Course and practice test
Boating license practice test
Pick your state and answer: navigation rules, sound signals, lights, buoys, required equipment and your state's own rule, with the reason given after every answer.
Your score · Florida
0 / 0
0 correct out of 0 answered
Pick an answer to start
| Practice target: 16 of 20 (80%) |
| You can still miss 4 |
Practice questions written by us from the federal Navigation Rules, 33 CFR and each state's verified rules. Not an official course exam.
The exam at the end of an approved boating safety course is a multiple-choice test on the same ground in every state, because the rules of the road on the water are federal: the Inland Navigation Rules decide who gives way, which sound signals mean what and which lights a boat shows at night, and the Coast Guard's equipment rules set the life jackets, distress signals and extinguishers you must carry. Each course then adds the law of its state: who needs the card, the minimum ages, the local rules for personal watercraft. This practice test draws 20 questions from 47 we wrote from those federal texts (9 on right of way, 6 on sound signals, 5 on lights, 8 on buoys and markers, 9 on equipment, 10 on the law and safe operation) and adds questions generated from the verified rule of the state you pick, 143 in all. Each answer is explained at once with the rule behind it. The score panel uses 80% as a practice target; each course sets its own pass mark.
State rules read and practice questions written by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How each state is checked
What the test covers
| Topic | Questions | Federal text |
|---|---|---|
| Right of way and conduct | 9 | 33 CFR 83, Rules 5 to 18 |
| Sound signals | 6 | 33 CFR 83, Rules 32 to 35 |
| Navigation lights | 5 | 33 CFR 83, Rules 20 to 31 |
| Buoys and markers | 8 | 33 CFR 62 |
| Required equipment | 9 | 33 CFR 175, 183, 46 CFR 25 |
| Law and safe operation | 10 | 33 CFR 173, 95 |
| Your state | 143 | state records |
A test of 20 draws about one question in five from the state you pick, when its rule is verified, and the rest from the federal bank. Choose "Navigation rules, lights and buoys" or "Equipment, law and safety" in the selector to drill one half.
The four rules most often missed
Crossing. When two powerboats cross, the one that sees the other on its right (starboard) side gives way. A simple way to hold it: the boat on your right shows you its red port light at night, and red means you stop or turn.
Head-on. Both turn to starboard and pass port to port, like cars on a road. Under the Inland Rules, one short blast says "I intend to leave you on my port side".
Red, right, returning. Coming back from the sea, red marks with even numbers stay on your right, green marks with odd numbers on your left. On a lake or river that does not flow to the sea, the chart or the state shows the direction.
Life jackets. One approved wearable per person, plus a throwable on boats of 16 feet or more; a child under 13 wears one while the boat is underway, under the federal rule, unless the state sets its own age.
How to study with it
Take one full test cold to find your weak topics, then drill them with the selector. Read every explanation, even when you were right: the course exam often asks the same rule from another angle. When you reach 18 of 20 three times in a row, you are ready for the course exam. In Florida the course is required for anyone born on or after January 1, 1988; the course page lists how each state lets you take it.
What the test is not
It is not an approved course and it does not lead to a card. To get one, take a course approved by your state; the free course page shows where a free one is accepted. Questions were written by us; none comes from a course exam, a vendor test or a book.