Maryland CDL practice tests

Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration is a division of the state's Department of Transportation, so licensing sits under the same cabinet-level umbrella as the roads and the ports rather than being split off into its own agency. It's a similar principle to a couple of other states that combine the two jobs, but Maryland does it as an administration inside a department rather than folding licensing directly into a single transportation cabinet.

What Maryland 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 Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration for the current cost.

Maryland 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 Maryland does differently

Exam content is set federally and doesn't move state to state: 49 CFR Part 383 decides what's tested, which endorsements exist and what mark counts as a pass. Maryland's own contribution to the picture is size, in the opposite direction from a lot of the country. It's one of the smaller states by land area and one of the more densely populated, so most residents are within a fairly short drive of an MVA office — a different planning problem entirely from a state where a testing site can be hours away.

Maryland sits on the I-95 corridor and is home to the Port of Baltimore, one of the busier freight ports on the East Coast, which keeps steady demand for commercial drivers moving containers and goods in and out of the region. A good share of that driving crosses into Virginia, Pennsylvania or Washington, D.C. almost immediately, which is why the federal interstate age rule is something most Maryland CDL holders run into early rather than late.

Which tests you actually need

General knowledge comes first for everyone. From there the vehicle decides what's next: air brakes carry their own exam, and a fail restricts the license against driving anything fitted with them rather than blocking it outright. Trailers over 10,000 pounds bring in the combination vehicles test. Endorsements follow on top — tank, doubles and triples, hazardous materials, passenger, school bus — each its own exam.

Hazardous materials needs the most lead time. On top of the written test it requires a Transportation Security Administration background check, which runs on its own timeline, so get it started before you assume the rest of the process is done.

Before you book

A commercial learner permit comes first, and federal rule requires it to be held for at least 14 days before the skills test can happen. Sit the knowledge exams early in that period rather than late, so there's still time for a resit if you need one.

We don't publish fees here. Maryland sets and changes them, and a stale number costs you more than no number at all, so check directly with the MVA before you travel. What this page gives you instead is exactly what's on the exams, and where every answer comes 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