Best Strategy for getting first cdl permit

I passed general knowledge, combination, and air brakes first try after a day and a half of studying religiously.

Read your CDL manual word for word with a highlighter. The section you skip will be the section they ask about most, seems like that's how it always works. Most of the test will simply be reworded straight from that booklet. A lot of it will be worded to trick you while other parts will be very straightforward.
Memorize anything with bullet points and you'll be fine.

 

Also got it my first try.

Nothing beats old fashioned buckling down

 

Isn't your school prepping you guys for it? I had mine when I went but most others didn't and they went over the manual the first couple days. Theres practice tests here but definately study your states manual, it's really not that hard. You'll be fine. Remember the faster you get your permit the more truck time you have while othera are still working on it. Me and one other guy had a truck and an Instructor to our selves for almost a week while the other guys worked on getting their permits.

 

Our school has a course that preps you after which they recommend you get it. I didn't want to wait.

 

Best way to learn what is in the manual is, after reading each chapter, go back and copy it over by hand word for word, longhand on paper. By the time you do this, you will have learned and will remember most of what you copied, without having tried so hard to learn it. I don't know why it works, but something about copying it over and writing it out by hand seems to help remember it.

 

Congrats.

I just want to see my peers succeed. Next up, that good ol Class-A!

 

Congrats. It isn't that hard. No BS I started reading the commercial driver handbook for the first time last night at 11PM. Read until about 1 AM. Finished reading it this morning and went to the DPS office and passed all 5 tests for my CDL. I think there were a total of over 200 questions with the various tests combined and I missed a total of 7. Never been to any kind of trucking school or driven a class A vehicle.