CDL Permit Test Study Guide by State: Official Manual Links

Your best CDL permit test study guide is your state's own CDL manual. It is free, and the knowledge tests are built around it. The table below links to the official manual for 47 states and DC.

The short answer

Use the manual from your state's licensing agency. Read the sections for your class and endorsements, then test yourself with exam-style questions built from the official CDL manual. Do not study from a random PDF. Old copies float around, and some are years out of date.

Official CDL manual by state

We opened each file or page on 2026-10-25. The edition is what the cover or first pages show. "AAMVA text" means the manual shows the national AAMVA copyright. "AAMVA-based" means a state added its own pages or rules on top. Four states are missing because we could not open an official file: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Tennessee.

A few links go to web.archive.org because the state site blocks outside readers. Click the live agency page if the archive copy is slow.

What the table tells you

Most manuals are the same book. More than half of the manuals in our table show the national AAMVA text, so the driving, air brake and combination chapters read alike from state to state. What changes is the front section: ages, fees, waits and how the state runs the tests.

That matters in two ways.

First, read the state pages at the front. The driving text will not tell you the retest wait or the cost. For those, see CDL permit test facts by state.

Second, check the edition. Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana and New Mexico show Version July 2017 in the file we opened. North Carolina, DC and Rhode Island show 2014. Rules about entry-level driver training began February 7, 2022 (49 CFR 380.600). If your manual is older, confirm that step with your state.

How to use the manual in four steps

1. Find your row and open the link. Save the PDF to your phone so you can read it offline.
2. Check which tests you need. Not sure? Read which CDL tests do I need. Wisconsin's page, for example, matches each endorsement test to a manual section, so look for the same list in yours.
3. Read General Knowledge first. Every permit applicant takes it. Our CDL general knowledge test guide shows what to focus on.
4. Quiz after each section. Do not read the whole book first. Read a section, then answer questions on it. Missed questions tell you what to reread.

Want a day by day plan? Use the 7 day plan to pass the CDL permit test on the first try.

Tip from the trainer's seat

New drivers often print the manual and read it straight through. It is about 150 to 320 pages in the files we opened. Almost no one finishes it that way.

We tell people to read for one reason at a time. Today: General Knowledge. Tomorrow: air brakes, if your truck has them. Keep a short list of numbers you keep missing. Read that list each morning.

Try 10 free questions now on the General Knowledge practice test, then go back to your manual for the sections you missed.