Kentucky CDL practice tests

Kentucky is one of the few states that hands the whole job — roads and licensing both — to a single cabinet-level department, the Transportation Cabinet. Most states split that work between a transport agency that builds the roads and a separate motor-vehicles office that licenses the people driving on them; Kentucky keeps it under one roof.

What Kentucky 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 Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the current cost.

Kentucky 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 Kentucky does differently

The exam content itself is federal and doesn't change by state: 49 CFR Part 383 sets the knowledge tests, the endorsements and the pass mark, whether you're sitting the exam in Kentucky or anywhere else. Kentucky's own geography adds a wrinkle that a map alone won't show you. The eastern third of the state is Appalachian hill country, and a route that looks short in miles can take noticeably longer in minutes than the same distance would on flatter ground further west — worth building into your plans if you're traveling from the mountains to a testing site.

Kentucky also sits on two of the country's major north-south freight corridors, I-65 and I-75, and Louisville is home to one of the largest air cargo hubs in the country. Commercial driving is a bigger part of the state's economy than its size alone would suggest, and a good number of the CDL holders who train here end up hauling freight well beyond Kentucky's own borders.

Which tests you actually need

Everyone takes general knowledge first. What comes after depends on the vehicle: air brakes get their own exam, and failing it doesn't cost you the license, only a restriction against driving anything fitted with them. Towing over 10,000 pounds brings in the combination vehicles test. Then there are the endorsements — tank, doubles and triples, hazardous materials, passenger, school bus — each tested separately.

Hazardous materials is worth planning around on its own. Beyond the written exam it requires a background check through the Transportation Security Administration, which runs on a schedule outside your control, so start it as early as you can rather than leaving it for last.

Before you book

You'll need a commercial learner permit before the skills test is an option, and federal rule requires that permit to be held for 14 days first. Use that time to clear the knowledge exams early rather than late, so a resit doesn't cost you time you need for the skills test.

Fees don't appear on this page. Kentucky sets and changes them on its own schedule, and a stale figure is worse than none, so check with the Transportation Cabinet directly before you travel. What you'll find here is the content of the exams themselves, with each answer traced back to where it comes from, so there's nothing to guess at when you sit down to test.

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