Illinois requires 50 hours of supervised driving, including at least 10 hours at night, before a teen can move from an instruction permit to an initial license. The permit has to be held for nine months — longer than the six months most states use — and drivers under 18 must complete an approved driver education course (30 hours classroom plus 6 hours behind the wheel). A parent or guardian certifies the 50 hours. Illinois publishes a practice driving log parents can use to keep the record.
Illinois supervised driving requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Illinois |
|---|---|
| Total supervised hours | 50 hours |
| Night hours | 10 hours at night (of the 50) |
| Professional / instructor hours | Approved driver education is required for drivers under 18: 30 hours classroom plus 6 hours behind the wheel with an instructor. Those 6 hours are separate from the 50. |
| Minimum permit age | 15 (instruction permit, with enrollment in an approved driver education course) |
| Permit holding period | 9 months on the instruction permit before the initial license at 16 |
| Permit validity | Illinois instruction permits are commonly issued for a 2-year term — check the expiration on the card |
| Who may supervise | Licensed driver 21 or older with at least 1 year of driving experience, in the front passenger seat |
| Official log form | The Secretary of State publishes a 50-hour practice driving log for families to use; a parent or guardian certifies the hours when the license is applied for |
| Certification method | Parent or guardian signs the certification at the Driver Services facility |
| State app or program | None. Illinois does not publish an official hour-logging app. |
Who can supervise practice driving in Illinois
Illinois adds an experience requirement on top of the age floor, which rules out newly licensed 21-year-olds.
- At least 21 years old, licensed, with a minimum of one year of driving experience.
- Seated in the front passenger seat for the entire drive.
- A certified driving instructor qualifies during a lesson.
- The permit holder cannot drive between 10 PM and 6 AM on Sunday through Thursday, or 11 PM and 6 AM Friday and Saturday — the same curfew that applies to newly licensed teens. Plan night hours in the evening, not late at night.
Night hours, and what "night" means here
Ten of the 50 hours have to be at night, and Illinois makes this slightly tricky by also imposing a nighttime curfew on permit holders: no driving after 10 PM Sunday through Thursday, or after 11 PM on Friday and Saturday. So the practical night window is between sunset and 10 PM. In Chicago that window is generous from October through March, when it is fully dark by 5:15 PM, and very tight in June, when sunset is after 8:20 PM and you have barely ninety minutes. If your permit period runs through a Midwest winter, get the night hours done then. Ten hours is roughly twenty half-hour evening drives.
What counts as a loggable hour
- Public-road driving with a qualified supervisor counts. The trip to school, errands, highway miles, practice loops around the neighborhood — it all counts as long as the permit holder is at the wheel and the supervising driver is in the front passenger seat.
- Time parked, idling, or waiting in a drive-through does not count. Log driving time, not trip time.
- Empty parking lots and closed courses generally do not count. The point of the requirement is real traffic.
- Hours before the permit was issued do not count. The permit has to be in hand first.
- Snow and ice hours are worth logging separately. Illinois does not require them, but a driver who has never handled a slushy Kennedy Expressway or a rural county road in a whiteout is missing the skill that matters most here.
How to actually get to 50 hours
Fifty hours over the nine-month permit period is a little over an hour a week — the schedule is not the problem in Illinois. The problem is that nine months is long enough for families to forget to log, and the certification happens at a Driver Services facility where nobody is going to help you reconstruct it. Write the drive down the day it happens. If you fall behind, backfilling from calendar entries and text messages is possible but grim.
Official Illinois resources
- Illinois Secretary of State — Teen Drivers — the graduated licensing stages, the 50-hour requirement, and the practice driving log
- Illinois Rules of the Road — the handbook the written test is drawn from
Tracking your hours
Illinois gives you a log to use and a facility visit where a parent certifies the total, so the record needs to be complete enough to sign behind without hesitating.
PermitReady is a free iPhone and iPad app that does two things: practice questions for the Illinois Secretary of State permit test, and a supervised driving hours log. Each drive is one entry — date, duration, and condition tags including night, highway, rain, and heavy traffic — with a running total at the top so you always know how far you have left to go. Entries can be backdated, so a log you started late can still be complete. It works offline, and there is no account to create: nothing is uploaded, and the log lives on the phone.
Honest limits: PermitReady does not detect drives automatically, does not use GPS, is iPhone and iPad only, and does not generate a signed state affidavit. It is a record you copy from when you fill in the Secretary of State's practice driving log. If you would rather have automatic drive detection or an Android app, RoadReady has both — we compare them directly in PermitReady vs RoadReady. There is also a full write-up of the driving log and a set of printable paper templates if you would rather keep it on paper.
Frequently asked questions
How many supervised driving hours does Illinois require?
50 hours, including at least 10 at night, before a driver under 18 can get an initial license. A parent or guardian certifies the total.
How long do you have to hold an Illinois permit?
Nine months. That is longer than the six months most states require, and it applies regardless of how quickly the 50 hours are finished.
How many night hours does Illinois require?
10 of the 50. Because permit holders cannot drive after 10 PM on weeknights or 11 PM on weekends, the practical night window is between sunset and curfew — which is much wider in winter than in summer.
Does Illinois have an official driving log form?
The Secretary of State publishes a 50-hour practice driving log for families. The certification itself is made by a parent or guardian at a Driver Services facility.
Is driver education required in Illinois?
Yes, for drivers under 18: 30 hours of classroom instruction plus 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training with an instructor. Those 6 hours do not count toward the 50 supervised hours.
Also for Illinois
Illinois permit test practice · Supervised driving hours log · Printable log templates · Supervised driving hours by state
Verification and disclaimers
Requirements verified August 2026 against Illinois Secretary of State, Teen Drivers. Requirements change, and the Illinois Secretary of State can revise them without much notice — always confirm the current rules with the Illinois Secretary of State before your road test.
PermitReady's driving hours log is a personal tracking tool. It is not a state form and has not been approved or endorsed by any state licensing agency. Check with your state's DMV, RMV, DPS, BMV, or equivalent agency for which log format they require, and use their official state form if one is mandated.
RoadReady® is a registered trademark of Safe Roads Alliance, Inc. PermitReady is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Safe Roads Alliance, Inc.
PermitReady is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Illinois Secretary of State or any government agency.