North Dakota CDL Practice Test

NDDOT does not publish the size of its CDL knowledge tests. Our practice tests use the usual CDL format: General Knowledge 50 questions (40 to pass), Hazardous Materials 30 (24), Air Brakes 25 (20), and Combination, Tank, Doubles/Triples, Passenger and School Bus 20 each (16). You may take each knowledge test once per day.

The 2025–2027 North Dakota Commercial Driver License Manual: its North Dakota Information pages (classes, endorsements, restrictions, penalties, size and weight limits, school bus laws) and the national CDL text on safe driving, cargo, passengers, air brakes, combination vehicles, doubles and triples, tank vehicles, hazardous materials and school buses. The skills-test sections are not part of the knowledge practice.

NDDOT points to the chart in Section 1 of the manual, which matches each class and endorsement to the sections to study. North Dakota treats air brakes as a restriction, not an endorsement: without the air brakes knowledge test and a skills test in an air-brake vehicle, the CDL says no air brake equipped vehicles (L) or no full air brake vehicles (Z).

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 North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT), Driver License Division. Why 80% in every state →

21 to drive across state lines; 18 to 20 for a CDL valid only within North Dakota. At 16 you may test for a CDL limited to custom harvesting.

Apply in person at a driver license site with your current license, proof of legal presence and proof of residence address; pass the eye exam and the knowledge tests for your class, and buy the commercial learner permit. Before the road test you must finish federal Entry-Level Driver Training and hold the permit at least 14 days.

Since 2025 NDDOT no longer accepts medical certificates from drivers: certified medical examiners send the results electronically through FMCSA’s National Registry. You can check your certificate’s status on NDDOT’s website.

NDDOT lists a fee for each knowledge test attempt, for the commercial learner permit, for each endorsement and for the road test. Fees change, so check the current amounts on NDDOT’s CDL page.

A restricted CDL for agribusiness service workers 18 or older who have held a North Dakota license for at least a year and kept a clean record for two years. It covers Class B or C single vehicles, not buses for 16 or more people. Each year you can get one 210-day or two 105-day licenses.

Farm products, machinery and supplies within 150 miles of the business or farm you serve, plus three kinds of placarded hazmat: up to 1,000 gallons of diesel, liquid fertilizer in vehicles holding 3,000 gallons or less in all, and solid fertilizer not mixed with organic material. Your employer signs the application, and it is notarized.

Category 1 for interstate driving, which includes loads that start or end outside North Dakota even if you never cross the line. Category 2 is excepted interstate work. Category 3 is in-state driving under state medical rules, Category 4 excepted in-state work; both put a K (North Dakota only) restriction on the CDL.

Yes, for driving within North Dakota only. A driver granted a state vision waiver certifies in Category 3, gets the K restriction, so the CDL is valid only in-state, and carries the medical certificate rather than sending it in.

Yes. School bus drivers who cross state lines are the one excepted group still needing a certificate, which they carry themselves rather than sending to NDDOT. School bus drivers who stay in North Dakota fall in Category 3 and also carry theirs.

The skills test can be waived if you hold a North Dakota license, have a clean two-year record, and drove military CMVs for two years in a job held within the past 12 months. For some military driving jobs on the state's list, the knowledge tests are waived too.

An approved third-party tester or the Driver License Division. If your training school is an approved tester, your required training and the road test must both be done with that school; if it isn't, you take the road test with the Driver License Division.

Your North Dakota CDL, one original or certified proof of citizenship, permanent residence or legal presence (such as a birth certificate, passport or permanent resident card) and one proof of your home address, such as a property tax form, lease, utility bill or landline phone bill. P.O. boxes and photocopies aren't accepted.

Get a North Dakota commercial permit or license, start the federal TSA security threat assessment (fingerprints and background check), and complete the federal theory training for hazmat. Permit holders must get the commercial license first; once the assessment is approved, pass the hazmat knowledge test. The check and the test are repeated at every renewal to keep the endorsement.

Passenger, school bus and tank vehicle, each with limits: no passengers other than the supervising driver or examiner with P or S, and empty tanks only with N. Hazmat and doubles/triples can’t go on a permit.

Not always. NDDOT lists farm exemptions, for example a farmer hauling farm products, machinery or supplies within 150 miles of the farm, and a covered farm vehicle with farm plates. Ask the Highway Patrol about your case.

Pass the school bus knowledge test and a road test in a representative school bus with flashing red lights for loading and unloading children. Road test in a bus under 26,001 pounds and your CDL is restricted to no Class A or B passenger bus. A bus used as a common carrier isn't a school bus.

Get your North Dakota CDL first; only then can you start the TSA security threat assessment here. If your previous state confirms an assessment was already done, NDDOT may honor it for the time it has left. Once the assessment is passed, take the hazmat knowledge test.