HOW HARD IS IT TO PASS THE CDL TEST
 

A neighbor down th street said her cousin took the course and he was the only one that past his cdl test out of 17 student. How hard is it and do you have to take the whole course all over again and pay all that big money again

Pass CDL Test
 

Are you talkin' written or skills?
Written - STUDY the state CDL manual, do the manual review questions (highlite answers in manual), do practice test(s) on various websites, internalize answers, written should be cake.
Skills - Practice, practice, practice after being shown how to do the maneuvers. Get the kinesics (sp) down.

Too many people want the results but won't work to get 'em. If the CDL tests can't be passed, think burger flipper. The hours are better. BOL

1 out of 17 passed??????

Well then 1 of 2 things happened (if not both).


The school sucked

The students failed to apply themselves enough to pass.

The school I went to, we had 14 in my class and all but 1 person passed everything the first time around on both writtens and later on the skills test.

The person who did not pass flunked out on the skills test because of his own ignorance. He failed to listen to the examiners instructions.

JUST FOUND OUT
 

SAGE SCHOOL I heard was very good and they said they have about 30% that will not pass the first time .She said it was mostly the driving part

If it's one of the "cdl mills" that give you a 2 week course, you shouldn't even expect to be able to pass the skills portion for the simple reason that you don't have enough driving time.

Oh boy, where to start?

First, your husband has been a employed all these years. Trucking companies will love him. He is stable with a good work ethic. I ran a machine and fabrication shop for many years. I KNOW what your husband does and I have GREAT respect for him. He has to have a sharp mind and always be aware of what is going on around him do do his job and to do it safely. Yet another thing that will serve him well in the trucking industry. I know in his job now he must use his planning skills and think ahead to do his job correctly. Same thing in trucking. He is a hands-on kind of guy. ( enough said ).

As for the school: Doing the same type work for so many years, yes it can be scary starting in a whole new field. I know, at the age of 43 I took the same leap that you guys are thinking about.

I will follow up on this later as I need to get some sleep. Have to work tonight.

Have confidence and you will be fine, it may take a few attempts.

It took me 3 attempts

1st attempt I pointed out on maneuvers

2nd attempt I passed manuevers but pressed clutch in middle of a turn and failed driving portion

3rd attempt I passed..There where 10 people in my class and 2 passed the 1st time. The rest of us passed after 2-4 attempts :D

I'm in CDL school at tech college in Wisconsin. Am told 97% pass the CDL exam the first time. Of course the class is 10 weeks with 1000 miles Behind the wheel minimun. Cost... $1,700. The MANY companies who send recuiters to vist (daily) have consistantly said that the one thing that they appreciate, is the BACKING skills their graduates demonstrate. I expect to perform somewhere around 150-200 backing maneuvers before graduation. With all due respect, why is it in today's society the focus is all too often about "the minimun requirement"? Part of the problem in industry? :roll:

The biggest worry I have for myself, when it comes time for me to take my test, is going to be the pre-trip. My memory is not the greatest. How in the heck do you memorize all of those things that you have to check, and practically recite it from the manual word for word? I personally believe that you should be able to use a cheat sheet, especially when it comes to critical safety components, such as suspension parts and the air brakes. If the driver is able to go down a check-list of components, therefore "almost" guaranteeing that they "will" be checked and nothing forgotten, wouldn't it benefit the driver and all involed, in the name of safety? I for one, will have a check-list made up to do my daily pre-trip, when I start driving.

hitman,

The best and easiest way to memorize the pre trip is to do it EXACTLY the same way every single time.

Also look at it this way. You really only need to memorize 1/2 of it, because the other side of the truck is the same thing. :wink:

The most challenging part to get to the top of the mountain, is the climb to the summitt :D I'm sure that once I am able to actually perform and practice the pre-trip, instead of reading it from a manual, i'll be fine. I currently work for GM on the assembly line, and know all about doing something EXACTLY the same way every single time, so maybe that will give me a slight advantage :wink: I'm more of a hands-on person anyway. I learn quicker and better by "doing" something, instead of reading it from a book. And Uturn, you're absolutely correct about only memorizing 1/2 of it...never actually looked at it that way. I feel better already :lol: Thanks

We were told that anyone with the coordination to drive a stick-shift car can be trained to drive an 18-wheeler. In my class of 30 in 1964, one man failed because of his inability to keep one eye on the road while glancing at the tach and the speedometer as he tried to recover from a missed gear change.

More recently, an acquaintance passed the school backing tests on her sixth attempt. I give her high marks for perseverance. However, I was criticized by others for suggesting that perhaps she was not cut out to be a truck driver in spite of her strong desire for the truckers' life style. Subsequently, she washed out of Swift's training program, but found a job co-driving a straight truck at Panther. Her career ended with a wreck on a big city freeway. She had difficulty reading route signs at 60 mph.

I don't mean to disparage anyone who fails to make the grade in this occupation. The man who failed in my class back in 1964 had a Masters Degree and was undoubtedly the smartest person in the classroom. The woman acquaintance had an excellent work ethic and was generous to her friends. My point is that some people are not cut out to be truck drivers. We should acknowledge the "weeding out" process and try something else.

making you do a pre trip without a check sheet is one of the most ridiculous things our wonderful idiots in the government have come up with, if you knew an airline made the pilots check the plane from memory and didnt let them use a checklist, would you get on the plane? they say the reason is that you need to know what to check, well, if you had a standard checklist you WOULD know what to check, then they could just make sure that you knew how to check everything, On second thought, that seems to make too much sense, it would never work.

Study Study Study.
When taking the driving test, take your time, relax, and think of it as an exercise of skill not a test.
Have someone you have gotten a lot of support from there to give you encouragement.

When I took my written I passed doubles/triples and Airbrakes on first attempt. The CDL portion I passed on the 2nd.

When I took my driving test I almost failed the course because I got nervous (keeping in mind that I had no problems when I was practicing), I remember distinctly doing a straight back and the trailer got out from behind me and I took out a cone and instead of correcting, I knew I got a point on it so I just let it go.

When I took the road test, I passed with flying colors.... Mainly because I knew the course.

Lastly, if you are used to driving a specific truck, try and test in it as it will make life easier!