New Hampshire CDL practice tests

New Hampshire licenses commercial drivers through the Division of Motor Vehicles, which sits inside the state's Department of Safety rather than standing alone as its own department. That is a different structure from a state that runs its DMV as an independent agency, and it means commercial licensing shares administration with the state's other safety functions.

What New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles for the current cost.

New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire does differently

New Hampshire is one of the smaller states by area, and that changes the practical side of testing more than anything else. Distances between testing locations are short compared with a large, rural state, so travel is rarely the obstacle it can be elsewhere. What does not change is the content of the knowledge tests themselves: they are federal, set out in 49 CFR Part 383, so the questions you need to know are the same ones a driver in a much bigger state is studying.

Which tests you actually need

General knowledge is the one every commercial driver sits, and the pass mark is 80 percent, a federal figure rather than something New Hampshire sets on its own. It covers the broad syllabus set out in 49 CFR 383.111: driver fitness, basic vehicle control, cargo handling and the rest of the material every commercial driver is expected to know before touching a truck. Beyond that, the vehicle you plan to drive decides the rest. Air brakes require the air brakes test; without a pass, your license carries a restriction that bars air-braked vehicles outright. A trailer over 10,001 pounds brings combination vehicles into it as well.

From there sit the endorsements: tank vehicles, doubles and triples, passenger, school bus, and hazardous materials. Hazmat is the one to plan for separately, because it adds a Transportation Security Administration background check on top of the written exam, and that check runs on federal timing you cannot shorten by preparing harder for the test itself.

Before you book

You need a commercial learner permit before New Hampshire will let you take the skills test, and federal rule sets a 14-day minimum wait between the permit and that test. Because testing sites are close together here, the main risk is not distance but leaving the knowledge tests too late in that window to allow for a retake.

Age limits are federal as well: 18 lets you drive commercially within New Hampshire, 21 is required before you can take a commercial vehicle across a state line.

Fees are left off this page deliberately. They change, and New Hampshire is the authority on the current number, not us. Check with the Division of Motor Vehicles before you go. What this site does cover is the test material: practice questions for every New Hampshire knowledge exam, each one linked to the rule or handbook page behind it.

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