school only taught straight lime back ,will I get sent home

...and you ain't figured it out yet?

 

In Mississippi we had to do a straight line and an offset which would be blind side or drivers side. Then there was either an "alley dock" (90 degree) or a parallel park. Of course I ended up with the 90. No sweat though! At least it wasn't blind side!

Tennessee REQUIRES a straight line, alley, and offset. They may do a parallel also. Arkansas does a serpentine back.

 

All the same. I've got 6 months, and just barely that. (Couple more weeks.)

I have to use truck stops about every other day.

 

It never made sense to me either but low and behold the instructor we had in school actually had to do a parallel at a Pilot while we were going to lunch while in school! Personally I'd go someplace else first but then sometimes you have no choice.

 

I find you're better off knowing how to do something and never needing to do it...

In my opinion, knowing is better than the alternative anyways.

 

Nope........

 

I did it for my examiner, granted, this was in 1987, she looked at me and said, "I' think you know what you're doing" and signed off on my license.


To the OP, if the school ONLY taught you straight line backing, go get your money back.

 

The "Schneider Way" is a 45-degree backing method that no state will teach you anyway, so as long as you grasp the basic principle, you'll be ok.

 

Yep. I find it interesting really, Ga wants the 90 tested on which leaves lots of blind spots. I can do a 90 okay, but I've used the crap outta the 45.

The hardest part about the 45 is the angle. But once you understand and can mentally predict what your tandems will do you can do it perfectly every time.

 

Dangit...that means I'm outing myself as a former punkin driver every time I do a 45!! But I am getting better at backing this tanker

Michigan requires straight-line, offset, and alley dock/90-degree backing, before leaving the test site for the road portion. Fail those, and the test is over.

I was lucky with my CDL school - there were exactly 2 of us in class. Yes, it WAS January in Michigan, and yes, it inhaled with considerable force, but I got a lot of time behind the wheel. Not as much as the other guy, for many reasons (including the fact that he spent a good deal of time trying to determine exactly how many times to turn the steering wheel to line up to back...), but more than I would have had there been more people in class.