Rigid or combination: the test your class sits
Your licence class decides which version you sit. LR, MR and HR sit the heavy vehicle rigid test. HC and MC sit the heavy vehicle combination test. Both are computer based, booked online through myRTA or at a service centre, and both ask 45 questions on road rules and road safety for that class, set by Transport for NSW. A test fee is payable on every attempt, so check the current amount before you book. Passing the knowledge test is the first step rather than the last one: it is what lets you apply for the Heavy Vehicle Competency Based Assessment, known as the HVCBA, or sit the heavy vehicle driving test.
Where to begin if you already hold a car licence
Most people reading this already drive a car, so the gap is not road rules in general. It is the part of the test that belongs to the vehicle and to the load behind it. Take a full practice test cold, before you read anything, because that shows which subjects are genuinely new rather than which ones you assume are. Work those subjects one at a time at Truck topic practice, then take a second practice test to see whether the gap has closed. Leave the mock tests until last, so your final rehearsals happen when you are nearly ready rather than at the start. Nothing here is paid for and nothing is capped, so sit any set again whenever you want to.
- 1
Take a practice test cold
Begin at start with practice test 1 and sit the whole thing in one go.
- 2
Work the weak subjects
One subject to a set, at Truck topic practice.
- 3
Rehearse with a mock
One sitting, nothing looked up, at sit a mock under test conditions.
- 4
Book when two mocks run clean
Two full-length mocks in a row with no misses is the signal.
What is on this page, and where the subject sets are
Two kinds of set sit on this page. There are 9 truck practice tests, 45 questions each, 405 questions in total, built in the shape of the real sitting. There are 8 truck mock tests, also 45 questions each, 360 questions in total, to be sat in one go with nothing looked up. Both are free.
The 14 truck subject sets are not on this page. They hold 365 questions between them and they live at Truck topic practice, one subject to a set, so you can work load restraint on its own instead of mixing it with everything else.
Use them in that order while you are starting out. A practice test tells you where you stand, a subject set fixes what it found, and a mock test is the rehearsal you sit when you think you are done. The sets below open straight away, with nothing to fill in first.
Practice Test 1
Practice Test 2
Practice Test 3
Practice Test 4
Practice Test 5
Practice Test 6
Practice Test 7
Practice Test 8
Practice Test 9
Mock Test 1
Mock Test 2
Mock Test 3
Mock Test 4
Mock Test 5
Mock Test 6
Mock Test 7
Mock Test 8
Load restraint, combination and rigid vehicles
Three subjects on the truck test are not on a car one at all. Load restraint asks how a load is secured so it cannot shift, fall or come loose. Combination vehicles covers articulated set-ups, coupling and the way a long vehicle behaves. Rigid vehicles covers the handling and the limits of a truck built as a single unit. If you are moving up from a class C licence, these are the three to work first, and they are the reason a car driver cannot walk into this test on general road knowledge alone.
Transport for NSW names the Load Restraint Guide as one of the three documents to study for this test, alongside the Heavy Vehicle Driver Handbook and the Road User Handbook. Read the load restraint pages while you work that subject set and the questions stop being guesswork. The set itself is at drill load restraint.
The remaining subjects will look familiar from your car licence, but they are asked with a heavy vehicle in mind: longer stopping distances, wider turns, more weight behind you, and tiredness over a long shift. The full subject list, with the size of every set, is at Truck topic practice.
From the knowledge test to the HVCBA
Passing the knowledge test is the first of several steps, and knowing the order of them makes the knowledge test feel smaller. After it you pass an eyesight test. Then you either complete the Heavy Vehicle Competency Based Assessment with an accredited provider, or sit the heavy vehicle driving test. A class MC licence also needs a medical assessment. All of that is set out by Transport for NSW.
Study alongside the sets rather than before them. Transport for NSW also publishes an official practice set for the rigid classes, holding 343 questions across its general knowledge, road safety and traffic signs sections. Read a handbook chapter, then sit the matching subject set here, and the reading sticks because you have just been asked about it.
If the hazard perception clips are also on your list, they are at practise the hazard perception clips.
What a clean mock tells you
The progress figure you build up as you work through these sets is a running count of your own answers here, nothing more. It is feedback on where the gaps still are, not a result that goes anywhere.
Readiness is easier to judge than to score. When two full-length mock tests in a row come back with no mistakes, the length no longer surprises you and the subjects you were weak on have closed. One clean mock can be a good day. Two in a row usually is not.
If the same subject keeps appearing in your misses, go back to that subject set before you sit another mock. Repeating a mock only teaches you that mock. Working the subject is what changes the next one.
Sitting the heavy vehicle test outside NSW
The question bank behind these sets is NSW based, so the sets follow the heavy vehicle test as Transport for NSW runs it.
Each state runs its own: TMR in Queensland, VicRoads in Victoria, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport in South Australia, the Department of Transport in Western Australia, and the MVR in the Northern Territory. Check the question count, the fee and the booking steps with yours before you rely on anything here.
The road rules overlap heavily, so the practice is still worth doing wherever you sit the test. For the Northern Territory, start at our Northern Territory page.
Official sources
The rules on this page follow the official requirements published by Heavy Vehicle Knowledge Test (Transport for NSW); Driver and rider licence fees; Getting a heavy vehicle licence; Official rigid practice questions (PDF). Always confirm current rules and fees with the authority before you book.