CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Practice Test
Read this bit first, because it is the one page on this site that is not what it looks like. The pre-trip inspection is not a knowledge test. It is part of the skills test, taken standing next to a real vehicle, where an examiner listens to you name components and say what you are checking on each. There is no multiple-choice version of it at the licensing office.
30 questions, no pass mark. Free, untimed, no account.
Correct · A
To be given credit for a safety critical item during the vehicle inspection test, what does a driver have to do with it?
- Name it, point to or touch it, and explain what it is being inspected for Correct answer
- Point to it and answer whatever the examiner then asks about it
- Name it and tick it off on the inspection checklist
- Touch it and state whether it passes or fails
Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook, Section 11 Vehicle Inspection Test, p. 11-1
Pre-Trip 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
- No pass mark
- Time limit
- None
- Cost
- FreeNo account, no card, no limit on retries
- Questions in the bank
- 89Drawn 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.
- Pre-trip inspection 89
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 28
- Moderate 45
- Hard 16
Sample Pre-Trip questions
Real questions from the bank, with the answer and the page it came from. Open a few, then take the test properly.
To be given credit for a safety critical item during the vehicle inspection test, what does a driver have to do with it?
- Name it, point to or touch it, and explain what it is being inspected for
- Point to it and answer whatever the examiner then asks about it
- Name it and tick it off on the inspection checklist
- Touch it and state whether it passes or fails
All three parts are required: name the item, point to or touch it, and fully explain what you are looking for. Leave out the explanation and the item scores nothing. Ticking the checklist is not a substitute either, and no writing may be added to the checklist before the test starts.
How many of the vehicle's axles will a driver actually be asked to inspect during the vehicle inspection test?
- One
- Every axle on the vehicle
- Two, the steering axle and one drive axle
- The steering axle plus every trailer axle
Only one axle has to be inspected on the day, but the examiner chooses it, so be ready to run the same tires, rims, lug nuts, suspension and brake line checks on any axle the vehicle has.
Partway through the inspection a driver needs to get out of the cab. What two things must be done before stepping down?
- Set the parking brake and put the transmission in neutral
- Shut the engine off and chock the wheels
- Set the parking brake and switch on the four-way flashers
- Put the transmission in neutral and release the parking brake
Every time you leave the vehicle the parking brake goes on and the transmission goes to neutral. Forgetting the parking brake is the standard example of an unsafe act, and an unsafe act can fail the whole test on the spot.
A driver turns up for the inspection test in a tractor whose owner has stuck handwritten labels on the air lines and the fifth wheel. What happens?
- The vehicle cannot be used for the inspection test at all
- The labels have to be covered over before the test starts
- The test goes ahead but the labelled items score nothing
- Nothing, as long as the driver names each item out loud anyway
A vehicle with components marked or labelled by anyone other than the manufacturer is not allowed on the test, because the labels do the naming for you. It is the same reason no extra writing may appear on the checklist.
A driver has three skills tests to get through. Which one is taken first?
- The vehicle inspection test
- The basic control skills test
- The road test
- Whichever of the three the driver asks to take first
The order is fixed: the vehicle inspection test has to be passed before the basic control skills test, and the basic control skills test before the road test. Fail the inspection and the day ends there.
A driver carries fusee flares instead of reflective triangles as warning devices. How many fusees have to be on board?
- Six
- Three
- Two
- Twelve
The warning device requirement is met by three red reflective triangles, six fusee flares, or three liquid burning flares. Alongside them the emergency equipment check covers a charged and secured fire extinguisher and spare electrical fuses, if the vehicle uses fuses.
The vehicle being used for the test has no electrical fuses. What should the driver do at the emergency equipment item?
- Say so and point out that the vehicle runs on circuit breakers
- Skip the item, since spare fuses only apply to vehicles that use them
- Borrow a set of spare fuses so the item can be shown
- Note it on the checklist and carry on without mentioning it
You have to tell the examiner the vehicle is not fused and identify the circuit breakers instead. Saying nothing reads as a missed item, and silence is what costs the credit.
At the windshield check, what is the only thing allowed to sit in the driver's viewing area?
- An inspection sticker
- A crack, as long as it is outside the wiper sweep
- A parking permit hanging from the mirror
- A chip repair, as long as it is not spreading
The windshield has to be clean and clear of obstructions apart from an inspection sticker, with no cracks or flaws in the glass. Anything in the viewing area can hide a change in the road or in the traffic around you.
How to use this test
-
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.
-
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.
-
Retry only what you missed
The result page has a button for exactly that. Far faster than sitting the whole thing again.
-
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
So this page has no pass mark and no score to beat. It is a study drill for the material behind the walk-around, which is genuinely useful, and it is the closest thing to practice you can do on a phone.
What the examiner is actually listening for
Not a recitation. For each component, they want the name, what you are looking at, and what would make it a defect. Say the steering box is secure, the hoses are not leaking and the bolts are all there, and you have said something. Say you are checking the steering, and you have not.
That pattern repeats across the whole vehicle: lights and reflectors, steering and suspension, brakes and slack adjusters, tyres and rims, the coupling if there is one, the engine compartment, the cab, the emergency equipment. The questions in this drill are built the same way, so they push you towards the phrasing that scores.
The bits people fail on
Leaving out the in-cab checks, because the walk-around feels like the whole job. Forgetting the emergency equipment, which is quick marks and easy to skip. Mumbling through the brake checks, which examiners will not accept. Not knowing tread depth and rim defects. And on a combination, missing the parts of the coupling that only exist there.
How to use this drill
Thirty questions are drawn fresh from the bank each time. Answer one and the next page opens with the reason and the handbook section and page. The result splits by area of the vehicle, so if the suspension is the weak spot you know where to read.
Then go and stand in front of a real vehicle and do it out loud. Nobody has ever passed this test on a phone. What a drill does is stop you standing in the yard trying to remember what the thing above the axle is called.
What to do about your state
The list of components and the way the inspection is scored vary between states, and some publish their own checklist. Where a state does, its own page on this site links to it. Use that as the definitive list and this drill as the way you learn it.
Also worth reading
Last reviewed September 2026. Sources are re-checked against their publishers once a year.
Questions about this test
Is the pre-trip inspection a written test?
Why does this page have no pass mark then?
How long does the real pre-trip inspection take?
Do I have to name every part?
Is the inspection the same for a bus and a truck?
What is the fastest way to learn the walk-around?
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.
Other tests to take
- General Knowledge 50 questions, 40 to pass
- Air Brakes 25 questions, 20 to pass
- Combination Vehicles 20 questions, 16 to pass
- Hazmat 30 questions, 24 to pass
- Tanker 20 questions, 16 to pass
- Doubles/Triples 20 questions, 16 to pass
- Passenger 20 questions, 16 to pass
- School Bus 20 questions, 16 to pass
Ready when you are.
30 questions drawn fresh from 89 cited ones. No account, nothing to pay, and every question in the bank is free.