New York licenses commercial drivers through the Department of Motor Vehicles, and it publishes its own manual, the CDL-10. The edition dated November 2025 is the current one, and it is what we cite whenever a question on this site comes from a New York page rather than from the federal rules.
Every figure below names the document it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Fees change without notice, so we do not repeat them here. Check New York State Department of Motor Vehicles for the current cost.
The knowledge tests are set by federal rule, so the questions are the same wherever you sit them. What changes is the paperwork above.
The knowledge test every commercial driver takes, whatever class or endorsement they are after.
Required before you may drive any commercial vehicle with air brakes.
Required for a Class A licence. Coupling and uncoupling, off-tracking, trailer brakes and the handling of a vehicle that is jointed in the middle.
The H endorsement. Placarding, shipping papers, loading and segregation rules, and what to do when something leaks.
The N endorsement. Surge, baffles, bulkheads, high centre of gravity and the way a part-full tank changes how a vehicle stops and turns.
The T endorsement. Coupling and uncoupling multiple trailers, converter dollies, crack-the-whip and the inspection points a second trailer adds.
The P endorsement. Pre-trip and post-trip checks on a bus, loading and unloading, standee lines, and handling passengers on the road.
The S endorsement, taken alongside the passenger endorsement. Danger zones, mirror adjustment, loading and unloading students, and railroad crossings.
A study drill for the pre-trip inspection.
The written tests are offered in more languages than most states manage. New York gives the CDL Class A, B and C tests and the endorsement tests in English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. The hazardous materials test is the exception and is English only, which is worth knowing before you book if English is not the language you would rather be tested in.
The other difference is the shape of the question. New York states plainly that its test questions are multiple choice with one correct answer out of three choices. Almost every other state, and almost every practice site including this one, uses four. That makes the real exam slightly kinder than our practice tests on guesswork alone, and it is a reason not to be discouraged by a borderline score here.
New York also says there is no limit on how many times you can retake a knowledge test, though the manual notes it is at the discretion of the local office. Practically, that is more forgiving than states which void your application after a set number of failures.
General knowledge is compulsory. Air brakes applies if the vehicle has them, and a fail leaves a restriction rather than costing you the licence. Combination vehicles covers tractor-trailers. The endorsements are tank, doubles and triples, hazardous materials, passenger and school bus. New York also issues a metal coil endorsement, which is unusual, and it carries its own written test.
Hazardous materials needs a Transportation Security Administration background check as well as the written exam. Begin that early, because studying harder does not make it arrive sooner.
Work general knowledge until eighty percent stops feeling like a good day and starts feeling like the floor. That figure is the federal pass mark and New York restates it in its own manual, so it is the number that actually matters.
We do not list fees here. New York adjusts them and a stale figure on a free site is worse than silence, so check the DMV before you go.
Every question on every one of these is free, and each answer names the handbook page it came from.
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