One subject at a time, start to finish
Topic practice is one subject at a time. Every question in that subject, in order, with no mixed set and no clock. It is how you fix a weakness, not how you find one. The finding is a practice test's job. The fixing is this page's.
The test it prepares you for is the Heavy Vehicle Knowledge Test: 45 questions on road rules and road safety for your licence class, set by Transport for NSW. It is computer based, booked online through myRTA or at a service centre, and it comes in two versions, heavy vehicle rigid for LR, MR and HR and heavy vehicle combination for HC and MC. A test fee is payable on each attempt, so check the current amount before you book.
Nothing on this page is capped. You can sit the same subject ten times if that is what it takes.
Turning a practice test result into an evening's work
Sit a practice test first, so you are working the right subject instead of guessing at it. From the result, take the two or three subjects that cost you marks and leave the rest alone, because fourteen subjects is a week of work while three is an evening. Work a set until you can give the rule before you have read the options, since that is the point where a subject has moved from memory into instinct, and the real test will not ask the question in the words you memorised. Then sit a fresh practice test and see whether the fix held under a mixed run. If a subject slips back, open its set again. Test, work the weak subject, test again. The loop is short, and it ends.
- 1
Start with a mixed set
Take find your weak topics first and note which subjects cost you marks.
- 2
Shortlist two or three
Fourteen subjects is a week of work. Three is an evening.
- 3
Stay until the rule comes first
You should be able to state the rule before you read the options.
- 4
Prove it on a fresh test
Sit a different practice test and see whether the fix held.
The 14 truck subjects and how big each set is
Fourteen subjects, 365 questions between them. The sizes are uneven on purpose, because the test is uneven: General Knowledge (83), Traffic Signs (50), Traffic Lights & Lanes (34), Intersections (31), Pedestrians (27), Load Restraint (26), Fatigue & Defensive Driving (26), Negligent Driving (25), Alcohol & Drugs (23), Combination Vehicles (15), Speed Limits (12), Rigid Vehicles (6), Seat Belts & Restraints (4) and Bribery & Cheating (3).
Use the sizes to plan. The three smallest clear in one sitting between them. General Knowledge and Traffic Signs each want several short passes, so give them their own evenings rather than squeezing them in at the end.
Alcohol Drugs
Bribery & Cheating
Combination Vehicles
Fatigue Defensive Driving
General Knowledge
Intersections
Load Restraint
Negligent Driving
Pedestrians
Rigid Vehicles
Seat Belts Restraints
Speed Limits
Traffic Lights Lanes
Traffic Signs
Where the heavy vehicle test leaves a car licence behind
Three subjects on this list are not on a car test at all. Load Restraint asks how a load is secured so it cannot shift, fall or come loose. Combination Vehicles covers articulated set-ups and coupling. Rigid Vehicles covers a truck built as a single unit. If you are upgrading from a class C licence, work those three first, because nothing you already know covers them.
The rest of the list will look familiar, but it is asked with a heavy vehicle in mind. Tiredness matters more when the shifts are longer. Speed depends on the vehicle as well as the road. The two largest subjects are simply large, and large subjects need several short passes rather than one long one.
Transport for NSW names the Load Restraint Guide as one of three documents to study for this test, with the Heavy Vehicle Driver Handbook and the Road User Handbook. Read the load restraint pages while you work that set and the questions stop being guesswork. The set itself is at load restraint.
When to stop drilling and book
Stop when two full-length mock tests in a row come back with no mistakes. That is a clearer target than a percentage, and it is one you control. Take the official requirement from Transport for NSW at the booking stage.
The percentage you see after a set on this page is a count of your own answers in that set. It is not an official result and it does not predict one. Read it as a map of which subjects are still soft rather than as a score.
A run with the heavy vehicle subjects clean and one stray miss on a familiar subject is in better shape than a higher number with load restraint hiding inside it.
After the subject sets
When the sets feel solid, go back to a full practice test, then sit a mock under test conditions at mock test 1. The licence road after the knowledge test is short to describe: an eyesight test, then the Heavy Vehicle Competency Based Assessment with an accredited provider or the heavy vehicle driving test. Class MC adds a medical assessment. Transport for NSW sets out that order.
The question bank behind these sets is NSW based. If you are sitting the test in another state, check the question count, the fee and the booking steps with your own road authority. For the Northern Territory, start at our Northern Territory page.
Hazard perception clips are a separate test and a separate skill. They are at the hazard clip app when you are ready for them.
Official sources
The rules on this page follow the official requirements published by Transport for NSW Heavy Vehicle Knowledge Test page; Driver and rider licence fees. Always confirm current rules and fees with the authority before you book.