Arkansas CDL Practice Test

Everyone takes General Knowledge. Add Air Brakes to drive with air brakes (otherwise the license carries an L restriction), Combination Vehicles for Class A, and a test for each endorsement: Hazardous Materials (H), Tank Vehicles (N), Passenger (P), School Bus (S) and Doubles/Triples (T). Passing both Tank and Hazmat earns the X endorsement.

The State Police don't publish the test sizes or passing scores. Our practice General Knowledge test has 50 questions with 40 to pass; Air Brakes has 25, Hazmat 30 and the others 20, each at 80%.

The Arkansas Commercial Driver's License Study Guide (the national CDL manual, version March 2025): licensing basics, vehicle inspection, safe driving, cargo, passengers, air brakes, combination vehicles, doubles and triples, tank vehicles, hazardous materials and school buses.

The written CDL tests are given at every State Police troop testing site; skills tests only at six troop locations (Little Rock, Newport, Hope, Harrison, Russellville and Lowell). First buy a CDL-1 test packet at a DFA Revenue Office, and bring a valid Arkansas license and a proof of legal presence to every visit.

80% on each of the 8 tests, each graded on its own (General Knowledge: 40 of 50). Every test's numbers are in the table on this page. Always confirm the current tests with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Driver Services. Why 80% in every state →

You must be 18 or older, hold an Arkansas driver license and pass the general knowledge test. A CLP holder drives only with a CDL holder of the right class and endorsements beside them (or right behind them in a bus). The CLP is valid for up to one year, and you wait 14 days after it is issued before the skills test.

Class A: combinations of 26,001 pounds or more where the towed unit is over 10,000 pounds. Class B: single vehicles of 26,001 pounds or more, towing no more than 10,000 pounds. Class C: smaller vehicles built for 16 or more people, driver included, or carrying placarded hazardous materials.

Yes. Act 922 of 2017 requires a human trafficking prevention course, with a certificate shown to DFA, before a new Class A CDL is issued or renewed. The State Police list the accepted certificates.

An appointment, your license, CLP, CDL-1 forms and proof of legal presence, plus an empty truck or trailer with two wheel chocks, a DOT inspection sticker less than a year old, working lights and a passing air brake check, and a licensed CDL driver with you. Missing any item means no test.

Yes if federal ELDT rules apply to you: a first Class A or B CDL, an upgrade to A or B, or a first Hazmat, Passenger or School Bus endorsement. Train with a provider on FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry before testing; the State Police point applicants to that registry.

Your status becomes "Not Certified". After 60 days without a new card the CDL or CLP is downgraded and you may not drive a commercial vehicle; if it stays downgraded for a year or more, you retake every part of the CDL exam. Non-excepted intrastate drivers can still hand in a card at a Revenue Office.

An Arkansas CLP lasts up to one year. Once it expires, you retake the general knowledge test and every endorsement knowledge test before a new permit is issued. A CLP is needed before your first CDL, and again before an upgrade that calls for a skills test.

Yes. Arkansas asks CLP and CDL holders to certify their type of commercial driving again with every license transaction. Choosing one of the intrastate categories (NA or EA) puts the K restriction on your license, so you may drive a commercial vehicle only inside Arkansas.

Switch your self-certification on DFA's MyDMV site to one of the excepted types: Type 2 for interstate or Type 4 for intrastate. Otherwise, an expired card first marks you Not Certified and then downgrades the CDL. To keep driving in a non-excepted category, a certified DOT examiner must give you a new card.

Yes, if you work for an agri-chemical business, a custom harvester, a farm retailer or supplier, or a livestock feeder. The usual tests can be waived. It covers Class B and C vehicles only, carries no endorsements, works within 150 miles of the farm or business, and needs a good driving record and at least a year licensed.

Pass the Hazmat knowledge test and a TSA security threat assessment with fingerprints and a federal background check. Allow at least 90 days. Time left on another state’s hazmat endorsement can’t be transferred.

E (no manual transmission), K (intrastate only), L (no air brakes), M (no Class A passenger vehicle), N (no Class A or B passenger vehicle), O (no tractor-trailer), V (medical variance), X on a CLP (empty tank vehicles only) and Z (no full air brakes), among others.

Only an empty bus: no passengers other than auditors and inspectors, test examiners, other trainees or the supervising CDL driver. A CLP with an N endorsement is limited to empty, purged tank vehicles.

A first major offense disqualifies you for one year, or three years if you were hauling placarded hazardous materials; a second one disqualifies you for life. After a disqualification ends, you retest for the CDL.

Possibly. The State Police post a military waiver application (form ASP-262) for a possible exemption from the CDL skills test.

Passenger (P) and School Bus (S) need a skills test, and the School Bus skills test is taken in a school bus. Hazmat (H), Tank (N), Doubles/Triples (T) and the combined Tank and Hazmat (X) need only their knowledge tests. A CLP with a P or S endorsement may not carry passengers.

First pass the Hazmat Theory course with a provider on FMCSA's training registry; only then can you take the Hazmat written test at a State Police testing center. Fingerprints and the background check can come before or after that test. Then a DFA Revenue Office adds H. Drivers who held H before may be exempt from the course.

Pass the Air Brakes written test at a State Police testing center, get a CLP letter of authorization and have DFA print a new commercial permit. After 14 days you take a vehicle inspection and road test in a vehicle with air brakes. A bobtail truck is fine; no trailer is needed.

No written test is needed. A State Police testing center prints a CLP letter of authorization, DFA issues a commercial permit, and after 14 days you take a road test that checks you can shift a tractor. The test may be given in a bobtail tractor, without a trailer.

O limits a Class A holder to truck-and-trailer combinations that use a pintle hook, not a tractor-trailer. To remove it you need no written test, but you get a new commercial permit, wait 14 days and pass the vehicle inspection, basic control and road tests in a tractor-trailer.

Both are set by the Revenue Office for a restricted CDL. W allows a Class B or C farm service vehicle for up to 180 days in 12 months, within 150 miles of the farm or business. 7 limits loads to diesel up to 1,000 gallons, liquid fertilizer up to 3,000 gallons, or unmixed solid fertilizer.

Yes. A DWI in a non-commercial vehicle still brings the CDL disqualification. On top of that you must meet Arkansas's regular DWI requirements under section 5-65-103, and your license is downgraded until you meet them.