CDL advice and Swift examiners

My situation is this.. HAS ANYONE taken their CDL exam through swift? I don't know if the exam is through swift or if it's a private examiner but anyways.. I'm planning on going to Phoenix for the academy but heres my problem. I'm a little concerned about taking the pretrip part. I'm going to be honest and say I don't have the best memory when it comes to memorizing specific ways of saying things or having a particular order when identifying the parts and stating what your looking for. In my states CDL manual (Colorado) it just simply states you need to point or touch the parts and explain what your looking for.. nothing about an order or HOW your say it such as "no missing parts, no damage, properly mounted and secure" or however it goes.. Seems like when you do it like that, if I was an examiner I would feel they just memorized a bunch of crap but the person doesn't know what they are actually looking at or for.. I want to know from someone who has taken the CDL exam and passed with swift in phoenix more specifically and I want to know HOW STRICT the examiner was.. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pass purely on memorization. Thanks in advance for your help.. OH and everything else about the CDL exam won't be a problem such as written or the airbrake tests but the pretrip is the part I'm most concerned about.

 

if you do a little more research about swift, i know they lost the 3rd party testing license several years back. it was tied to a mexican and an illegally obtained CDL, no school and many people killed in Ohio if i remember correctly.

i do not know if they are allowed to give the test, and the location that was directly tied with the incident im speaking about was the millington TN location. i do not know if they pulled the testing for all the schools or just that one in TN.

point being, unless you are just trapped with no way of any CDL training at all and are forced to go with swift, then you gotta do what you gotta do. CDL mills dont teach you ####.

 

Its not about memorization. you need to know what your lookin at, not just for your own safety, but everyone else around you 24 hrs a day.Do everyone a favor if pre trip/post trip is your concern practice practice practice dont memorize really learn it in detail, even if it takes longer, it will be worth it!

 

i had the same fear you have about the memory but when i acutally got to see a truck close up and did it a time or two it comes to you

 

I have no problem learning the parts.. What I wanted to know was if there was a certain way you had to SAY them.. Like an order or if you had to talk like a robot.. I have read posts where people failed because they didn't say exactly what was supposed to be said..

 

I would say this. When your time starts say my "definition" of secure is there are no cracked, bent, broken, loose or missing. NUTS, BOLTS, CLAMPS, BRACKETS or fittings.

Then when pointing to things for anything metal say the item and that is not cracked, bent or broken, loose or missing and is secure. If it's something that can leak make sure you say it's not leaking at some point before you say secure.

For any hoses or belts say they are not cut, torn or frayed and they are not leaking and are secure.

By giving the examiner your definition of secure at the start you eliminate 99.9% of the questions they could ask you. If you remember those few phrases you should easily pass if not get a perfect score.

EDIT: ALSO remember YOU ONLY NEED TO DO ONE AXLE!! When you are done with one axle say you would do the other axle the same way as this one. Do that for the drive axle and the trailer axle. Also when you are done make sure you say you would to the other side of the trailer the same way you would do the side you just did. And then ask if you have anytime left. I finished mine in about 18 minutes.

 

I answered the poll but didnt get my CDL through SWIFT....I got mine the old fashioned way.

 

Thats fine, the poll wasn't related to swift but thanks for your answer on the poll!

 

Thank you for your response. It pretty much answered my question.. I just hope I get an examiner that isn't all by the book and wants me to do ALL axles, BOTH sides etc.. It would be nice to do just one side to save time.

 

You can't do both sides and all the axles you would run out of time and nobody would pass. So no examiner will have you do all the axles and both sides. That's why you say u would do the other drive axles and trailer axles the same and the other side of the trailer the same. It just shows the examiner that you would do the same thing that's all they need to hear.