Even though I failed today's driver's test, i thought it might be good to write a procedure about taking a driver's test in Philly if you are an international students, hope this would provide you some information!
-Do I have to get a driver's license?
If you have driving license in China (or many other countries), you can use it to drive, rent a car in United States. So you can choose not to take driver's test without causing any inconvenience. However, there're still many international students who already have the driver's test in their home country choose to take the test because driver's license is like ID in United States, you can use your driver's license at bar, airport so you don't have to carry passport with you all the time.
-How to take the test?
http://www.dot.state.pa.us/
This is the website where you will find many important information.
In order to get a license, you have to take the test for permit (knowledge test). You can find all the questions on the website, the real test will choose 18 questions out of the pool randomly and you have to answer 16 correctly to pass
Once you get the permit, you can driver with a driving license holder beside you. And as long as you practice enough and feel confident about the road test, you can schedule a test online, which is very convenient.
For road test, you have to go there accompanied by a holder of driving license. You can choose to rent a car on site, which is 50 dollars, or you can use your own car (but the car must have insurance and registration certificate).
The test is quite easy but you have to really pay attention to details, especially those regarding safety issues (which i didn't really pay attention to so i failed -_-) Once you pass the test, you can get a temporary license and the formal one will be sent to your home in 2 weeks.