I attended one of those "crash course schools" 10 days and poof! "You're now a trucker, "yeah right!"

week 1 the trainer missed tuesday and friday, this meant only 3 days of training and we only drove to and from the training yard. we would practice skills for around 3 1/2 hours and drive back to the school.

week 2 we had a new trainer (start over again with 5 days to catch on)
Needless to say, I am a great driver of a vehicle and also drive a 34' Class A RV.
Now comes to my question . . . week 2 of training the new trainer said, "you're ready to test at the DMV" okay, I'll give it a go.

1st time, passed COLA & Pre-Trip, failed Skills
2nd time, passed skills (minus 1) failed drive test (#### curb jumped in front of my right side trailer wheels)
What happens in California if I miss a 3rd try? Am I doomed for life?
Should I run home to the in-laws in Texas and get my CDL there?
signed: 7 days of training, in San Diego, CA

good luck on getting a job with anyone most require the program to be atleast 150-160 clock hours. You wasted your money.

Most companies do require the 160 hours due to insurance reasons.
Maybe you could get on with a small local company, but even they have insurance restrictions sometimes.
Remember, even with the 160 hour schools, you are still learning.
I talked to a 30 year driver today and he said he is still learning. Never stop.

__________________
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood;."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT (Paris Sorbonne,1910)

Don't Give Up, Some of us Didn't passs the 1st time around but 2 weeks later retook exam pre-trip, backing skills test, and the road test Just give yourself alot of room when making right hand turns, no one says you have to Hug that Curb!!!....and make sure you look bothways when crossing intersections and when crosssing Railroad Tracks!!

Yep but look he has only 10 days training and he will probaly never find anyone willing to hire him.
About hugging the curbs if the turn can be made with out going into oncomming traffic it needs to be done that way or you loose points for crossing the yellow lines too many of those will fail him too. I had alot of turns that were tighter than he:: but I made them just drove up myside of the yellow line and made it. I had some terrible left turns no room and car sitting all the way up on the road that I was turning on but made it alright arround them with not much room to spare.
One other thing that they gat people on is watching the signs I nailed the first one then the second the tester knew that I was watching my mirrors and then asked what sign did we just pass my fault that I missed that one was not looking at signs ahead of me just at the road ahead and mirrors.

We got out early last week out of 4 week course, and they made us 'sign' a piece of paper saying that we got 4 weeks (160 hrs) of training!!

Some DOT Examiners are a little more strict and abid soly to regulations, but you have to pass the same test in all States

I'm curious about the 160 "clock hours". What's that all about? Is that the time you spend in school or behind the wheel? I went to a "3 week" school and spent a total of about 3.5 hours behind the wheel before I took my test. That 3.5 hours included parking skills as well as road driving.

Regardless of how it is split up between steering wheel and classroom, they are referring to 160 hours of instruction time over the duration of the course.

Well after all the inquiry . . .I asked the DMV when I appeared to take my Road Skills test again. She told me if you fail 3 times you are required to pay the 64.00 again, and start all over from scratch.

Needless to say, I passed everything.

COLA & Pre-Trip (-2)
Skills (-1) I had to do 1 pull up for the dock parking
Road Test (-13) I forgot the height signs, and checking traffic during some turns.

I got my license! My cousing is a contractor for FedEX, so I got a job too.