• 89 questions

Iowa Boating License Practice Test

An Iowa boating practice test on state law only, with the chapter 462A section under every answer.

A vessel twenty feet long falls in which Iowa class?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Bank checked October 13, 2026.

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All 89 questions

Watercraft education certificate 10

  • A 14-year-old in Iowa has no certificate. How may she lawfully operate a boat with a 40 horsepower motor? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • A 17-year-old holds the Iowa certificate. Must an adult ride along when he runs a 90 horsepower boat? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • An Iowa teen is charged with operating without the certificate. What keeps the charge from ending in a conviction? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • An officer of the department asks a 15-year-old Iowa operator for her certificate. What does the law require of her? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • Besides being at least 18, what must the person be who accompanies an uncertified Iowa teen? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • How young may an applicant be and still be issued Iowa's watercraft education certificate? Iowa Code 462A.2(44)
  • Iowa's certificate rule is tied to a vessel propelled by a motor of what size? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • Which Iowa agency approves the watercraft education course? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • Which Iowa boaters need a watercraft education certificate to run a motor of more than ten horsepower with no adult aboard? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • Which vendors may offer an online course that leads to the Iowa certificate? Iowa Code 462A.12A(1)
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Operator ages 4

  • A 10-year-old runs a rowboat with a 6 horsepower motor in Iowa. Does section 462A.12(6) forbid it? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • When may a child under 12 operate a vessel with a motor of more than ten horsepower in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • Where must the accompanying adult be while an Iowa child operates a boat over ten horsepower? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)
  • Whom does Iowa's rule on operators under 12 bind? Iowa Code 462A.12(6)

Life jackets 8

  • Below what age must every person aboard wear a life jacket while an Iowa vessel is under way? Iowa Code 462A.12(15)
  • How many lifesaving devices must an Iowa vessel carry? Iowa Code 462A.9(6)
  • On which commercial vessel is an Iowa child excused from the wear rule? Iowa Code 462A.12(15)
  • What must the operator of a motorboat wear while racing in an approved Iowa race? Iowa Code 462A.9(8)
  • Where may an Iowa child under thirteen be, on a boat under way, without wearing a life jacket? Iowa Code 462A.12(15)
  • Which craft need not carry a lifesaving device for each passenger in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.9(6)
  • Which types of personal flotation device meet Iowa's wear rule for children? Iowa Code 462A.12(15)
  • Who counts as a 'passenger' under Iowa's chapter 462A? Iowa Code 462A.2(27)

Personal watercraft 5

  • An Iowa personal watercraft has a cut-off switch. What must the operator do with the lanyard? Iowa Code 462A.12(14)
  • How long may a vessel be and still be a personal watercraft under Iowa law? Iowa Code 462A.2(30)
  • What does Iowa require of the owner of a personal watercraft that has a cut-off switch? Iowa Code 462A.9(13)
  • What may a person not do to animals while operating a personal watercraft or motorboat in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.12(13)
  • When may no one operate a personal watercraft in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.12(12)

Water skis and towing 4

  • A skier swings wide on purpose and endangers a swimmer in Iowa. Which rule covers the skier? Iowa Code 462A.12(1)
  • Does Iowa's rule against operating under the influence reach a person riding water skis? Iowa Code 462A.12(2)
  • Who is excused from Iowa's observer rule for towing? Iowa Code 462A.15(2)
  • Who must be in an Iowa vessel that tows a water skier, besides the operator? Iowa Code 462A.15(1)

