Worrying about the state CDL driving test

If the school didn't teach you how to downshift you should ask for all of your money back right now. That was one of the main things we worked on during truck school. Now, the guy that gave me the test at the DMV actually told us we didn't have to if we didn't feel comfortable downshifting but you are required to demonstrate it so really he wasn't doing his job which all of them won't be that way.

I was told beforehand if they do make you that you only have to demonstrate it twice. If that's true or not who knows. That was in CA. But what are you going to do if you come to a traffic light that turns green before you came to a stop and you don't know how to downshift it into gear? You can't coast around not in gear either. Too long out of gear and you fail. It's not purely for just demonstrating you can do it, there are plenty of situations you need to do it. How are you going to take a turn if sitting in 7th/8th gear and you won't come to a stop?

Shifting in a turn isn't illegal as far as I know, but it's a rule for the test. Just like it's not against the law to not have two hands on the wheel but they'll nail you for it on the test. They want you to turn with both hands on the wheel which is why they don't want you shifting during a turn. I could be wrong though and someone can correct me if I am.

Really the rest of it is making turns, changing lanes and watching your mirrors. They want to see that you look in those mirrors often. Some have even been known to ask you what the clearance was on that bridge you just passed under. They want to see if you use the correct turn lane if there's two lanes to turn from. Simple things like that.

 

Even if you don't have hazmat, they may want you to treat a RR crossing like your placarded. Make sure to study that info.

Pay attention to every sign you pass, you will be asked about signs. My tester asked about 2 signs about a mile after I passed them. Some will ask about up to 10 or more.

Never let your tires leave the road. Not even an inch. Watched 1 guy fail when his trailer out side wheel went about 1 inch off the rd. It was a real tight turn. I made it with 1 inch to spare. it was the very first turn on the test.

When stopping make sure you can see the back tires of the vehicle in front you touching the ground.

Check both of your mirrors often.

When making a left on to a multi lane rd, pull into the first available lane, then when safe to do so move 1 lane at a time to the right.

I know all of this sounds basic, but when your nervous taking the test you tend to forget the little things. if I think of anything else I'll be sure to add it.

 

Each state is slightly different, get a copy of the TN Commercial Driver License manual, it gives an outline of what you will be asked to demonstate. In TN they will have you simulate a haz mat crossing a railroad tracks, emerg. pull off, I have heard they ask you to do all three brake checks, even though it might have been covered during the in cab part of the PTI. You do not have to be pefect at shifting, but dont think they will let you just push in the clutch and coast up to a stop.....they will need to see you drop a few gears. Also if you miss a shift you better be able to quickly note the RPMs and road speed and get it back into gear.......if you fail this and need to come to a stop to get it back into gear....you will fail. They regard these actions as not having your vehicle under control (unsafe). Take your corners wide, if you bump a curb its a automatic failure.

 

Wow! I didn't have to do ANY of this stuff! It was just drive and change lanes, pre-trip, RR cross, parallel park and straight back. Still out of 6, I was the only one of two who passed, also I ALMOST failed because (like an idiot) I didn't get out of the truck to check behind me before I backed up DoH!

 

I don't remember much about mine, probably because I was about as nervous as you've expressed.

We did have to downshift and they weren't looking for experienced perfection. They just wanted to know you had a base ability that you could build from. (Strangely, my downshifting was always better and smoother than my up-shifting - at least for the first few weeks of training. Weird.)

As for the emergency stop, we had that too - at least I did. We were going down a road (like 35 mph) and the tester pointed to a spot on the emergency lane and said to stop there for an emergency stop. I checked mirrors, signaled, downshifted I think once and pulled to the side, braking and checking mirrors on sides throughout. Smooth stop, neutral, air brakes and popped on the flashers - then looked over at the tester to see what was wrong with him. He says, "great - nice job." I'm thinking, "what? That was part of the test???"

Obviously, I can't speak for all testers or all experiences. But my own experience was that they aren't looking for an already-professional driver. Catching gears is important... smoothness, not so much. They just want to make sure you have a mind for safety and the ability to not kill yourself or someone else while you're learning.

Do, however, watch certain things as mentioned above such as staying on the pavement, not catching curbs, etc.

 

I just took my road test a few days ago.

I had to shift, downshift, change lanes, do an emergency stop, turn around in a court, name a bridge weight, name a bridge height, merge onto a highway and a few other things.

The best things to remember. Your head is a bobble head, you want to be checking your mirrors every 6-8 seconds. You want to look at every driveway, every entrance, every railroad track and so on. If you are going to turn onto any road, make sure the coast is COMPLETELY clear. If you pull out and a car is coming, it's usually an auto fail.

If you are having problems with downshifting. Do what you can to practice, if at worse you mess up your downshifts then it's only a few points. You won't fail for messing up a shift.

For your emergency stop part. You want to put your turn signal on. Then put hazards on. Brake. Pull tractor brakes. Take your feet OFF the pedals and put on floor. Then you will push brakes back in, turn off hazards, put on left signal and pull out. Just leave some room so you don't hit the curb. And if you stop in a high gear, don't forget to flip the lever down before you pull out.

Auto fails I know of:
Hitting a curb
Shifting while turning (tractor and trailer should be straight before you shift)
Pulling out in front of an oncoming car
Stalling the tractor

 

Two other auto fails in CA are entering a crosswalk with pedestrian present (they have to be BOTH feet on sidewalk with NO intent to enter crosswalk) and a fellow student at my school got and auto fail for making a left hand turn in and unprotected left lane without coming to a full stop first. Basically light turns green in both directions, no left hand turn arrow, you are supposed to come to a complete stop before you enter the intersection to turn left. He was 4 cars back, rolled left with traffic and was failed.