My Journey To Becoming A Schneider Driver

Well, tomorrow is the big day....hopefully. SQT starts tomorrow and if I'm fast enough and pass I can get home tomorrow night. We have a big class so all of us wont be able to complete the driving part of our tests tomorrow. Week 3 has been exhausting. They really do cram a lot of information into our heads in the last 3 days. Week 3 is mostly learning the Qualcomm and trip planning. Very little driving. In act a few guys never went back out on the road with their instructors this week. I only logged 45 minutes of drive time this week. My advice to anyone attending the Fontana orientation is to stay late on day 3 of week 3 for tutoring. Coach, as he calls himself, teaches an "outside of the box" way of figuring out you NAT which is a lot easier than thecurriculum set by Schneider. Coach and Gus did a good job. I feel more at ease with tomorrows test. Plus they gave us some extra cheat sheets to use.

One of the best parts of Schneider orientation is they dont want you to fail. Actually its impossible to fail. You can use any and all books, paperwork and notes you've taken on the final test. As Fo says, if you fail its because you didn't want to pass. They give us all the tools to pass, its up to us to use them!

I'm confident 99% of our class will pass. I'll update after tomorrow!!

 

I made it! Passed my SQT tests yesterday morning. I will be assigned a truck on Wednesday!

The first part of the test consisted of trip planning. Basically they assign you a simulated load. You must transfer that info to your pumpkin book then do trip planning. This exercise is used to test your ability to properly identify your ETA and NAT. Once you pass that you are taken out to a truck. Fire up the truck, find your trailer, couple and do your pretrip. Once that is done you log into the qualcomm and begin your load assignment. It was really easy. You are given a cheat sheet with detailed instructions on what to do. Very easy!! We started our SQT at 7am sharp. I was done by 10:15am. My final score including the 4 extra credit points was 104%. Perfect score!!

I'll report to my OC on Wednesday and pick up my truck. After I pretrip it and make sure all my documents are in order I'll be turned loose for my first solo load!! Its been an interesting and informative ride!! Good luck to all o you going through the orientation process. Pay attention and you will succeed!!

 

I hope that comes with a raise!!