Swift Academy Phoenix - Full Write Up

Ok guys, this is going to be long, and I don't expect everyone to read it. When I was doing research, I really wanted to know what the day by day breakdown of these schools was like, but looking through pages of a thread to find the next day was hard to follow so I decided to wait until I was finished with school and then post. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer. Here it is:

Swift Driving Academy Phoenix

Day 1 (6am-4pm)
Walking into the classroom, there were several tables pushed together. Each seat had a folder full of papers, and a piece of paper with a name taped to the top of the table. The setup combined with the assigned seating had an elementary school feel.

The academy manager, Joe Stone, introduced himself and welcomed us all. Then the coordinator, Lynn Sills, introduced herself, gave us each a $5 token for The Jake Break Cafe, and took us through the rest of the day. Everyone handed over their medical cards, long form physical, permit/DMV envelopes (if we had already obtained them), and our licenses so copies could be made. Then we completed our applications (basically reviewing the information and putting down references before signing), and then it was off to the clinic down the hall for a whiz quiz. Since there was only room for 2 people to “go” at a time, those that weren’t waiting in the clinic were taken on a brief tour of the yard.

When all was said and done, all the out of state students were loaded on the bus to go to DMV for their permits. Anyone with an Arizona address had to get their permit beforehand, and was permitted to leave for the day.

**WARNING**
If you are attending from out of state, you are not given any study time before going to DMV for your permit. There is no review, so please make sure you are prepared on day one. Several people failed because they thought the class would teach them the information for the permit like some other schools.

Also, if you get your physical done outside of Swift, it has to be from an APPROVED facility. From what I’ve heard, this is only Concentra medical centers, so please check with your recruiter beforehand. We had one woman that was sent home because her PCP did her physical, and she did not have the $40 to do a physical in the Swift clinic.

Day 2 (6am-4pm)
This day was about Hours of Service and how to complete logs. It was taught by an older gentleman who came to be my favorite of all the instructors by the time training was over. Jerry is honest, telling it like it is, and giving you tips for life on the road. Obviously, HOS and logs don’t take 10 hours to learn, so he clicked through some Powerpoints, answered some questions, and when we all felt comfortable, he chatted with us about trucking in the real world.

Day 3 (6am-4pm)
Finally on the range! If you drive, you can park up front and walk back to the range (about 3/4 mile), or you can opt to catch the bus. If you stand by the sign that says how many accident free days there currently are (by the truck entrance), the bus coming from the hotel will stop and pick you up. It’s suppose to be there between 5:25am and 5:30am, but there were a few days it was there at 5:20am, so make sure to get out there a little early if you don’t want to walk.

When we got to the range, we were instructed to put all of our stuff in the break trailer (the smaller trailer that says Central Refrigerated on the door) but to keep our folders out. Then we should find the clipboard with our class number on it and sign in. At 6am, we were taken into the larger trailer and introduced to Howard and Romel, who would be our first range instructors. Howard is the supervisor. He will go over the range rules, which include no cell phones. Even though your paperwork says you can have your phone for the sole purpose of checking time, he informed us that having your phone out at all is an automatic write up. We started our logs (we had to do them daily from this day on) and then headed out towards the trucks.

Everyone that had a permit was allowed to get into a truck in groups of 3 with an instructor. The instructor demonstrated how to do straight line backing, then each student got a chance to try. The students who had failed the permit test were only able to watch for about 15 minutes, then they were loaded back on the bus to retest at DMV.

After everyone had done a demonstration, we practiced for the rest of the day. The people that went back to DMV and passed joined us around noon to start their demonstrations and practice. There were about twice as many students as there were trucks, so we had to take turns. If you weren’t in the truck, you were standing on the asphalt in the sun. WEAR SUNSCREEN! Especially in the summer, when it’s 100-115 degrees, you WILL burn.

**Note**
If you failed the permit test a second time, you have the option of staying at the hotel and taking the test a third time, but you will be moved back to the next class.

Day 4 (6am-4pm)
The first evaluation. We were able to practice until our first break (9am) and then we sat at the table as everyone was evaluated on straight line backing. If you didn’t pass, you could practice when everyone was finished, and then had a re-evaluation after lunch. If you still didn’t pass, you were sent home.

The evaluation worked on a point system. You could have up to 3 points and still pass, but 4 points or more meant you failed. You could pull up once for “free,” meaning no points were added, but afterward, pull ups were 1 point each. You pulled your truck up past the lines, and had to back it all the way through the lines until your tractor was past the end of the lines. If any part of the truck or trailer (mirrors included) touched the line, the instructor would blow a whistle and you had to pull up. Whistles were 2 points each, and if you had already used your free pull up, you were at 3 points already. Our class had 3 people fail.