Speed, distance and prohibited operation 19

  • An authorized emergency vessel approaches showing a blue light. What must every other Iowa operator do? Iowa Code 462A.34
  • An Iowa boat is anchored away from shore and left unguarded. What must it be attached to? Iowa Code 462A.32(4)
  • An Iowa motorboat may exceed ten miles per hour only when vision is unobstructed for how far ahead? Iowa Code 462A.26(3)
  • How close may an Iowa vessel come to a properly placed diver's flag? Iowa Code 462A.12(11)
  • How does Iowa define a wake? Iowa Code 462A.2(42)
  • How fast may an Iowa motorboat go within one hundred feet of another craft that is traveling at five miles per hour or less? Iowa Code 462A.26(3)
  • How many passengers and crew may an Iowa vessel carry? Iowa Code 462A.24
  • On an Iowa artificial lake of more than one hundred acres, how may a boat with a gasoline engine be run? Iowa Code 462A.31(1)
  • On Iowa's inland lakes and federal impoundments, how fast may a motorboat go within three hundred feet of shore? Iowa Code 462A.26(3)
  • On which side does an Iowa motorboat pass a sailboat it meets or overtakes? Iowa Code 462A.26(1)
  • Two Iowa motorboats meet, both going faster than five miles per hour. What distance must they keep? Iowa Code 462A.26(3)
  • Under Iowa's own traffic rules, which vessel has the right-of-way at a landing? Iowa Code 462A.26(1)
  • What caps the engine an Iowa vessel may carry? Iowa Code 462A.12(9)
  • What may no one throw or deposit in Iowa's public waters, or on its ice or land? Iowa Code 462A.12(3)
  • When may an Iowa boater moor to a waterway marker or state-approved buoy? Iowa Code 462A.32(3)
  • Where can anchoring count as interference with navigation in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.12(7)
  • Where may an Iowa boater not leave a vessel tied up unattended? Iowa Code 462A.12(10)
  • Which motorboat is allowed on an artificial lake under the commission's jurisdiction, whatever the lake's size? Iowa Code 462A.31(1)
  • Who may take a vessel into an Iowa search and rescue area? Iowa Code 462A.12(5)

Alcohol and drugs 10

  • A sailboat has no motor running. When is it being 'operated' under Iowa's intoxication law? Iowa Code 462A.2(24)
  • An Iowa operator refuses the chemical test. What order does the court make? Iowa Code 462A.14B(2)
  • At what alcohol concentration does a person commit operating a motorboat or sailboat while intoxicated in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.14(1)
  • By operating a motorboat on Iowa's navigable waters, what is a person deemed to have consented to? Iowa Code 462A.14A(1)
  • For how long is a first offender barred from operating a motorboat or sailboat in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.14(2)
  • For how long is a second offender barred from operating a motorboat or sailboat in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.14(2)
  • For Iowa's intoxication law, when is a person 'operating' a motorboat? Iowa Code 462A.2(24)
  • How may the result of Iowa's preliminary breath screening test be used? Iowa Code 462A.14A(2)
  • How much of a controlled substance in the blood or urine makes operating a motorboat an offense in Iowa? Iowa Code 462A.14(1)
  • Iowa measures alcohol concentration in grams of alcohol per how much breath? Iowa Code 462A.2(1)

Occurrences and reports 8

  • An Iowa occurrence causes only property damage. Up to what amount is no report required? Iowa Code 462A.7(2)
  • How far does the Iowa operator's duty to help after an occurrence go? Iowa Code 462A.7(1)
  • How soon is the Iowa report due for a reportable occurrence with no death, disappearance or treated injury? Iowa Code 462A.7(2)
  • How soon is the Iowa report due when an occurrence results in death, disappearance or an injury treated by a licensed health care provider? Iowa Code 462A.7(2)
  • May an Iowa operator's written occurrence report be used as evidence in a lawsuit over the same facts? Iowa Code 462A.7(4)
  • What must an Iowa operator in an occurrence give, in writing, to an injured person and to the owner of damaged property? Iowa Code 462A.7(1)
  • Who files the Iowa occurrence report, and with whom? Iowa Code 462A.7(2)
  • Who is liable in Iowa for injury or damage from the negligent operation of an undocumented vessel? Iowa Code 462A.18

Classes, lights and equipment 11

  • A vessel twenty feet long falls in which Iowa class? Iowa Code 462A.9(1)
  • From how far must a required colored light on an Iowa vessel be visible? Iowa Code 462A.9(2)
  • What does Iowa say about muffler cut-outs on a motorboat? Iowa Code 462A.11
  • When may an Iowa officer board a vessel in the course of an inspection? Iowa Code 462A.66
  • When must an Iowa vessel underway show its lights? Iowa Code 462A.9(2)
  • Which engines need no flame arrestor on the carburetor under Iowa law? Iowa Code 462A.9(9)
  • Which Iowa motorboats are excused from the bilge ventilation rule? Iowa Code 462A.9(10)
  • Which Iowa motorboats must carry a bell? Iowa Code 462A.9(5)
  • Which Iowa vessel need not carry a fire extinguisher? Iowa Code 462A.9(7)
  • Which is the smallest Iowa class of motorboat that the statute requires to carry a whistle or other sound producing appliance? Iowa Code 462A.9(4)
  • Which vessel may show a blue light or flashing blue light on Iowa waters? Iowa Code 462A.12(4)

