The New York CDL knowledge tests,
built from the federal rule that sets them.
Every CDL knowledge test in the country is written against one regulation, 49 CFR Part 383, and that regulation names the subjects, fixes the number of answer choices and sets the mark you have to hit. That is unusual and it is useful: almost everything about this exam can be checked against a published source rather than taken on trust. These practice tests are built from it, area by area, and they are on sale now.
You do not sit one CDL test. You sit several.
A commercial license is a General Knowledge test plus whatever the vehicle and the cargo require. Which ones you need is decided by what you are going to drive, not by which class you ask for.
Everybody sits this one
General Knowledge. The rules, the vehicle, the inspection, the road. There is no CDL of any class without it.
Then the vehicle
Air Brakes if it has them — and if you do not sit it, a restriction goes on the license saying you may not drive a vehicle that has them. Combination Vehicles for a tractor-trailer.
Then the cargo
Tank Vehicles, Hazardous Materials, Doubles and Triples. Each is its own test and its own endorsement.
Then the passengers
Passenger Transport for a bus, and School Bus on top of it for a school bus. The school bus endorsement does not stand on its own.
What 49 CFR Part 383 actually settles, and what it leaves open.
Where a row below says the figure is not published, it is missing because nobody official publishes it — not because we could not find it.
| What is set | Where it says so | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Multiple choice, three answer choices | 49 CFR 383.133 |
| Passing score | 80% on each knowledge test | 49 CFR 383.135 |
| Subjects | Named area by area, test by test | 49 CFR 383.111–383.123 |
| Questions per test | Not set federally, and not published by NY DMV | — |
| Time allowed | Not published | — |
| Who administers it | The state, to the federal standard | 49 CFR 383 subpart G |
The 80% is the one number every prep site gets right, and it is worth knowing where it comes from: 383.135 sets it for the country, so it is not a New York figure and it does not change if you move. The three choices matter more than they sound. Guessing scores 33% on this exam rather than the 25% you get on a four-option paper, which changes what a practice score is worth — and it is the reason every one of these tests is written with three options rather than four.
Eight knowledge tests, four forms of each.
The subjects are the regulation’s. The lengths are ours, and we say so in the table rather than letting you assume otherwise.
| Test | Knowledge areas | Named in | Our questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Knowledge | 20 | 383.111(a) | 50 |
| Air Brakes | 7 | 383.111(b) | 25 |
| Combination Vehicles | 3 | 383.111(c) | 20 |
| Doubles and Triples | 5 | 383.115 | 20 |
| Passenger Transport | 6 | 383.117(a) | 20 |
| Tank Vehicles | 9 | 383.119 | 20 |
| Hazardous Materials | 5 | 383.121 | 30 |
| School Bus | 4 | 383.123(a)(2) | 20 |
Fifty-nine knowledge areas across the eight tests, and every one of them carries questions on every form. That is checked mechanically before a form can be loaded, because a syllabus taught short is the failure nobody notices until somebody sits the real thing.
The learner permit test, and why it is a different shape.
A CDL candidate in New York already holds an ordinary license, which means they already sat the permit test. It is the one exam on this page that is not federal.
Four choices, not three
Every question in the DMV’s own practice quizzes offers four. Carrying the CDL’s three across would have made our practice look unlike the real paper, so the permit tests are written with four.
Twenty questions
That figure is the DMV’s own: “it will only have 20 questions.” Ours are the same length for that reason.
Chapters 4 to 11
The DMV says those chapters carry the material you must know, and that Part 1 is not covered. Our blueprint uses exactly that scope.
14 of 20, and two of the four sign questions
The DMV does publish this one, in Chapter 1 of the Driver’s Manual: “you must correctly answer at least 14 of the 20 questions asked, but you must correctly answer two of the four questions about road signs.” Seventy percent is only half the rule — miss three sign questions and 15 right answers still fails. The four that must be read are ROAD SIGNS, which is not what most prep sites say.
Three kinds of fact, and we do not mix them.
Most of what you will read about CDL question counts is another state’s figure repeated until it sounds official. Here is which is which.
Federal, and quotable
Three answer choices, 80% to pass, and the subject list for every test. These come from 49 CFR Part 383 and apply in every state.
Another state’s, and clearly labeled
The per-test question counts you will find published are Iowa’s and Kansas’s. They agree with each other, which is why they get repeated. They are not New York’s figures and we never present them as though they were.
Ours, and said so
How long each of our tests is, and how long we allow for it. The regulation names the areas and assigns them no weight, so an equal share per area is the only split it supports. Anything else would be our judgment wearing a citation.
What nobody has done yet
No licensed CDL instructor has read these questions. They are written from 49 CFR Part 383 and New York's own CDL-10 manual, and every answer key has been checked against those two sources. That is not the same as a practicing instructor reading them, and we would rather say so than imply a review that has not happened.
The things the search results get wrong.
What score do I need to pass the CDL knowledge test?
80%, and unusually for this kind of question you can point at the rule: 49 CFR 383.135 sets it for every commercial driver knowledge test in the country. It is not a New York figure, it does not vary by state, and it does not change for endorsements.
How many questions are on the New York CDL test?
New York does not publish a number. The counts you will find repeated online are published by Iowa and Kansas, which agree with each other and are very likely close, but they describe those states rather than this one. Our own tests are 50 questions for General Knowledge and 20 to 30 for each endorsement, and those lengths are ours rather than anybody’s official figure.
Why do these tests have three answers instead of four?
Because the real one does. 49 CFR 383.133 speaks of the three possible responses, and the federal CDL manual says the same. It matters for practice: guessing scores 33% here rather than 25%, so a practice score means something different from what it would on a four-option paper.
Do I need the Air Brakes test?
Only if you will drive a vehicle with air brakes — but skipping it is not neutral. A restriction goes on the license saying you may not drive one, and lifting it later means going back and sitting the test.
Is the learner permit test the same thing?
No. That is the ordinary New York permit test, four choices a question and twenty questions, taken from chapters 4 to 11 of the driver’s manual. Every CDL candidate has already sat it, because a commercial license requires an ordinary one first.
When can I buy these?
Now. General Knowledge is 5 credits and each endorsement is 1, and the learner permit tests are free. Every one has been sat end to end to check it scores correctly. One thing we say plainly rather than bury: no licensed CDL instructor has reviewed the questions.
On sale now.
The bank holds 32 CDL practice tests and 4 learner permit tests. Every wrong answer on every one of them carries its own sentence explaining why somebody picks it. General Knowledge is 5 credits, each endorsement is 1, and the four learner permit tests are free.
Two free samples, ten questions each, no account and no card: General Knowledge and the learner permit test. The General Knowledge sample takes one question from each of ten of the twenty federal knowledge areas, and the permit sample holds road signs at two of its ten, the same share the real twenty-question test gives them. The seven endorsements are not sampled. The guides are free too.