For those of us that did pass, we were taken over to another truck for a pretrip demonstration, and then sent on our way to practice our pretrip. They do give you a list of what you’re looking for, and it looks rather daunting, but many sections are the same or very similar. We practiced pretrip for the rest of the day.

Day 5 (6am-4pm)
Now on our class schedule, it says we were suppose to have a demonstration and practice for drop and hook, alley dock, and shifting. What we actually did was pretrip for the whole day. We were told there were too many people doing retests from classes ahead of us to get in the trucks.

Day 6 (6am-4pm)
Again, our schedule said we were to practice drop and hook, alley dock, and shifting, but what we actually did was another day of pretrip, with a little drop and hook in the middle. After our morning pretrip, the drop and hook was demonstrated to the entire class as a group once, and then we all were permitted to try it once before going back to pretrip.

Day 7 (6am-4pm)
After a few days in the sun, it was nice to get back to the classroom for a break. Jerry was the instructor again, and went over hazmat rules and regulations, hours of service, and trip planning. We were given text books and had to read several chapters. There were a few powerpoint presentations, and then we had a test on hazmat and HOS. Since we had some extra time, Jerry also showed us some videos of crashes that occurred due to driver fatigue, and one from a student that was speeding around the Donnor Pass.

Day 8 (6am-4pm)
Another classroom day. We talked a little about trip planning and life on the road. Jerry brought in a few of the 12v appliances that are available to make life on the road more comfortable. We had to watch some videos about driving in wind, in the mountains, etc. Since our pretrip evaluation was the next day, he also took us out for a little bit to practice so we could refresh our memories before the test.

Day 9 (6am-4pm)
By now, we all the pretrip down, so the evaluation wasn’t a problem. You’re allowed 18 points, and that’s a lot of things to miss. You do have to do the air brakes test correctly, or you fail automatically, which happened to 2 people. Both passed on the re-evaluation the next day though. You do your evaluation alone, of course, and if it’s not your turn, you do pretrip until everyone is done.

Afterward, we were split into groups of 6-7 and had a demonstration of offset backing and parallel parking, after which we waiting around for our turn to practice. Waiting for 6 people to go ahead of you isn’t fun, so hope you have a smaller class than I did.

Day 10 (6am-4pm)
We did our morning pretrip, and those that failed the pretrip from the day before did their re-evaluation. We were put into groups of 2-3 to practice our skills (straight line backing, offset backing, and parallel parking). Our “shifting” practice came from idling around in a big circle going from 2nd up to 4th and back without using the accelerator. Everyone that was in my group for the offset/parallel demonstration wasn’t given instructions on how to shift. I myself even asked if we should be double clutching, and was told to just shift like a car. I only learned how to shift this week from talking to other students.

Day 11 (6am-4pm)
This was the same as day 10.

Day 12 (6am-4pm)
Another morning pretrip, and then it was time for our skills evaluation. Each instructor took a student, and the rest of us continued to practice until they came for us. Straight line backing was first, then offset, followed by parallel.

For this evaluation, you were allowed 12 points total between all 3 skills, in any combination. You were allowed some freebies for each one, so this was the breakdown as far as I remember it:

Straight Line Backing
1 free pull up (1 point for each one thereafter)
1 free get out and look (1 point for each one thereafter)
2 points for a whistle

Offset Backing
2 free pull ups (1 point for each one thereafter)
2 free get out and look (1 point for each one thereafter)
2 points for a whistle

Parallel Parking
2 free pull ups (1 point for each one thereafter)
2 free get out and look (1 point for each one thereafter)
2 points for a whistle

No promises on the point values, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were. Also, it’s good to note that any change of direction can be considered a pull up, so if you roll a little, they can count it. I was very careful not to roll back or forward, so I can’t tell you how strict they are on that. Remember though, if you get a whistle, you’re forced to change direction, so you automatically get another point if you don’t have any pull ups left.

If you didn’t pass, there was a re-evaluation after lunch, otherwise it more skills practice. Those that failed the skills evaluation a second time (we had 3) were given the choice to go home with a bill or stay and be held back and put in the next class.

Day 13 (6am-4pm)
Pass or fail, we all did our pretrip and went right back to skill practice all day. For the 3 that failed the re-evaluation from day 12, they still practiced with the rest of us, but were held back and put in the next class after this day.

Day 14 Off Duty!!
Wow our first day off since we started! But there’s a reason....

Day 15 (2am-12pm)
The official start of road week! In case you missed it, the day starts at 2am. Not only does that take us right up to the end of a 34 hour restart, but it counts as your night driving. There are 4 road instructors and 4 trucks, and with our class 2 trucks had 3 students and the other 2 trucks had 4 students. My truck had 4 students so we each got about 2 hours behind the wheel.

