CDL Training Journal - Suncoast Trucking Academy

Well it sounds easy so far. I have only been a pizza boy and uber eats driver this year so hopefully my income meets the requirements. I’ll have a better idea next week. My permit test is tomorrow morning. I’ll keep the thread updated with the entire process.

Good luck on your exam next week @RoadSideDown.

 

FL CDL Learner's Permit Testing: Yesterday was my test. I was scheduled for 9:30am so I thought I could just go in and take the test and be done, guess I forgot I was dealing with a governmental agency. This procedure is specific to Lee County Florida under their current operating schedule of requiring appointments, other counties may differ. The appointment time isn't really an appointment, it's just a check-in time that you've already scheduled. If you show up more than 10 minutes before your appointment time you have to go back to the end of the line and wait again to check in. I ended up spending just over 4 hours at the DMV total and about 14 minutes total testing time lol. I highly recommend having the DMV Genie app on your phone so you can do practice tests while you wait. I didn't do that but thankfully I had my ipad in the car with the app on it so I was able to do that and it helped.

In FL DMV operations are handled by the county tax collector and I had initially gone into my local one but they don't do testing there and couldn't really answer any questions about testing. I called the customer service number since you can't call any of the offices directly, but even they didn't really know much about the process and the info they did give me was completely wrong so I'll clarify all of that here for people wondering in the future. I was told I would either have to pay around $56 for the permit or I might have to pay around $81 since it's a CDL permit and that's how much a CDL is in FL so I was prepared for that. It ended up only being $6.25 for the day of testing. They also told me I would be taking all exams at once, but it's actually a separate process for each one and at some locations they only permit you to take one test a day so it might be $6.25 for each test. If you fail one there is an additional $10 fee for a retake.

Once I got my ticket I was able to sit around and wait for 30 minutes until I got called up to a station. They let me know I would only be taking the General Knowledge test and if I passed that AND they could accommodate me taking another test they would try to allow it. The General Knowledge test is 50 questions, but once you get 40 correct or 11 wrong the test stops. I knocked it out in about 8 minutes, got my new ticket and got to wait all over again, this time was just under an hour until I got to see someone about doing the second test. I passed the air brakes test in just under 4 minutes. Air Brakes is only 25 questions, you pass after 20 correct or fail after 6 wrong answers. Next I got another ticket and had to wait over an hour to see someone and they were able to let me take my final test which was the Combination section. I passed that one again in about 3 minutes and had another hour plus wait to see someone but this time I got to get my new CDL Learner's Permit which is a card just like your normal license in FL. You carry both with you.

A few tips for the testing. First of all I was unaware that I would be getting my picture taken again for the learner's permit so my hair was all goofy since I was wearing a hat lol but no big deal, when I get my new license after I pass the skills exam and everything they take another picture but I just wanted to let people know that if they do care about how they look on their license. As for the testing, obviously the DMV Genie app is great, but you also need to study the state handbook. I read through the applicable sections (Gen Knowledge 1-3, Air Brakes 5, Combination 6) and did the section recap questions as I was reading through. I'm glad I did because everyone told me the DMV Genie app is really all you need but I found that the questions on the Gen Knowledge section were pretty different from the DMV Genie app. For Air Brakes and Combination it was pretty identical though.

Another important tip for testing is utilize the skip question feature. The lady who set up my General Knowledge test told me if I skip a question it would come back to me a few questions later but that wasn't actually the case. I never got any questions I skipped a second time. There is a repeat question feature which does that. If you aren't 100% sure that you know the answer just skip the question. There are so many questions that you can probably get enough that you ARE sure that you know the answer that you'll easily pass. I would also recommend ear plugs if you need it to be quiet. It was pretty loud and I'm an excellent test taker but I found it somewhat distracting.

I also asked about the testing situation. Some of the offices will only permit a single test to be taken per day so it's $6.25 each day you go to test. I went to the South Fort Myers location. They said they try to allow you to take as many tests on the same day if they can, especially for CDL tests, but each office is different. If you fail a test they'll still let you do a same day retake if they have machines available but once you reach your second failure you are done for the day.

So with my learner's permit in hand it's time to start the paperwork.

Truck School Enrollment/WIOA Grant Paperwork: I went to my car and immediately called Suncoast Trucking Academy to see if I could just head up there and fill out my enrollment paperwork and just get everything started right away and at least take a glance and my new school. When the guy answered the phone it was a completely different experience from the first time I called. I'm not sure if a student had just run over his dog on the training pad or something but had this been my first call to the place I would have scrapped this whole plan and just gone with my original plan to go to a carrier and have them train me and just go under contract with them. I just really don't like contracts unless they benefit me. One of the arguments the guy tried to start with me was that if I came in and did the app in person with them it would take a while until they would even look at it and if I wanted to start soon I would need to print everything out, fill it all out, scan everything, and then email it to them. All of my stuff is in storage so I had to take a few hours to go print everything at the library and get it scanned and all that and sent in to them. I'll need to followup with them on Monday to go over the next steps.

I don't expect the school to kiss my dick and tell me I'm pretty, but without getting into everything this guy said if that's the way they treat prospective students I can't imagine how the training is or what it's like after they get their $6,500 lol. Hopefully, this guy was just having a bad day or the rest of the staff isn't like that. I'm guessing that he'll probably be the guy doing my skills test at the end of the school lol.

I also left a voicemail and email for the person handling the WIOA grant paperwork at the CareerSource center. She never returned my call or email so I'll followup again on Monday. They are also working by appointment only so I need to schedule an appointment to apply, but I don't think I can even schedule that anyways until the trucking academy approves my enrollment.

I'll update again once I have more info about the WIOA grant. The main focus right now is just keeping my MVR clean while delivering food since I'm in SWFL during season so there's all sorts of international drivers, illegal immigrants, drunks, druggies, and 100 year olds driving massive Cadillacs around. I'm hoping my last decade of driving down here will be good practice for defensive driving in a rig. I guess I'll start looking into the FL pre-trip inspection too to start learning it since it wasn't really a focus for the permit testing.

 

Also, forgot to add. When you complete all of your tests and they issue your learner's permit you need to select what type you want. Be sure to select Non-Excepted Interstate.

 

@Chinatown No, not yet. I just submitted my enrollment info to the school yesterday and still have to go through their background check and enrollment interview and everything. I appreciate the jobs you posted earlier in the thread. Once I get enrolled and have a start date and everything I'm going to do a separate thread about which company I go with and the onboarding journey etc. I know you're the guy to ask for suggestions when that time comes and I appreciate it!

I just wanted to keep this thread strictly about the process of using the WIOA grant in FL and Suncoast Trucking Academy specifically since I didn't come across any information about the school and not much info about the WIOA grant process in FL.

@RoadSideDown Thanks! There isn't a lot of info specifically about this and I wanted to document it for others. Had I known about this grant any time in the last 18 months I'd already be in my own truck by now!