CDL Permit Test Format and Passing Score: The 80% Rule, Question Counts, and Retests

What federal rules fix on every CDL knowledge test

The "CDL permit test" is several knowledge tests, and your state gives them. Federal rules in 49 CFR 383.133 and 383.135 set the parts that are the same everywhere.

The rule's text also lets a state give the knowledge tests in another language without an interpreter. That federal text was unchanged as of October 28, 2026, but each state chooses what it offers, and several, including Florida and Texas, now test in English only. The CDL test language guide keeps the dated details.

The per-area question counts behind "a prescribed number" sit in AAMVA's requirements document, which FMCSA provides to state licensing agencies (383.133(b)(2)). They are not public, so any claim about how many questions on your test come from each topic cannot be checked against an official source.

What your state decides about the CDL knowledge tests

Everything the federal rule leaves open, your state fills in:

• how many questions each test has
• the order you take the tests in, and any state-only test
• fees, and what a fee covers
• how many attempts you get and any waiting period between them
• how long a passed score stays valid
• which languages and formats it offers

Federal rules set no waiting period between attempts. If your state has one, it is in your state's manual or on its CDL testing page.

Washington's CDL test counts: the 80% line worked out

Washington's Department of Licensing publishes its counts. As checked on October 28, 2026, they are:

Every row is the same 80% line: 40 of 50, 20 of 25, 16 of 20 and 24 of 30. The "misses" column is the useful one. On a 20-question test, a fifth wrong answer fails you. Each miss there costs 5 percentage points, against 2 points per miss on the 50-question General Knowledge test, so the short tests leave the least room. That is the idea behind the Weak Spot drill planned for full CDL prep, which works on your lowest-accuracy test five questions at a time.

Order is a state choice too. As of October 2026, per Texas DPS, Texas applicants take Texas Commercial Rules first, then General Knowledge, Combination (Class A only), Air Brake (if applicable) and endorsements.

That makes it worth knowing which test your weak spots belong to before test day. The 20 free CDL practice questions mix the three core tests, and the results show which test your misses come from, so you know which part of your manual to reopen.

CDL retests: two state examples side by side

Federal rules require only that a retake of a failed test uses a different version. Attempts, fees and score validity vary, as these two states show.

Two things follow for planning. In California, a third failure on any one test costs you the whole application, not just that test. In Washington, a passed score has its own clock, so a long gap before the skills test can mean testing again.

Before a retake, find the topics behind your misses rather than rereading the whole manual. If your state does not show you which questions you missed, write down the topics that felt hardest right after the test. The free CDL retake planner turns that list into a week-by-week plan for the next attempt. When full prep opens, missed questions wait in Fix It in the CDL prep planned for launch until you get them right.

Why a practice percentage is not a CDL pass prediction

A score on practice questions, Passy's included, does not translate into a state result. Passy's 20 questions are original. They are not drawn from any state's pool, they are not weighted like any state's tests, and they mix three tests into one set. Your state scores each test on its own, from a pool built to per-area counts that are not public. Washington's tests, for example, run from 20 to 50 questions.

So read a practice result by test and by topic, not as one number. A miss on an Air Brakes question tells you which manual section to reopen. An overall 85% tells you very little about whether you would clear 80% on a 25-question Air Brakes test, which is why full CDL prep planned for launch reports your accuracy for each of the eight tests. For a sense of where the difficulty comes from, see how hard the CDL permit test is. For which tests apply to you, see the knowledge tests by class guide, and for how long a permit lasts once you pass, see the CLP rules guide.