CDL school

There's, "studying" and there's preparing to pass the test. As the young people say - there's an app for that! CDL Prep is what I used. Hundreds of questions and most of the questions (and answers) are WORD FOR WORD what's on the DMV test. It has a practice mode where it shows you the correct answer immediately after you select an answer and a test mode where it shows you the questions you missed after you finish the test. I didn't read the book or the DMV manual I just started using the app on the Greyhound ride to my CDL school. I was the last one seated to take the DMV test in my class, the first to finish and I got the highest score in my class. Practice on the app. When you can consistently score 95% or higher it's time to head out for the DMV.

 

I’m in southeast Michigan feel free to pm me with any questions you got. Also I drive a manual trans daily and it’s tough to begin with but very easy with patience.

 

The pre trip seems like a lot, but once you do it once or twice you get the hang of it. The hardest part for me (I am/was in a Cdl school until today), was knowing the actual name of every component. What I mean by that was you need to know that the leaf spring hangar is a leaf spring hangar, a slack adjuster is a slack adjuster. The hardest stuff to remember is under the hood if you don’t have experience with engines.

Every time you walk up to the truck, do the pretrip. In a week you’ll know the name for every part. After that, just do BBC or ABC. That’s “it’s not bent broken or cracked” or “abrasions, bulges, or cuts”. ABC is for anything rubber. BBC covers everything else. Just throw in “it’s securely mounted” or no rot, no leak, etc. Easy money.

Learning how to shift and gain speed properly is the hardest part of actual driving. Also knowing when to downshift and how to stop efficiently. Only took me 3 days, but I wasn’t being taught properly. I had to teach myself off of YouTube videos, then test it out in the truck myself.

 

To pass the knowledge tests (computer test) I recommend TruckerCountry.com. They have more versions of all endorsements plus General, Combination, and Air-Brakes tests. I recomened you get every endorsement possible (General, Combination, Air-Brakes, Doubles/Triples (1 test), Tanker, and HazMat (if you have an extra $200. The only endorsement you will ever have to renew is HazMat, if you keep it. All other endorsements last as long as you keep a CDL. Tanker is necessary even if you NEVER EVER pull a liquid tanker trailer. There is plenty of freight put in/on other trailers that will require a Tanker endorsement.

Take the General Knowledge Test - Classical Mode
Once the questions are on screen, scroll down to the bottom and click on "Calculate Your Grade", even though you didn't answer any questions. It will show your score was 0% and show the correct answers to all of the questions below your grade. Carefully mark the correct answers, (not A,B,C, or D) to each question. What I do is copy each question and delete every wrong answer for each question. The goal is to NEVER READ A WRONG ANSWER. Once you do this read each question slowly, and immediately read the correct answer. Do this for each version of the test. At TruckerCountry.com there are 15 versions of the General Knowledge Test - Classic Mode. At your own pace read the question and ONLY THE CORRECT ANSWER until you have read through all versions of the test. Then repeat for Combination, Air-Brakes, Doubles/Triples, Tanker, and HazMat if you want it. You ARE NOT trying to memorize the questions or the answers. You ARE NOT trying to memorize that for this question the answer is B. Your goal is only to recoginze one of the possible answer on the screen on test day. Pick that familiar answer and move on. The wording can be slightly different at the state's testing station. The state may add a question or two you haven't seen before. Answer whichever seems best and move on. You should be achieving 90% or better before you go to the real computer test at the state office. This is how you pass the computer tests. This is NOT HOW YOU LEARN EVERYTHING. Passing the test is an item. This is how you pass the item. You take the test on a computer. This method will make the computer happy. The computer isn't a mind-reading device and it's not a conversation. Did you mark the answer it wanted, you passed that question.