Arizona CDL practice tests

Arizona's Motor Vehicle Division, part of the Arizona Department of Transportation, does not run every testing location itself. Much of the day-to-day administration for driver licensing in Arizona goes through authorised third-party providers rather than state-run offices, so the desk you sit at for your knowledge test may belong to a private business working under an MVD contract, not a government office. That is a genuinely different setup from states where every CDL office is state-run.

What Arizona requires

Every figure below names the document it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Passing score
80% 49 CFR Part 383, Commercial Driver's License Standards, 383.135
Minimum age (in-state driving)
18 years old 49 CFR Part 383, Commercial Driver's License Standards, 383.71
Minimum age (across state lines)
21 years old 49 CFR Part 391, Qualifications of Drivers, 391.11
Permit holding period
14 days 49 CFR Part 383, Commercial Driver's License Standards, 383.25

Fees change without notice, so we do not repeat them here. Check Arizona Motor Vehicle Division for the current cost.

Arizona practice tests

The knowledge tests are set by federal rule, so the questions are the same wherever you sit them. What changes is the paperwork above.

What you are actually being tested on

None of that changes the material. The knowledge exams come from 49 CFR Part 383, the same federal rule that applies in every state, so general knowledge, air brakes and the endorsement exams cover identical ground whether you are testing in Phoenix or in a small town two hundred miles away. Arizona's population is concentrated around Phoenix and Tucson, and testing options thin out fast once you are outside those metro areas, so drivers in rural Arizona may face a longer trip to a testing point than someone in the Valley.

Passing the exam

Each section requires 80 percent correct, set federally under 49 CFR 383.135, not by Arizona. Fifty questions on general knowledge means you can miss ten and still pass, which rewards steady preparation across every topic rather than perfect recall of any one.

How old you need to be

Arizona allows commercial driving within the state from 18. Federal rule under 49 CFR 391.11 pushes that to 21 for any route that crosses into another state, which is worth knowing before you commit to a job that runs loads out of Arizona rather than only within it.

The permit wait

A commercial learner permit has to be held for at least 14 days before the skills test, under federal rule 49 CFR 383.25. Given the distances involved in getting to some testing locations, it is worth booking that skills test appointment as soon as the wait is up rather than leaving a gap.

Endorsements

Air brakes, combination vehicles, tank, doubles and triples, passenger, school bus: which of these you need depends entirely on what you will be driving. Hazardous materials is the one that takes the longest to arrange, because on top of the written exam it needs a Transportation Security Administration background check that runs to its own timetable.

Before you go

We leave fees off this site. Arizona sets them, they change, and a stale figure only costs you a wasted trip, particularly when your nearest testing point might be a genuine drive away. Check current costs and locations with the Motor Vehicle Division or your local third-party provider before you set out. What we give you here is the questions themselves, each one tied to the exact rule it is drawn from.

Jump to a test

Every question on every one of these is free, and each answer names the handbook page it came from.

Other states

Cited to the page, every time.

Every question names the handbook, section and page it was read from, so you can check the answer instead of taking our word for it.

How we write these