The instructors drove us out to a 2 lane highway in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the Buckeye/Tonapah area. We took turns shifting up from 2nd to 8th gear, and then all the way back down. A few people (myself included) got some time on the freeway when we had to make a trip to the truck stop for bathroom breaks, and one person from each truck drove back into town to the terminal.

Day 16 (6am-4pm)
From this day on, a student drove out each day, and another drove back in. Today we drove out to some country roads and practiced “commentary driving,” which is where you say everything you’re looking at. You read all the signs, if bridges or overpasses aren’t marked, you say so, followed by the minimum requirements for such (unmarked overpass, 14’6” or greater....) There were also some curves and a little hill we got to practice on.

After everyone had one hour of driving time, we each drove our second hour in the city. We learned about the turns, checking intersections and what to do on railroad tracks. With all those cars zipping around you, it’s a little nerve racking, but very doable.

Day 17 (6am-4pm)
We didn’t leave the city on this day. We made more turns, merged on and off the freeway, got lots of shifting practice at lights, and of course with so much going on and having to do commentary, the driver never stopped talking.

Day 18 (6am-4pm)
We started in the classroom so that Lynn could go over orientation. She asked us all when we wanted to go to orientation, gave us our paperwork, and answered questions. They staggered the last evaluations, so our group spent the first hour and a half practicing our skills again before heading out. Unlike before, we were still in our groups during the road evaluation. It took about 30 minutes each, and started/ended with a road side stop where we switched drivers.

You are allowed 30 points on the road evaluation, and everything counts as 1 point. There are a lot of things to remember though. For example, every intersection requires 3 traffic checks (before, during, after), which is 3 points if you miss them all. There are also ways to fail automatically. Hitting a curb, grinding gears more than 5 times (bad ones, they don’t really count the little ones), stalling in an intersection, anything illegal, etc.

Out of the 4 in my truck, myself and one other person passed. The third person did well, but turned on a yellow light and failed for disobeying a traffic signal. (Oddly enough, during my actual CDL test, I was told I received a point for stopping at a yellow because it was unnecessary, but I’d rather get one point than risk failing on a judgement call.) The last driver in our truck was very nervous and made a lot of mistakes.

One person on the other truck with 4 students failed as well, so those 3 had to take the re-evaluation the next day. After the test, we spent the rest of the day practicing city driving again.

Day 19 (6am-4pm)
The big day! We started in the classroom again were Jerry, who is one of the testers, gave us some general instructions on what we would be doing for our CDL test. There were 3 testers in all, one of which is an outside contractor because the third Swift tester was having a knee replacement surgery. He is an old man named Sandy, an ex-marine who I’d heard already was rather rough in his delivery. I wanted anyone but him, but wouldn’t you know my luck....not only was I first, but Sandy was my tester. He was actually a very nice guy and talked to me through my test to calm my nerves. The testers all took their first students, and everyone else just had to sit around and wait. The 3 students that failed their road evaluation were taken out for a re-evaluation. Had they passed, they would’ve taken the CDL test later in the day, but all 3 failed again and were moved back to the next class to repeat road week.

The CDL test was everything we had been evaluated on previously. Start with pretrip, then do straight line backing, offset backing, and parallel parking. If you don’t pass the skills portion, you can’t move on to your road test. If you do pass, it’s a road test with 4 left turns, 4 right turns, a little bit of freeway, a roadside stop, and a railroad crossing. The same point values for all the tests still apply.

After you pass, they put together an envelope with your test papers to take to DMV. Since the academy requires 12 hours of driving time, and we were all short, we had to make it up before leaving even though we had already passed the CDL test. I spent 2 hours driving, ending my turn at the DMV where I went in for my plastic

After leaving the DMV, I rode in the back of the truck while another student did her driving time. When we got back to the terminal, the manager, Joe, took a copy of my license, shook my hand, and congratulated me. I walked back to my car and drove home with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

 

Do as many different practice tests as possible! For the permit, unless you're getting endorsements, you really only have study 3 sections: general knowledge, air brakes, and combination vehicles. I think it was sections 2, 5, and 6. Focus on those three parts of the manual and keep doing online practice tests, you'll see similar questions at the DMV.

When you go to take the test, remember that you can skip questions. Skip the ones you're unsure of, and if you have to come back to them, so be it. You may get enough correct that you won't have any skipped questions come up again, or you may even get the answer from one of the other questions.

 

Yeah. It's way easier than the paper version because as soon as you get 80% of the questions correct, you're done. That's why skipping the ones you're unsure of gives you the best chance of passing.

 

No problem. Just remember to keep a positive attitude. Every time we had an evaluation, I didn't feel like I could do it, but every time I did well. They will push you, but keep your head up and don't give up!