HC knowledge test NSW: what’s on it and how to get your HC licence

What an HC licence lets you drive

An HC licence covers heavy articulated vehicles. That means an articulated vehicle with 3 or more axles, or a heavy rigid truck and trailer combination (including an unladen dolly) with 3 or more axles. It also covers towing any trailer with a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of more than 9 tonnes.

The test vehicle NSW asks for gives you a good picture. It’s a prime mover with at least 3 axles, pulling a semi-trailer with at least 2 axles. A prime mover is the truck that tows a semi-trailer, and the front of the semi-trailer sits on it. The other option is a heavy rigid truck with a trailer over 9 tonnes GVM.

B-doubles and road trains are a step further up. They need a Multi Combination (MC) licence, and you need to have held an HR or HC licence for at least a year to go for MC.

Who can go for an HC licence

You can’t go straight from a car licence to HC. You first need to have held an MR or HR licence, or an equivalent, for 1 year or more. Our HR licence guide covers that step.

Time on a P2 MR or HR licence counts towards that year. There’s a catch, though. You can’t start learning in an HC vehicle, or upgrade to HC, until you hold an unrestricted MR or HR licence.

Two other things can slow you down if you leave them late. If you have a medical condition, or you’re declaring a new one, you must show you meet the commercial vehicle standards in Assessing Fitness to Drive. That evidence is needed before you get a Heavy Vehicle Competency Based Assessment (HVCBA) log book or sit a driving test. And if you’ve only recently swapped an overseas licence for a NSW one, bring your overseas licence or a confirmation letter. Service NSW uses it to check how long you’ve held the lower class.

How the heavy combination knowledge test works

NSW has two Heavy Vehicle Knowledge Tests. The rigid test is for Light Rigid (LR), MR and HR. The combination test is for HC and MC. You only sit the one that matches the licence you’re applying for, so for HC it’s the combination test.

You answer 45 questions on a computer about road rules and road safety for heavy vehicles. NSW says it’s similar to the Driver Knowledge Test (DKT) you sat for your car learner licence. You have to pass it before you can apply for an HVCBA or a heavy vehicle driving test.

You can book online or at a service centre, and you pay a test fee to sit it. On the day, bring a completed Licence Application form, your proof of identity, and your glasses or contact lenses if you wear them.

The test comes in English, Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Greek, Korean, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese. For other languages there’s a free interpreter service. If reading the questions is hard for you, staff can read them out and explain them, and there’s an audio version too. Call Service NSW on 13 77 88 to set this up before you book.

If you don’t pass, you may be able to sit it again the same day, depending on availability. If not, you book another time. You pay the test fee every time, so check the current amount with Service NSW.

What’s on the HC knowledge test

NSW publishes the questions for this test in the official combination question bank, a PDF called Driver Knowledge Test Questions: Combination Licence (Class HC & MC). It has three sections: general knowledge, road safety and traffic signs. Within those you’ll find questions on intersections, pedestrians, speed limits, load restraint, fatigue, and alcohol and drugs.

The answers are in three books: the Heavy Vehicle Driver Handbook, the Road User Handbook and the Load Restraint Guide. NSW tells you to read all three before the test.

The questions that set this bank apart are about combinations. It asks what a B-double is, what a road train is and what sign goes on the back of a B-double. These points from the Heavy Vehicle Driver Handbook line up with questions in the bank:

• Heavy vehicle combinations are usually limited to 19 metres long overall. B-doubles that meet set conditions can be up to 26 metres.
• When you couple a semi-trailer, you reverse the prime mover so it lines up straight in front of the trailer. Before you uncouple, the prime mover and semi-trailer should be in a straight line.
• After coupling, you do a “tug test”. You try to move off in first gear with the trailer brakes on. The prime mover shouldn’t move. The handbook says to repeat the check to be sure.

Open the bank, find the questions about B-doubles, road trains and coupling, and read the matching pages of the handbook. The rigid bank used for LR, MR and HR has no questions on what a B-double or road train is, or on coupling. If you’ve only studied for MR or HR, you won’t have seen these questions before.

After you pass: training and the coupling check

The main way to get the licence is the HVCBA. You do it with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that Transport for NSW has accredited. First you go to a service centre in person with your completed Licence Application form and proof of identity. You pass an eyesight test there and pay the fee. You’re then given an HVCBA Learner Log Book. You train with a licensed driving instructor, or with someone who holds the right class of NSW licence, and you record your hours in the log book. At the end you sit the Final Competency Assessment.

You can learn and be assessed in your own truck if it’s registered, roadworthy and the right type for HC. For the assessment or test, it has to be loaded to at least 75% of its maximum allowed mass. If you’re assessed in a truck with an automatic or synchromesh gearbox (one that works much like the gearbox in most modern cars), your licence will only let you drive vehicles with a similar gearbox.

The HVCBA isn’t offered everywhere in NSW. Where it isn’t, you can sit a heavy vehicle driving test with a Service NSW testing officer. You book online, on 13 22 13 or at a service centre, and pay when you book. HC applicants have to show the testing officer a long reverse, a reverse park, a kerbside stop, a pre-departure check, and coupling and uncoupling. You also have to describe a pre-departure check and the steps for coupling and uncoupling a combination vehicle. To pass you need at least 95% and no fail items. Doing anything unsafe or against the law during the test is a fail.

Once you’ve passed the HVCBA or the driving test, you go back to a service centre to get your HC licence.

Practising for the HC knowledge test with DrivePrep NSW

DrivePrep NSW has a Heavy Combination pathway for the combination knowledge test. Category practice lets you work through one topic at a time, so you can spend more time on the topics you don’t know yet. The 45-question mock tests are the same length as the real test. Missed-question review brings back the ones you got wrong, and the readiness score shows how close you are before you book. It’s an independent app, so keep the handbook and the official question bank open as well.

You can download DrivePrep NSW on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

Common questions