Mississippi CDL practice tests

Mississippi issues commercial licenses through its Department of Public Safety, which also runs the state's highway patrol. That is a different shape of agency from a standalone motor vehicle department: licensing sits alongside law enforcement functions rather than beside vehicle registration and titling, which is how some other states organize it.

What Mississippi 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 Mississippi Department of Public Safety for the current cost.

Mississippi 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.

A moderate-sized state to plan around

Mississippi is not among the largest states by area, and it does not have the extremes of distance that a much bigger, more sparsely populated state does. That generally makes travel to a testing office more predictable than it would be somewhere the population is spread thin across a huge land area — though it is still worth checking your nearest DPS office before you book, since coverage is not identical in every county.

Federal material, state administration

The knowledge exams themselves are not written locally. They come from 49 CFR Part 383, so whatever you study for general knowledge, air brakes, or hazardous materials is the same content a driver anywhere else in the country studies. The 80 percent pass mark per section is set by that same federal rule, not by DPS.

Working out which tests apply to you

General knowledge is required of everyone. Beyond that, it depends on the vehicle: air brakes means you need the air brakes exam, and not taking it does not stop you getting licensed — it adds a restriction barring you from driving anything with air brakes fitted. Towing more than ten thousand pounds brings in combination vehicles. The endorsements — tank, doubles and triples, passenger, school bus, hazardous materials — come on top of those, only if your work needs them.

Hazardous materials adds a step separate from the written test: a Transportation Security Administration background check. That runs on its own federal schedule, unrelated to how well you know the material, so it is worth starting well ahead of when you actually need the endorsement.

Fitting the permit into your timeline

Federal rule sets a 14-day minimum between getting a commercial learner permit and sitting the skills test. Use that gap deliberately: book your knowledge exams as early in it as you can, so a failed attempt costs you a re-sit rather than eating into time meant for the skills test. The age rules are federal and apply in Mississippi exactly as everywhere else — 18 for driving commercially within the state, 21 for crossing a state line.

What this page won't tell you

Fees are not listed here, on purpose. DPS sets and adjusts them, and publishing a number risks it being wrong by the time you read this page — a stale fee is worse than sending you to check. Confirm the current cost with the Department of Public Safety directly. What we do give you reliably is which knowledge areas each exam covers and the exact document each answer traces back to.

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