, reflective by night, and people swap them over
Rule 86 covers daylight and rule 87 covers the dark, and they ask for different materials for a reason that is physics rather than preference.
Fluorescent material takes ultraviolet light and throws it back as visible colour, so it needs daylight to do anything at all. After dark it is just a colour. Reflective material sends an oncoming vehicle's headlamps straight back at its driver, which is exactly what you want at night and irrelevant at noon.
Rule 86 also suggests a light or brightly coloured helmet and using dipped headlights even in daytime, and then makes the point the rest of the section is built on: other drivers may not have seen you, and if they have, they may still misjudge your speed and your distance, particularly at junctions.
Priority is not protection
That warning about misjudged speed and distance is the mechanism behind the collision riders most often end up in: a driver waiting to emerge, looking for a gap, who sees a small single light and reads it as further away and slower than it is.
Being in the right does not help at that point, which is why rule 88 is about position rather than about rights. Put yourself where you can be seen in the mirrors of the vehicles around you, look behind and to the sides before you move, and when filtering through slow traffic keep your speed low and watch for people crossing between the vehicles, because that is where the gap is and they are looking for a break in the queue rather than for something coming up it.
The licence ladder, and the two ages that belong to one category
Annex 2 is the other half of the rider-specific material, and it is almost entirely numbers, which makes it both the easiest to revise and the easiest to get wrong.
With a provisional licence you must complete Compulsory Basic Training. That lets you ride unaccompanied on the road with L plates, on a machine up to 125 cc and not more than 11 kW, for up to two years, and you must not carry a pillion passenger or pull a trailer until you have passed your test.
The categories run AM from 16, capped at a design speed of 45 km/h which annex 2 gives as 28 mph. A1 from 17, up to 125 cc and 11 kW. A2 from 19, not more than 35 kW. Then category A, which is any motorcycle, and which has two minimum ages rather than one: 21 by progressive access, meaning you already have two years on a lower category, or 24 by direct access.
That last pair is the question people fail. Two ages, two routes, one category, and the number you need depends on how you got there.
What we do not know, and will not pretend to
gov.uk publishes the question count, the time and the pass mark. It does not publish how many of the 50 questions are motorcycle-specific.
So the share on this page is ours rather than theirs. Twelve of the fifty come from the rider pool, chosen so that every paper tests the material you came for, and set against the size of that pool so the repeat rate stays honest. The figure above the test reports it separately from the overall one, because the overall number is flattered by the larger general half.
There is also no question here about the A2 power-to-weight ratio. Annex 2 states A2 as a power output not exceeding 35 kW and states no ratio anywhere, and a plausible-looking figure would have been easy to write and impossible for a learner to check against the page we cite. A test in this repo fails if one ever appears.
The other half of the test
This page covers the multiple choice. The hazard perception half is 14 video clips with 15 developing hazards, up to 5 points each and a pass mark of 44 out of 75, exactly the same figures as the car test.
There is separate practice for it at hazard perception, which drills the scoring and the difference between a static hazard, a potential one and a developing one. You need both halves in the same sitting, and the theory certificate lasts two years from the day you pass.
The rider-specific questions are the ones to repeat
Most of this paper is shared with the car test, and the part that is not is the part that catches people: the machine, the road surface, and being unseen. A guaranteed share of every paper here is rider-specific, and anything you answer correctly twice in a row drops out of your revision list, so what comes back is the motorcycle half rather than the road signs you already knew. All of it runs on your own device, with no account and no cap on attempts.
Common questions
Are these the real motorcycle theory questions?
No. DVSA does not publish its live bank, and it says the same about its own practice questions: "The practice questions are not used in the real test, but they're based on the same topics as the test." These are written from The Highway Code and every answer links to the section it came from, so you can check it rather than trust it.
What is the real test?
Two parts, taken in one sitting. The multiple choice is 50 questions in 57 minutes with a pass mark of 43. The hazard perception is 14 video clips containing 15 developing hazards, up to 5 points each, with a pass mark of 44 out of 75. You have to pass both, and the certificate lasts two years.
Is it the same as the car theory test?
The format is identical: 50 questions, 57 minutes, pass at 43, and the same hazard perception figures. The content is not. A rider is examined on the same Highway Code as everybody else plus the rules that only apply on two wheels, which is helmets, gear, being seen, filtering and the licence categories. This paper guarantees that rider share rather than drawing at random from a merged pile.
How many of the 50 are motorcycle-specific?
We do not know, and neither does anybody else selling you practice. gov.uk publishes the count, the time and the pass mark and does not publish the topic split, so any tool claiming a real one is inventing it. This paper uses 12 of the 50, which is our choice, made so that every practice paper tests the rider material instead of occasionally handing you fifty general road rule questions.
Do I have to wear eye protection by law?
No. Getting that distinction right earns more marks than anything else in this bank. Rule 83 says you MUST wear a helmet, which is a legal requirement. Rule 84 says it is advisable to wear eye protectors, which is advice. Both are sensible and only one is the law, and the Highway Code reserves MUST for legal requirements so the wording tells you which is which every time.
Why is there no hazard perception practice on this page?
Because it is a separate thing and it has its own tool. The hazard perception half is video, and the practice for it is at /training/hazard-perception/, which drills the scoring and the three way distinction between static, potential and developing hazards on animated scenes. The figures are the same as the car test: 14 clips, 15 hazards, pass 44 out of 75.
What sources are the questions written from?
DVSA names three books for this test. The Highway Code and Know your traffic signs are published free on gov.uk and are what these questions are written from. "Riding - the essential skills" is a paid book, and nothing on this site is written from material we would have to buy, so it is not used here.