Last reviewed September 2026 127 cited questions

CDL Hazmat Practice Test

Hazmat is the endorsement with the most paperwork around it and the least room for a good guess. It is also the one where the reason for every rule is somebody else's bad day: the segregation table exists because two ordinary loads once sat together and stopped being ordinary.

See sample questions

30 questions, 24 right to pass. Free, untimed, no account.

Correct · A

Sample question Placarding

Leaving bulk packaging aside, what total weight of Table 2 hazardous materials on board makes placards necessary?

  • 1,001 pounds or more Correct answer
  • 1,000 pounds or more
  • 2,205 pounds or more
  • 500 pounds or more

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook, 9.3.11 Placard Tables, p. 9-9

Hazmat practice test: quick facts

What this practice test does. Your state's own numbers are cited separately.

Questions per test
30
Right answers to pass
24
Time limit
None
Cost
FreeNo account, no card, no limit on retries
Questions in the bank
127Drawn fresh every time you start
Every answer cited
YesDocument, section and page on each one
Last reviewed
September 2026Re-checked against the source once a year
Written from
Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

What this test covers

Every subject below has cited questions behind it. The number is how many are in the bank right now, and each draw is weighted across them.

  • Regulations and responsibilities 10
  • Hazard classes and identification 19
  • Shipping papers and markings 21
  • Placarding 19
  • Loading and unloading 25
  • Driving and parking rules 20
  • Emergencies 13

How hard the bank is

Every test you start pulls a mix, so you get the easy marks and the ones people actually fail on.

  • Straightforward 16
  • Moderate 83
  • Hard 28

Sample Hazmat questions

Real questions from the bank, with the answer and the page it came from. Open a few, then take the test properly.

Leaving bulk packaging aside, what total weight of Table 2 hazardous materials on board makes placards necessary?
  • 1,001 pounds or more
  • 1,000 pounds or more
  • 2,205 pounds or more
  • 500 pounds or more

The Table 2 threshold is 1,001 pounds or more, and the weight includes the packaging. You add up the amounts on every shipping paper for all the Table 2 products aboard, not each shipment on its own. Bulk packaging is placarded whatever it weighs.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-9 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

Which of these has to be placarded no matter how small the amount loaded on the vehicle?
  • Division 2.3 poisonous gas
  • Division 2.1 flammable gas
  • Class 8 corrosives
  • Division 4.1 flammable solids

Poisonous gas is a Table 1 material, and Table 1 materials are placarded for any amount. Flammable gas, corrosives and flammable solids are all Table 2 classes, so they only need placards once the load reaches 1,001 pounds.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-9 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

A load carries two Table 2 hazard classes that would need different placards. When is a single DANGEROUS placard not allowed?
  • When 2,205 pounds or more of one of those classes was loaded at a single place
  • When the two classes together come to more than 1,001 pounds
  • When one of the classes is a flammable liquid
  • When the load includes any package over 119 gallons

DANGEROUS placards are an option once you have 1,001 pounds or more of two or more Table 2 classes needing different placards. That option disappears if 2,205 pounds or more of any one of those classes was loaded at one place; then you must use that material's own placard.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-9 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

The words INHALATION HAZARD appear on the shipping paper for a 200 pound shipment. What placarding does the driver need?
  • The hazard class placard plus a POISON GAS or POISON INHALATION HAZARD placard, whatever the weight
  • Only the hazard class placard, because the shipment is under 1,001 pounds
  • A POISON INHALATION HAZARD placard on its own
  • A DANGEROUS placard, since two hazards are involved

Inhalation hazards get the poison placard on top of whatever the hazard class already calls for, and the 1,000 pound exception does not apply to them. Two hundred pounds is placarded exactly the same as two thousand.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-9 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

A driver is hauling 4,000 pounds of a Class 9 miscellaneous hazardous material entirely within the United States. What placard is required?
  • None, because the Class 9 placard is not required for domestic transportation
  • A Class 9 placard, since the load is well over 1,001 pounds
  • A DANGEROUS placard
  • A Corrosive placard

Class 9 sits in Table 2, but the table carries a footnote: the Class 9 placard is not required for domestic transportation. Cross a border and the answer changes, which is why the weight alone does not settle it.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-10 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

On a cargo tank or portable tank carrying a combustible liquid, which placard may be displayed instead of COMBUSTIBLE?
  • FLAMMABLE
  • FLAMMABLE GAS
  • DANGEROUS
  • OXIDIZER

The placard table allows FLAMMABLE in place of COMBUSTIBLE, but only on a cargo tank or a portable tank. On other packaging the combustible liquid keeps its own placard.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-10 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

A vehicle is loaded with 1,500 pounds of Division 6.2 infectious substances and nothing else. Which placard does the table call for?
  • No placard is named for that division
  • Poison
  • Corrosive
  • Class 9

Division 6.2 is one of two entries in Table 2 with no placard name against it, ORM-D being the other. Weight makes no difference to a class the table does not placard at all.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-10 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

A placard identifying the primary hazard class of a material must show the class or division number in which position?
  • In the lower corner of the diamond
  • In the upper corner of the diamond
  • Across the centre, in place of the wording
  • Along the bottom edge, outside the diamond

The number belongs in the lower corner. A permanently fitted subsidiary hazard placard is allowed without the number as long as the colours still meet specification, which is the one exception worth remembering.

Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook

Section 9.3.11 Placard Tables

p. 9-10 — DL-7C, Revised March 2026, checked September 2026

How to use this test

  1. Take it cold, once

    Do not revise first. You want to know which subjects are actually weak, and a clean run tells you that in ten minutes.

  2. Read the reason, not the score

    The explanation for each answer opens on the next page with its handbook page. That is the bit that makes it stick.

  3. Retry only what you missed

    The result page has a button for exactly that. Far faster than sitting the whole thing again.

  4. Come back on another day

    A different draw each time exposes different gaps. Two runs a week beats ten in one evening.

Why this one is different

You can check every answer

Document, section and page on all of them, plus the date it was read. Nothing goes live without all four.

Nothing is behind a paywall

Every question in the bank is free, every time. There is no premium tier holding the hard ones back.

Scored by subject

You find out which topic is costing you marks, not just a number out of 30.

More about this test

More than a test

The knowledge test is only part of getting the H endorsement. There is also a security threat assessment through the TSA, which means fingerprints and a background check, and it takes weeks rather than days. Start that paperwork early, because passing the test and then waiting a month for clearance is the usual way this goes wrong. The rules on who is eligible are federal and strict, and no amount of studying gets around them.

What the test is actually about

Recognising what you are carrying, from the shipping paper and from the package. Knowing which placards go on the vehicle, when, and how many. Knowing what has to be in the cab, where it has to be, and what a driver has to hand to the first responder who arrives. Knowing which materials cannot travel together, and which cannot travel near the driver at all. Then the operational rules: where you may and may not stop, how far you must be from a railroad crossing, when the vehicle may be left unattended and by whom.

A large part of the test comes down to tables. Not memorising them line by line, but knowing which table answers which question and how to read it. That is a skill, and it is one you can practise.

The parts people get wrong

Placarding thresholds, because the rule changes with the amount and the class. The difference between the shipping paper, the emergency response information and the driver's own documents, which sound like the same thing and are not. Route rules near tunnels and crossings. And the attendance rules for a placarded load, which many drivers assume are common sense and are in fact written down precisely.

How to use this practice test

Thirty questions are drawn fresh from the bank each time you start. Every answer names the document, section and page it was read from, which on this test is not a nice extra. Hazmat rules are the ones most often repeated wrongly on the internet, and a cited answer is the only kind worth trusting. The result splits your score by subject so you can see whether it is the placards, the papers or the route rules costing you, and the retry button takes only the questions you missed.

Before you book it

Read your state's own page on this site for the fee and the security clearance steps, then get the assessment started before you sit the test. The endorsement is worth having: it opens up work that pays better and competes with fewer drivers, largely because of the effort involved in getting it.

Also worth reading

Last reviewed September 2026. Sources are re-checked against their publishers once a year.

Questions about this test

Is the hazmat test just a knowledge test?
No. You sit a knowledge test and you also have to pass a security threat assessment through the TSA, which involves fingerprints and a background check. The assessment takes weeks, so start it before you book the test rather than after.
How many questions are on the hazmat test?
Commonly around thirty, needing eighty per cent correct, though your state sets the number. Where a state publishes its own figure we cite that state's handbook on its own page rather than repeating the usual answer.
Do I need hazmat if I only carry small amounts?
It depends on the material and the quantity, because the placarding threshold is what triggers the requirement rather than the presence of the material. That threshold is exactly the sort of question this test asks, and it is worth knowing before you accept a load.
Does the hazmat endorsement expire?
The security clearance behind it runs for a fixed term and has to be renewed, and the endorsement is tied to that clearance rather than to your licence renewal date. Check your own state's page and your clearance paperwork for the dates that apply to you.
Do I have to memorise the segregation table?
No, you have to be able to read it and know when it applies. The questions test whether you would look it up correctly, not whether you can recite it, so practise finding the answer rather than learning the grid.
Can I take hazmat and tanker together?
Yes, and many drivers do, because a tank of hazardous material needs both. They are separate tests with separate material, but the combination is common enough that studying them in the same stretch makes sense.

Still not sure?

Every question names the document and page behind it, so a wrong answer is something you can prove rather than argue about.

Ready when you are.

30 questions drawn fresh from 127 cited ones. No account, nothing to pay, and every question in the bank is free.