South Dakota CDL practice tests

South Dakota licenses commercial drivers through the Department of Public Safety, not a stand-alone motor vehicle agency, so the same office that handles your car license usually handles your CDL knowledge exams too. The state is large and lightly populated, and the distance between testing locations can run to a couple of hours if you live west of the Missouri River, so it is worth checking which office is nearest before you plan your day around one that might not be.

What South Dakota 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 South Dakota Department of Public Safety for the current cost.

South Dakota 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.

Federal rules, wherever you sit the test

Almost everything on the knowledge exam comes from federal regulation, not from South Dakota itself. 49 CFR Part 383 sets the syllabus, and it reads the same whether you test in Sioux Falls or Rapid City. You need 80 percent correct to pass each section — miss more than one in five and you are retaking it. Eighteen is old enough to drive commercially within South Dakota; you need to be 21 before you can cross into another state with a CDL. A commercial learner permit has to sit for fourteen days before you are allowed to book the skills test on the back of it, so get the knowledge exams out of the way as early in that window as you can.

Choosing your tests

General knowledge is compulsory for everyone. After that, the vehicle decides. Air brakes need their own exam, and if you skip it or fail it, your license gets an air brake restriction rather than being refused outright — it just means you cannot legally drive anything fitted with them. Anyone towing more than ten thousand pounds needs the combination vehicles test on top. Endorsements cover tank vehicles, doubles and triples, passengers, school bus, and hazardous materials.

On top of the written test, the Transportation Security Administration runs a background check for the hazmat endorsement, and that process has its own timeline that has nothing to do with how well you know the material.

Before you book

Long distances between offices are the main South Dakota-specific thing to plan around, more than in a smaller or more urban state. If your nearest testing site is a long drive, book your knowledge exams for a day when you can also sort out anything else that needs the same office, rather than making the trip twice.

This page leaves out fees on purpose. They change, and a number that was right when we wrote this could be wrong by the time you read it, so confirm the current cost directly with the Department of Public Safety before you go. What this site gives you is the questions the exam actually asks, with the source and page they came 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