Washington CDL practice tests

Washington licenses commercial drivers through the Department of Licensing, not a department styled as a DMV, which is worth knowing if you go looking for the wrong name online. The state itself is split in two by the Cascades: a wetter, more urban west and a drier, more rural east, and getting between the two for a testing appointment is a longer trip than the map distance suggests, since the mountain pass roads are the only way across. Washington also runs the largest ferry system in the country as part of its state highway network, which matters if your nearest testing office looks close on a map but is only reachable by boat, or by a long drive around a sound or a strait.

What Washington 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 Washington State Department of Licensing for the current cost.

Washington 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.

Where the exam content comes from

The knowledge tests are federal, not written by Washington itself. 49 CFR Part 383 sets the syllabus and the pass mark, both of which are identical everywhere the exam is given. Eighty percent correct is needed on each section. Driving commercially within Washington is open from age 18; carrying a load across a state line needs a driver of at least 21. The skills test can't be booked until fourteen days after your commercial learner permit is issued — that's federal rule, not a Washington one — so use the wait to get the knowledge exams done rather than leaving them for later.

Matching the test to the vehicle

Every applicant sits general knowledge. What else is needed depends on what you will drive. Air brakes carry their own exam; not passing it does not block your license outright, it adds a restriction against driving anything fitted with them. Towing more than ten thousand pounds brings the combination vehicles test into play. Beyond that, the same endorsements apply as anywhere else in the country: tank vehicles, doubles and triples, passenger-carrying vehicles, school bus, and hazardous materials — each one a separate knowledge exam in its own right.

Hazmat sits apart from the other endorsements because of what happens after the exam, not during it: the Transportation Security Administration runs its own background check, on its own clock. Begin that process early if the endorsement is part of your plan.

Before you book

Because of the Cascades, it is worth checking which side of the state a testing office is actually on before you book, rather than assuming the nearest-looking one on a map is the quickest to reach. A short distance on paper can mean a mountain pass in practice.

This page does not list fees. The Department of Licensing sets them and changes them without much notice, and a stale number is worse than none at all, so confirm the current cost directly before you go. This site's job is narrower: the questions the knowledge exam asks, and the exact source 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