Best 5-Hour Course in Queens

Your choices as a Queens learner

Within our ranking, no school runs a classroom session in Queens. The two Queens schools listed here teach remotely, and four more providers offer live online classes for every borough. Totally Cool Driving School is on Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica and holds a live virtual class twice a week. Pre-Licensing Course LLC is an Astoria company that sells the state’s online self-paced course. The other four are Coreway, 5 Hour Class NYC, NY 5-Hour Course and Take 5-Hour Course, at a flat or headline $40.

Listed prices in this group run from a $38 offer to $50, so the practical differences are the format, the age limit and the number of class dates, not the money.

Jamaica: the two weekly sessions at Totally Cool

The class meets on Wednesday from 12 to 5 PM and on Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM, and costs $50. The school, at 139-39 Jamaica Avenue, includes the class at no charge in its $550 eight-lesson package, which suits someone who already plans to take lessons there.

Two answers are missing from the school’s page: which language the class is taught in, and how the MV-278 is delivered. Ask both by phone before you pay. Also look hard at the timing. A midday Wednesday session is difficult for anyone with a weekday job or classes, which leaves Saturday as the realistic slot. Coreway and the booking sites, by comparison, list three English dates a week: Tuesday and Thursday at 5:00 PM and Saturday at 1:00 PM.

Astoria: the self-paced route for adults

Pre-Licensing Course LLC offers the course online in English and Spanish, with a $38 offer price against a regular $49. It is one of the 14 providers on the DMV’s list of online providers. The conditions are tight: you must be 18 or older, hold a valid New York photo learner permit and finish within 30 days of registering. No junior permit holder can take an online course.

The ending also differs from a live class. You receive no paper MV-278. The company reports your completion to the DMV, where it usually posts within 24 to 48 hours, and you book the road test only after that. For a Queens adult on a rotating schedule, a course with no class date can be worth more than a paper certificate. For a 17-year-old, or for anyone holding a paper permit, it is simply not available.

Live online from anywhere in Queens

The borough you live in does not change a live online class. Coreway and the three booking sites run English classes on Tuesday and Thursday at 5:00 PM and on Saturday at 1:00 PM, with a Spanish class on select Sundays at 3:00 PM. At the three booking sites you pick a date, reserve a seat with your name and phone number, and the team then confirms the details with you.

Coreway’s two offices are in Brooklyn, but you do not have to go there. Its certificate can travel by standard mail in one to two weeks, and expedited delivery is offered at checkout. Anyone in Flushing, Rockaway or Jamaica Estates would face the same booking steps as someone in Astoria.

Spanish-language options for Queens

Spanish speakers in Queens have three routes. Coreway and the three booking sites teach a Spanish class on select Sundays. Pre-Licensing Course LLC provides its self-paced course in Spanish, for adults with a photo permit. New York Auto School, based in Manhattan, lists English and Spanish classes on Zoom at $65. Totally Cool does not state its class language.

A Spanish class is the same course and ends with the same MV-278, so the choice comes down to price, date and your age.

Which Queens option fits which learner

• You are under 18. Choose a live class. Online courses are closed to junior permit holders.
• You are an adult with an unpredictable shift. Pre-Licensing Course LLC gives you 30 days instead of a date, if you hold a plastic photo permit.
• You want lessons from the same school. Totally Cool bundles the class into its eight-lesson package.
• You want a Spanish class and a fixed date. Pick the Sunday 3:00 PM class, and check it on the schedule of Coreway or one of the booking sites.

Timing the road test from Queens

Think about the test date before you choose the class date. The DMV says the earliest road test appointment is usually three to five weeks away and can reach ten weeks in busy periods, so the class is rarely the step that holds you up. Drivers under 18 must also let six months pass after receiving the permit and bring the signed MV-262, which records 50 hours of supervised driving with 15 after sunset.

The booking sites will handle the appointment for you at $25, or $75 for a rush booking, and rent you a car for the test for $115. Coreway charges $20 or $70 for booking and $110 for the car. The DMV’s road test page explains what you need on the day, and our how we rate page shows how these extras count toward a score.