Just got my TX CDL about ten days ago and here's the program:
1. Check in at the DPS at least 1/2 hour before your appointed time.
2. While you're waiting, get the rig set up the way you want it (mirrors, seat, etc.). Maybe run through your 8-step brake test one last time. They want specific phrases from you when you do the test for them, so it is important to have it down. You don't want to be failed before you even leave the parking lot.
3. When the tester comes out greet him or her, and hand them the rig paperwork (registration, insurance, etc.). She will look over that, then you will run through all the lights and turn signals and stuff to make sure everything is in working order.
4. The tester will then get in the cab with you and you will commence the 8-step. Once you do that you will receive your instructions for the road test.
5. The DPS will have a circuit that they will use which is probably about 10-15 miles long and will include an area where you will be graded on a straight-back and on a parallel park. The may do the back and the parallel on the DPS premises if they have an area for it. Corpus Christi DPS does not, so you do those tests on a quiet side street about five miles from the DPS office.
6. Assuming you get around the circuit without stalling, hitting any curbs, crossing a solid yellow line, causing an accident, or anything else that can get you failed, the tester will tell you what you need improvement on and what your score was. If you have a 70 or higher on the test you pass. If not, you need to re-schedule. You get three chances to pass, and if you don't you have to start the licnsing procss all over again.
The Corpus test was relatively easy. There was about 7-8 miles of highway driving, maybe 3-4 of surface street driving, the back and the parallel park. There were a couple of dicey spots where it would be easy to hit a curb or go over the solid yellow line, but if you know they are there then you can be ready for them. The last two days of the school I went to, we just went round and round on the DPS test circuit all day, so I had it pretty much memorized, right down to the shifts.
Hope that helps.
Edit: BTW, on the parallel park thing: Just fake it and get it within 3-4 feet of the curb. They can only deduct a max of nine points for an ugly parking job. However, you hit the curb and it's an automatic fail. I got pretty good at parallel in school, but when it came time to take the test, I made damn sure I wasn't going to hit that curb and ended up about three feet off and at an angle to the curb line. When the tester got back in the truck I said, "That's probably the worst parallel park job I've done since the day I learned to do it." Her answer was, "Don't sweat it. At least you didn't hit the curb and that's all we look for."
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