Registration and numbering 10

  • A boat numbered in another state visits Iowa. How long may it stay before it must register? Iowa Code 462A.6(1)
  • An Iowa owner moves. How soon must a county recorder be told the new address? Iowa Code 462A.5(4)
  • How long must an Iowa boat livery keep its record of who hired each vessel? Iowa Code 462A.10(1)
  • How often is an Iowa vessel registration renewed? Iowa Code 462A.5(1)
  • Through whom does an Iowa owner first register a vessel? Iowa Code 462A.5(1)
  • What else must an Iowa owner display on the exterior of the vessel, away from the bow? Iowa Code 462A.5(1)
  • When does an Iowa registration certificate become delinquent? Iowa Code 462A.5(3)
  • Where is the identification number displayed on an Iowa motorboat? Iowa Code 462A.5(1)
  • Where must the registration certificate be while an Iowa motorboat is in use? Iowa Code 462A.5(1)
  • Which nonpowered, nonsail vessel needs no Iowa registration? Iowa Code 462A.6(7)

How this list was compiled: Written only from Iowa Code chapter 462A, Water Navigation Regulations (definitions, 462A.2; registration, 462A.4 to 462A.6A; occurrences, 462A.7; classes and equipment, 462A.9 to 462A.11; prohibited operation and the watercraft education certificate, 462A.12 and 462A.12A; operating while intoxicated, 462A.14 to 462A.14B; towing, 462A.15; overloading, speed and distance, artificial lakes, buoys and emergency vessels, 462A.24 to 462A.34), read in the Iowa Legislature's own copy of the chapter, Iowa Code 2026, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/462A.pdf, on 2026-10-13. Each question names its section and links to that section's page on the same site. That a course and a certificate exist is section 462A.12(6). The chapter gives no number of questions and no pass mark. The Department of Natural Resources' boater education page, https://www.iowadnr.gov/things-do/boating/boater-education-safety, read the same day, says a person 12 to 17 may operate a motorboat over ten horsepower or a personal watercraft after an approved course, and lists the approved online courses; it gives no question count and no pass mark either. The commission's rules in the Iowa Administrative Code (571 IAC) were not read and nothing is asked from them. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site from the statute text; nothing is copied from a boater handbook, a boating course, a course provider's study guide or another practice test.

How it works

This unofficial Iowa boating license practice test asks state law only: every question comes from Iowa Code chapter 462A, Water Navigation Regulations, and names its section. Navigation rules, lights and buoys have their own bank here. Read October 2026.

Read the full guide

Fifty feet, 100 feet, 300 feet

Iowa writes its distances into the Code (462A.26). Within 100 feet of a craft moving at five miles an hour or less, hold to five. Two motorboats that are both above five keep 50 feet apart. On inland lakes and federal impoundments, ten miles an hour is the limit within 300 feet of shore. Stay 50 feet from a diver's flag (462A.12).

Questions and answers

Who needs a boating license in Iowa?

Iowa issues no boating license. Section 462A.12 asks a person 12 to 17 to pass a department-approved course and hold a watercraft education certificate before running a motor of more than ten horsepower alone. An experienced adult of 18 aboard is the alternative.

How many questions are on the Iowa boater education exam, and what score passes?

Chapter 462A gives neither number, and the Department of Natural Resources' boater education page gives none either; it lists the approved online courses. The 25-question practice exam on this page is this site's own length and shows no pass line.

How old do you have to be to drive a boat in Iowa?

The Code sets no bare minimum. Under 12, a child may run a motor over ten horsepower only with a responsible, experienced person of at least 18 in the same vessel. From 12 to 17 the certificate also allows it (section 462A.12).

What is the alcohol limit for boating in Iowa?

.08, and section 462A.14 also counts any amount of a controlled substance in blood or urine. A first offense brings a court order not to operate a motorboat or sailboat for one year. So does refusing the chemical test (462A.14B).

Is this Iowa's official boater education test?

No. This is independent practice, not a government website, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has not reviewed it. Open the section under any answer to check it. The approved course also teaches navigation rules and boat handling.

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