Important info to new people who haven't taken the CDL that no one will tell you

I do not know what it is, but this has happened a few times in my life which is why I always double and triple check everything since people will never provide you with all of the sources of information that you need. People always tell you the same thing but leave out important things that impact everything while focusing on bs that really doesn't matter.

I have spent the past month researching every single day for hours nonstop on learning everything I need to know to get started into the trucking industry. I have also been studying the CDL study guide for hours every single day until I felt I knew all of the information there is to know.

DO NOT RELY ON THE PRACTICE TESTS ONLINE. THEY ARE MOSTLY COMMON SENSE AND WORDED DIRECTLY FROM THE CDL STUDY GUIDE WHICH IS NOT HOW THEY APPEAR ON THE REAL TEST.

Let me start over... when I went to the truck driving school over a week ago, I asked all of the information I needed to attend school. The lady is nice so I will not say her name, but she is at TN Technology School in Nashville. She provided me with all of the information I needed to get started which is the same info people say IRL and online (DOT physical, driving history, take CDL test, etc.)

I asked her three different times if I had everything I needed to get started and she laughed and said "yeah, I can't imagine you needing any more information than I already gave ya!"

I took care of all that I needed the past week so today I was off to take my CDL test... I arrived when they first opened (Murfreesboro, TN DMV, all of their reviews online are horrible. If you live near Murfreesboro never go to that DMV). I understand why after what happened this morning. I asked the lady at the DMV before I waited in the huge line if I had everything I needed to take the CDL-A test such as my driver's license and my DOT Physical card, and she replied "yes you are good to go just wait in line and you will be assigned a number to take the CDL test".

So I waited for two long hours, then it was finally my turn and despite everyone telling me that I had everything I needed, I was then told "Oh, actually you need a copy of your tax return, your mortgage or lease contract, your birth certificate,

utility bills from the last four months from at least two different companies, etc."
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NO BODY EVER MENTIONED THAT YOU NEED FREAKIN

OBAMA'S ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND A LICENSE TO KILL JUST TO TAKE THE CDL EXAM!!!
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At this point I was still relaxed and kindly said that I wasn't aware of these requirements, so I asked if it were possible if I could provide the info after I take the test and she was being rude and said no. I then said "You had me wait in line for two hours without telling me this information?" and she replied "what am I supposed to read your mind" and man let me tell you, I am considered to be the nicest and calmest person anyone has ever met and I got pissed!

I just threw the clipboard she gave me on her desk and walked out (I cannot believe I did that, it was like someone else was controlling me as I never did anything like that before.)

When I drove off I tried calling two DMVs in nearby cities as I didn't want to return to that one due to their horrible service. However there was no answer from those DMVs so I drove about 30 minutes to the first one to find out they do not do CDL testing. They gave me the address to one that does about 40 minutes away so I drove to that one (oh I went home and printed out my utility bills they wanted on the way).

I arrived at that DMV and the people were nice but she said that she cannot accept my utility statements because they were printed out. I told her that I only do online payments and do not receive paper statements and she said she needs the real bill. I contacted the electric and water company and they said the cannot give me a bill as another company sends them so they will have to mail me duplicates so I said OK.

I drove back home which took an hour and took a nap as I had been awake for over 20 hours. I woke up and looked over the requirements again just to take the CDL that NO ONE EVER MENTIONED and noticed it also said I could use my vehicle registration too as proof of domicile. So I went back to the Murf. DMV and asked if I could use my registration and the guy working there said yes. Two of the employees were there who saw me get angry this morning and apologized to me for what happened earlier and it was funny since they were being extremely nice to me this time lol.

Now I finally get to take the three tests... I easily master the combination vehicles and general knowledge tests only missing four answers on both tests. However I failed the Air brakes test by one point...

Let me tell you something... I studied that freaking CDL study guide nonstop until I memorized everything and I NEVER EVEN SEEN THOSE FREAKIN QUESTIONS ANYWHERE THAT WERE ASKED! I swear that they threw in questions that were not in the study guide as I still cannot find them when looking over it now.

I am not sure if it is different for every state, but every single question is a trick question. For example, here is a trick question I missed which is bs:

OK, I know that placards need to be on all four sides of the trailer, but only when there is hazardous material in the trailer. So the answer is A and B, but since this is a trick I went with A but it was wrong. That is complete BS. All of the questions were like this.

I failed the air breaks test due to questions asked that I had never seen before and need to pay $6.00 again to retake the test next week. The strange thing is that there were two other people taking their CDL and they were moaning and grunting at the AB test too and saying "man I failed this test I already know it!" and the guy who worked there said that nearly everyone fails the AB test. I am sure that is a scam for the government to fail everyone on purpose so that they have to come back and pay more money.

So $12+ per person to retake the test and you have thousands of people taking it that is good money for the government. Complete BS I know every answer in that study guide and made a 100% on every practice test I took online so don't rely on those CDL practice sites and be prepared to be scammed.

 

No that was just a question I remembered from the general knowledge section that I passed (one of the two I missed on that test). I only used that real example to show how the questions are worded to confuse everyone. I wasn't taking a hazmat test, just a CDL-A unless they screwed me over.

 

Yeah I heard that the questions are randomly selected so it will not be the same test next week. I wonder if it is possible some people could have gotten the easy questions which is why they thought it was no problem while unlucky people like me got screwed lol.

 

Yes and the thing that annoys me about this is that I teach programming classes part time and all of my students learn quickly and easily. Because I do not play games like this where I trick people and make them hesitate and get answers that they know incorrect.

My two recent students are now developing scripts on their own in only (2) five hour classes and they are having fun. There is no need for the trickery, just teach us the correct answers and see if we know them that is how it should be. Stressing us out, killing our motivation, playing games, just makes us not want to do as well and get it over with. Our education is suffering in schools for a reason.