Connecticut CDL practice tests

Connecticut licenses commercial drivers through its own Department of Motor Vehicles, a standalone transport agency rather than one folded into a revenue department or law-enforcement body, which is how several other states handle it. Geography works in your favor here in a way it does not everywhere: Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area, so wherever you live, a testing office is rarely more than an hour or two away.

What Connecticut 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 Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles for the current cost.

Connecticut 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.

Density cuts both ways

That small size comes with some of the highest population density in the country, which means testing offices tend to be busier per square mile than in a large, sparsely populated state. The upside of short distances and the downside of higher local demand tend to offset each other, so booking ahead is worth doing regardless of how close the office is.

The exam itself is not a Connecticut document

Connecticut does not write its own knowledge tests. They are drawn from 49 CFR Part 383, the federal rule covering commercial driver licensing in every state, so general knowledge, air brakes and the endorsement exams ask the same kind of question in Hartford as they do anywhere else in the country. The DMV administers the test and issues the license; it does not set the syllabus.

Passing

Each section needs 80 percent correct, the federal minimum under 49 CFR 383.135. On a fifty-question general knowledge exam that allows ten wrong answers before you fail, which rewards broad preparation over memorising any one topic.

Age rules

You can drive commercially within Connecticut from 18. Given how small the state is, an interstate route out of Connecticut can start within minutes of home, and federal rule under 49 CFR 391.11 raises the minimum age to 21 the moment that happens, regardless of how short the trip across the line actually is.

The permit wait

Federal rule under 49 CFR 383.25 fixes a 14-day hold on a commercial learner permit before the skills test can be booked. Short travel distances in Connecticut make it tempting to leave booking the test until the last moment, but the wait itself cannot be shortened, wherever you are testing.

Endorsements

Beyond general knowledge: air brakes for a vehicle fitted with them, combination vehicles for a heavy trailer, and separate endorsements for tank, doubles and triples, passenger and school bus. Hazardous materials needs a Transportation Security Administration background check on top of the written test, on a federal timetable that is worth starting early.

Before you go

This site does not list fees. Connecticut sets and changes them, and a stale number only costs you a wasted trip, so confirm current costs with the Department of Motor Vehicles before you go. What we give you instead is the practice questions, 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