Failing your test

It's not now... there is no way to compare the tests pre and post CDL.. hell there were a lot of states where the class A test was written... like sign your name written.. no real testing required.

 

In 1982 it was a class D chauffeurs license.
I got mine in 83. It was alot easier back then

 

When I transferred my license to Illinois, I had to take the CDL test. The first time I passed the pretrip, but because I borrowed a 53' container from my carrier, that combined with a "short wheelbase" 379, I failed the 45° backing. I took a class that had the testers come to their facilities. They show you landmarks where to turn in order to pass the practicals.

Total joke! I, who can drive fail the test, those who pass the test can't drive!

 

I haven’t taken neither a written test nor a driving test since 1979, I bet if they(DMV) told me a need to retake both test to see how I’m doing, I would probably get by on the written and fail the driving test due to the “Pre-inspection” to there standards. I do my pre amd post inspections, but my way. I know it wouldn’t fly by “there way”

 

As most would agree it could be just nerves, don't stress to much dude, we've all been through the process, I still remember my first test drive my legs were shaking so much I could barely depress the clutch. Thankfully I still passed though, most instructors are also aware that your nervous too, some will help while others will just plain make it harder for you. When I did my CDL in the US by this stage I had been driving for years, so had no issues with passing the test, however I was still nervous, I did my test in Weatherford TX just west of Dallas/ Ft Worth, to make things worse we'd just done a crash course like all I did at the school was practise reversing, I hadn't actually driven in a truck with the steering wheel on the left hand side before all our school instructor did was took a few of us around the driving course, so without any practice, booked my practical test, I'd been warned by our school instructor about the reputation of one of the driving assessors who was female and had supposedly failed a few male drivers for making clever remarks, so I get in the truck with her we do the brake test then she asks me "Do you have any questions before we drive?" I reply "yes how do you overcome nervousness?" I'm thinking oh boy what'll happen now? Thankfully she must of realized I was serious about the question, as she just talked to me while still giving me instructions about where to turn etc, etc, so I relaxed focused on the driving got back to the Dept of Transport and got a pass I only got a few points deducted for not looking each way as I crossed an intersection of traffic lights during a green light an old habit of experienced drivers. So all I can say is try and relax enjoy the experience and you will pass.

 

There was no class here in Michigan in 1979, take a 10-question test and you paid the $3 so you could drive a truck. It was harder to get a motorcycle endorsement then, there was a little road test needed.

 

At my school, two chances at the test are included with tuition. Few students have ever needed more than two tries at the test, so when a student has needed a third the college has paid for it as a courtesy. One of those times, the reason for the third test was that an air bag on the trailer developed a leak during the backing portion and the examiner wouldn't allow the trailer to go out on the road test until it was fixed. Obviously that wasn't the student's fault so we covered their re-test.

In the last six years, we've only had one student who could not pass the test after multiple attempts, and I think that was due to an undiagnosed and untreated mental disability that limited his ability to focus. He's a great guy and he really tried but he never passed the exterior pre-trip because he just couldn't stay on task and kept jumping back and forth around the engine compartment so much that he left out too many things. He's the only person in six years to fail the exterior part of the pretrip. Students fail on the in-cab portion fairly often but almost never on the exterior. We have had a few who had to drop out because they couldn't pass their DOT physicals, a few who had to leave because they had too many recent moving violations to be covered under our insurance, and one removed from the class for unsafe behavior.

Before the ELDT mandate about one third of students in Wyoming passed the skills test on the first try. I don't know if that has changed significantly in the last year, but our school's average has stayed pretty consistent over the last four years at just over two-thirds passing on the first try. Most students fail not because they're not ready, but because they get so nervous they make mistakes. The students who can stay relatively calm tend to pass, but if a student is a nervous wreck before the test begins they probably won't do very well. We do everything we can to counter that nervousness in our students, but unfortunately we haven't found a way to eliminate it entirely.

 

I don't know the failure rate but I have been studying the manual and it does seem alot harder than a normal drivers test. Nowadays it seems there are 3 separate tests (vehicle inspection, basic skills, on road driving). Just the vehicle inspection alone I was watching a youtube video guide for it I was thinking how on earth was I going to remember all this, and I have a good memory. I'm not good at identifying parts under the hood of my car, let alone a truck. It's almost like the college degree of driving. To me that seems totally unnecessary. Companies should be responsible for maintaining the truck, not the driver. We don't require car owners to know how to check under the hood, even though very similar problems can arise on the road in the middle of nowhere. It seems as though the DMV is making up for the handing out of drivers licenses like candy, through harder CDL requirements.

 

The fact that you think it's unnecessary might indicate this isn't the career field you should be considering.

 

It's unnecessary for the drivers, it should be done by the company. Basic vehicle maintenance should be taught to all drivers, but not to the level where you have to understand the automotive engineering aspects of it. The amount of autofails, such as checking your brakes in the wrong order or not telling your instructor to put his seatbelt on when he gets in the cab, is absurd. People become truckers for the driving, not for a mechanical engineering degree. I have a feeling things like this are why this field has more than a 100% turnover rate, and why they are desperately trying to hire drivers offering six figure starting salaries at certain companies like Walmart long hauling. The reason I am considering it because I love driving and have always hated office style work. I am willing to put in the effort to try and pass all the exams but I'm entitled to the opinion that it is overblown. If normal drivers licenses were a higher standard, CDL training wouldn't be as insane. Normal car road tests should be an hour long exam with highway and city driving, not half a mile of a few turns in some back neighborhood. My driving skills and tolerance come from 50,000+ miles in NYC alone in the last 2 years, not anything I did before taking the road test or practice with my permit. Companies failing to take responsibility for triple checking vehicle mechanics and maintenance is what causes things like what happened in Colorado, regardless of what is taught the drivers.