Company driving test

I did well enough for Dowdy in Batesville come down the hill, change drivers to me, come back up the hill with the correct staying in gear until turn is completed against that upgrade prior to applying horses. The horses she gave to me when I asked for it caused me to request that old tractor to be assigned to me then and there for OTR work. Dowdy handed me that old tractor (FLD 120 in my avatar... from roughly 1998)
Anyhow... converting that tractor from road test back to OTR service with the necessary new suit of rubber all the way around, new driver's seat, new matress and a front end alingment. ( Not too bad for a pretrip eh?)

That tractor despite its reputation as a freight shaker etc and some bad things over the years was one of the top three tractors ever in my life time. And the horses she had.. wheee ooo ee. Foot on floor, mountain upgrade goes buh bye. At or near the speed limit loaded.

 

Reason you'll be taking a driving test is because the person testing you wants to make sure you can handle a semi like lane control.The backing you probably won't do till after your training.

 

The only time I was tested before hired I had to hook up to a trailer,drive few miles in town then back up in between 2 trailers and unhook.

 

They are likely checking to see how well you operate truck in variety of situation (highway, local roads, turning, lights, speed zones, etc), your backing abilities and figure out where they should have you start in their training program. Maybe you need direct one on one supervision or are ready for a team operation with an experienced driver who can teach you some non-driving aspects of job (Qualcomm, dealing with customers, securing loads, paperwork, etc) and is also immediately available if you get yourself in an unsure situation. Many "CDL SCHOOLS" churn out drivers with just a few (literally) hrs of driving, no real world backing and no knowledge of actual job. Don't sweat it.

 

I don't need hours. 15 minutes to a half hour will do it. Pick a steep mountain road and let's go. Preferably a big enough hill to make the examiner go pale and swallow his coffee cup.

 

You are also an experienced driver, who has pulled loaded trailers over plenty of varying grades, lots and lots of curves, every traffic situation imaginable and probably covered many times over the amount of ground backing up as the OP has done going forward. The OP may have only driven a truck, with an empty trailer for just a few hours, on mostly flat roads with light traffic and half of that in backing practice between some cones with half an acre to maneuver in

 

I want to motivate the young one. Someday he will be better than I am or ever will be. In charge of a thousand truckers with his own office and people to work the phones and paperwork for him.

I have a flaw of trying to lead by example. Sometimes it gets people to get out in front and show me how it's done. if not actually better than I can do it. That goes back to my truck school days where the 20 or so of us competed with each other for the best, fastest, precise etc.