Vermont CDL practice tests

Vermont runs commercial licensing through its Department of Motor Vehicles, a conventional setup, but the state itself is not conventional in size: Vermont is one of the smallest and least populated states in the country — only Wyoming has fewer people — and that changes the practical experience of testing more than almost anything else about the process. Where a driver in a larger state might face a long drive to the nearest office, that is rarely the difficulty in Vermont — the offices themselves are not far apart.

What Vermont 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 Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles for the current cost.

Vermont 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 is actually being tested

The substance of the knowledge exam is federal, set out in 49 CFR Part 383, and it does not change from one state to the next. Eighty percent correct is the pass mark on every section. Eighteen is old enough to drive commercially within Vermont; a load that crosses into another state needs a driver who is 21. Once a commercial learner permit is issued, federal rule requires a fourteen-day hold before the skills test can be booked, so use that stretch of time to finish the knowledge exams rather than leaving them until the end of it.

Matching tests to the vehicle

General knowledge applies to every applicant. From there it depends on what you intend to drive. Air brakes carry a separate exam; not taking it, or not passing it, results in a restriction on the license rather than a refusal, and that restriction bars you from vehicles fitted with air brakes. Combination vehicles come into play once you are towing more than ten thousand pounds. The remaining endorsements — tank, doubles and triples, passenger, school bus, hazardous materials — are added on top as needed.

Hazardous materials asks for more than a good exam score. A Transportation Security Administration background check runs alongside the written test, on its own timetable, and it is the part of the process most worth starting early.

Before you book

Because Vermont is compact, it is realistic to compare more than one testing office and pick whichever has a slot sooner, rather than defaulting to the nearest one out of necessity. That is not something a driver in a large, spread-out state can usually do. Most of the roads connecting Vermont's towns are two-lane and rural rather than interstate, so travel time between offices can still run longer than the map distance suggests, even if the miles themselves are short.

This site does not quote fees. The Department of Motor Vehicles sets them and can change them without much notice, so a number printed here risks being wrong when you actually need it. What stays reliable is the content: the questions the knowledge exam covers, and where each answer 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