North Carolina CDL practice tests

North Carolina licenses commercial drivers through the Division of Motor Vehicles, which sits inside the state's Department of Transportation rather than running as its own separate department. Licensing here is grouped with the roads and transport side of state government, not with public safety or a revenue agency, which is a different pairing from several neighbouring states.

What North Carolina 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 North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles for the current cost.

North Carolina 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 North Carolina does differently

North Carolina is a large state with several sizeable population centers rather than one dominant city, so testing offices are spread across the state for a different reason than in a sparsely populated one: there is genuine demand in a lot of places, not just distance to cover. It is worth checking which office near you actually offers the skills test for your vehicle class, since not every location runs every test. The knowledge material itself is unaffected by any of this: it comes from 49 CFR Part 383, federal and identical across state lines.

Which tests you actually need

Everyone sits general knowledge first, and the pass mark is 80 percent, which is a federal figure rather than something North Carolina sets independently. The syllabus comes from 49 CFR 383.111 and covers driver fitness, basic vehicle control, cargo handling and the other core topics every commercial driver needs regardless of what they end up driving. From there, the vehicle decides the rest. Air brakes bring the air brakes test with them; skip it or fail it and your license carries a restriction that keeps you off air-braked vehicles entirely. A trailer over 10,001 pounds adds combination vehicles to the list.

On top of that sit the endorsements: tank, doubles and triples, passenger, school bus, hazardous materials. Hazmat is worth scheduling around on its own, since it adds a Transportation Security Administration background check to the written test, and that check runs on a federal timeline that has nothing to do with how ready you are for the exam.

Before you book

A commercial learner permit has to come before the skills test, and federal rule sets a 14-day minimum wait between the two. With several population centers to choose from, it is worth comparing skills test availability across nearby offices rather than assuming the closest one has the earliest opening.

Age rules are federal as well: 18 to drive commercially inside North Carolina, 21 before you can take a commercial vehicle over a state line.

We leave fees off this page. North Carolina sets and updates them, and an old figure here is worse than none at all. Check with the Division of Motor Vehicles for the current amount. What this site gives you instead is the test material: practice questions for every North Carolina knowledge exam, each one tied to the federal rule or handbook page it 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