Beginning the Long Awaited CDL Process

Hello again!

Well, Day 3 is in the bag.

Turns out that everyone taking their physical yesterday must be good to go. All of them showed back up. The day started out finishing up the lectures covering General Knowledge, at the end of which, we corrected last nights open book practice test. I got one answer incorrect! It covered returning to the road after making an emergency evasive maneuver to avoid an accident. There were 3 answers that "could" apply and the fourth choice was "All of the above" (that was my choice). even though the instructor agreed that all 3 methods to return to the road can be used, they were going with the one in the CMV manual. Oh well, no pity points for Wedge.

We watched 3 videos today. First one on "How to make Turns". The second was on "Pre-trip inspections" (can't have enough of those). The last was a CVTA (Commercial Vehicle Training Association) video about truck stops and all the cool stuff they have..... Not sure about the last one, but the part about the donuts made it all worth while. Don't worry, it's all good.

After lunch, they brought in some live entertainment.....a recruiter! He was from Covenant Transport and spent about an hour giving his speech and answering questions. One of the difficult things for new students is knowing what questions to ask. I was able to keep the question and answer session alive by asking questions about home time, what type of miles they paid (HHG, practical),etc. There will be 3 or 4 more recruiters making an appearance over the next couple of weeks.

After the recruiter departed we were given the final exam on General Knowledge. My score was 96%! I'll take that score any day.

That pretty much was the extend of the day. Tomorrow begins the Air Brakes lecture.

Banjer Picker, Each student will do his CDL test ride and Pre-trip examination with a member of the motor vehicle department at the DDS facility (Department of Driver Services). No third party testers or test sites are used.

Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow...

-Wedge

 

Yeah, Huh?

It was getting late when I finally got around to the test, so I just grabbed it and circled the answers.

I can't be perfect, it'll scare the kiddies.

 

Hello again!

Another notch on the belt as the fourth day of training is in the books.

Today's lecture was on Air Brakes. It was very thorough and informative. A couple of the students were having a little trouble picking it up because they kept trying to compare all these new aspects to hydraulic brakes. As I mentioned somewhere earlier, this instructor, being a veteran driver and somewhat easy going, has excellent people skills and can offer up great analogies to get the point across if you don't understand how something works. And to drive the point home, he can usually equate the said subject to a situation that affected him at one time or another. The lecture was capped off with an Air Brakes video.

Before lunch we had an open book test on Air Brakes. They encourage you to use the CMV manual to find the answers and to write down the number of the chapter and paragraph where it was found. I prefer not to use the book and see how well I've retained the information after all these months. I aced it! Guess I still remember this stuff.

After lunch we were again treated with another recruiter. Schneider National, in all their orangeness, spent an hour telling us why we should all go to work for them. I must say, his presentation was better than the Covenant recruiter's.

After the head hunter left we were given a final exam on Air Brakes. I got a 98% WTF. It was a much longer test and I got nailed with one of those "it can go either way" kinda questions. Well, it went the other way.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting through a lecture and watching a video on logbooks.

So far, I'm still satisfied with this school. If there's a negative at all it would be the fast pace. If you stay focused you will not have a problem. The best advice I can give is if you don't understand something....ask. They will certainly take the time to help you.

More to come so stay tuned.......

-Wedge

 

I get fussy when it comes to material I understand. Sometimes I go through a test too fast (over confident) and get broadsided by the way a word was used. I suppose if I would slow down a bit I wouldn't miss those types of questions.

Look good in orange? Actually, funny you should mention that. Schneider has always been one possible company to go with. They don't seem to get too much bad press. I almost went with Schneider about 5 years ago when I still lived up north. They have/ had a terminal about 15 minutes from my house and still ran a CDL school at the time. If my construction business hadn't taken off, I might be a pumpkin today. So they're on the list. I am cautious when it comes to the super carriers.

 

Whew!

Week 1 is history.

Started the day off with a lecture on combination vehicles. But before I recap, our class size increased by 2 people. My understanding is that if you should fail a portion of your permit test, you must re-take that particular lecture before you take the test again at the motor vehicle department (DDS here in Georgia). So our newest attendees were only there for the one class.

We started by watching a video on combination vehicles, which was followed by a lecture. There is plenty of material to cover. We also discussed tankers, doubles & triples. A second video was shown that was kind of like a lecture that covered questions and answers that one could expect to find on the state tests.

Just before lunch time, we were given a practice test...............I got 1 wrong.........again. Maybe it's the coffee, yeah that's it. Too much coffee! We broke for lunch and went down to the range to watch the activities. The truck models, btw are 3 Freightliners and a Volvo, all with sleepers. They are well maintained, and inspected quite regularly. Spending time on the range is helpful because we get to see what will be expected to do.

Went back to class and covered some areas of combinations that some folks had questions on. Then we took the Combinations final exam. i scored 94%. I give up.

More to come.......

 

After a short break, our instructor gave some advice to those who would be taking their cdl permit tests. If you are not sure which answer is correct, by eliminating the answers you know are wrong (multiple choice questions), sometimes you can "back into" the correct answer. That is very good advice. I experienced that when I took the tests for my permit months ago. Sometimes the process of eliminating the wrong answer will jog your memory into remembering which one is correct.

So with the classroom portion completed, my fellow students were dismissed and were to report to the DSS office (on Saturday) of their choice to take the test for their permit. I was told, that because I and another one of my classmates already have our permits, we are required to make up that time and need to attend a lecture for a day. Apparently, the day that you take your test for the permit counts as part of your attended hours. So, I'll be attending a class on Tuesday this week to satisfy the hourly requirement (this was the instructors recommendation because the school does the DOT examinations that day, and it will make for a very short day).

"When do yo start training on the trucks?" I hear you cry. I was getting to that.

I am assigned to start my range training on Nov.1. They keep the number of people assigned to the trucks very small, plus they are constantly rotating people through all the different phases (range, road, cdl testing). It's quite a concert. If there is an available opening they'll move me up because I was the first one with a permit. Those that took their tests today (Sat.) were instructed to call in upon completion. Everybody is in the same boat. They will be assigned a date to begin their range training.

So far, it's going fine. Their teaching style provides for an easy-to-learn atmosphere, and a level of comfort that made learning enjoyable and fun. I'm glad I decided on this school.

So that's it for now. I'll continue to post all new information on my training. If you have any questions about the school and their training program, feel fee to ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll find out for you.

Thanks for reading.

-Wedge