Hello all, as a resident of PA, I will be required to take my CDL test there after I complete school. Has anyone here taken the PA CDL test? If so, what exactly did it consist of in terms of the vehicle control section? Did you have to blind side parallel park? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

I dont know about PA, but here in MS we have to sight side and blind side parrallel....easy. and dock at a 45 degree angle and straight back. On Parrallel parking.....start your back as close as you can to the first corner cone and cut hard and straighten up...once you get straight and can see in your mirrors you can adjust if you need to cut in more or not and just set that baby in there....you can do it. BOL

 

Took my eight years ago in Butler,PA:
Straight line back
Alley dock
Five mile drive
Pre-trip
Air brake test
Do Not Repeat DO Not let the trailer cross the white line on a on or off ramp. They will nic you.
Must double clutch, no floating gears, both hands on the wheel, seat belt.
That's about it.
BOL

 

I did all that, except the alley dock, I did the blind side parallel. That was just 2 years ago.

 

I had to do the blind side parallel in PA. The school I went to said that it depends on the examiner and unfortunately I got the "drill sergeant". I swear that man despised truckers and he put me through every thing possible. :shock: Just be prepared, it all depends on that persons mood, time available and if they want to make it a long or short day. :lol: If we all made it, so can you.

 

Where will you be taking your test?? A state facility or an approved alternate (private) one.....like a school that does its own testing.

A friend of mine came off the road to work at a new CDL school and got approved to be an examiner there. He told me I could pick up my P endorsement through him just by scheduling an exam there. They must allow non-students of theirs to test there if they schedule an appointment and they might be a little easier to get one than the state if you do it on a day they are testing their own students.....

Anyway, in answer to your question....he told me everybody does a pre-trip, straight line back, road test and one (or maybe two, I forget) out of the other in the lot tests: alley dock, parrallel park, sight sided back...

its been a while and I'm fuzzy on the details but if you check with one of these sites they can tell you more 'cuz he was more than willingto tell me what the process is so it is not a state secret!

 

It all depends on where you take your test at in PA. I had to sight side and straight back. others sites require different things. I also heard of one site only doing straight line back.

 

From my knowledge, I will be taking the test at a PA DMV site. This probably means I will have to do more than at a school's site I assume. Am I right or wrong on this?

 

My training school trained to pass the test and little more. Of course it is working on being a bonified CDL mill. If you have your study guild from PA it lists what you may be tested on. And as I said before it depends on where you take the test. Also my instructor said some schools cant test at some sites. Probly why we had a 100 mile drive to take the test.

 

Took mine a little over a year ago at the DMV in south philly off Island Ave. All I had to do was blind side park, and Front/Rear stops between the lines. Testing site was too narrow for anything else. My examiner was a real stickler on the allowed minimum for tread depth (must've asked 6 different times throughout the test), everything else was simple.