Free Class A knowledge practice test 2026: 60 questions with answers

You are loaded close to the weight your vehicle is rated for, and this sign appears at the top of a long descent.

Correct answer: Choose your low gear before the descent begins and let the engine hold the speed

Gravity works on weight, so a loaded vehicle gathers speed on a grade far faster than an empty one. Once it is rolling quickly a transmission may refuse the lower gear, leaving you nothing but service brakes that lose their bite as they heat. Pick the gear at the top, where you still have a choice.

You are waiting to turn left out of a yard onto a busy road. A driver stops and flashes their lights to wave you across.

Correct answer: Go only once you have seen for yourself that the lanes you must cross are clear, because a long vehicle takes time to cross and the other lanes have agreed to nothing

A driver who waves you out can only speak for their own vehicle. They cannot see what is coming up the lane beside them or on the far side of the road, and a long vehicle spends a long time lying across both. Acknowledge the courtesy, then make your own decision on what you can actually see.

You are turning right at a city corner in a tractor trailer. As the turn develops, where do the trailer wheels go compared with the cab?

Correct answer: They cut inside the path the cab takes, closer to the curb and anything standing on it

In any turn the rear wheels follow a tighter arc than the front ones, and the longer the vehicle the bigger that difference becomes. It is why a trailer can climb a curb the cab cleared easily. Watch the trailer in the mirror all the way through the turn, not only at the start.

Half way down a long grade a driver notices the brakes are doing less than they did at the top, although the pedal feels the same.

Correct answer: Heat has built up in the drums and linings, so the same pedal effort produces less braking

Brakes work by turning movement into heat, and on a long descent that heat has nowhere to go. As the drums expand and the linings lose their grip, the same application slows you less than it did before, and it keeps getting worse the longer you hold it. The way out is to be in a gear that holds the speed without the brakes, chosen before you started down.

You are loaded and catching a slightly slower truck on a long uphill grade where a passing lane is provided.

Correct answer: Think again, because a loaded vehicle loses speed climbing and the pass can take far longer than you expect

On a grade both vehicles are slowing, so a small difference in speed turns into a very long time side by side. Meanwhile the extra lane is running out and faster traffic is arriving behind you. Unless the speed difference is real, staying back costs you almost nothing.

A yard gives you a choice between backing into a space on your left and one on your right.

Correct answer: Back to the left, because you can watch the whole side of the vehicle as it moves

Backing towards your own side lets you look out of the window and follow the trailer with your own eyes rather than through glass alone. Backing the other way hides the vehicle behind itself at the moment you most need to see it. Where you get the choice, take the side you can watch.

A car has been sitting just behind your right hand door for some time on a multilane highway.

Correct answer: Change your speed a little so they pass through the area you cannot see, and check again before any lane change

The area along the right side is the largest place a truck driver cannot see, and a vehicle can sit in it for many kilometres. You cannot make somebody leave it, but you can change your own speed so they do not stay there. Signalling a move you are not ready to make invites the collision instead of avoiding it.

You are near the end of a long day and struggling to stay alert. The person scheduling the work asks you to take one more run.

Correct answer: Say no and stop, because a driver who is too tired to drive safely must not drive and cannot be required to

The limits on driving time mark the outside edge of what is allowed, not a promise that you are fit for all of it. The duty not to drive while too tired falls on the driver and on the carrier alike, and the daily record exists so that both can be checked. Being inside your hours is no defence if you fall asleep.

A driver holds the right class of licence for the vehicle in front of them, but the vehicle has air brakes and their licence carries no air brake endorsement.

Correct answer: They may not drive it, because air brakes call for a separate endorsement on top of the class

The class says what size and shape of vehicle you may drive. The air brake endorsement says you have been tested on this braking system, which behaves nothing like the brakes on a car. They are separate things and you need both, and the endorsement is earned through a knowledge test and a practical test or through an approved course.

A vehicle with air brakes is parked with the parking brake applied and the engine shut off. What is actually holding those brakes on?

Correct answer: A heavy spring in each chamber, which air pressure holds off while you drive

Service brakes work by sending air to the chambers, but the parking brakes work the other way round. A strong spring wants to apply them all the time, and air pressure is what holds it back while the vehicle is in service. Take the air away and the spring does the work, which is why the vehicle stays braked with everything switched off.