failed pretrip again
 

I cant believe it I failed my pretrip again I passed driving and skills but he said that I did not say that the lights were not cracked. my ohio cdl book does not tell me to say that just that they are working that cost me 4 points I got 63 needed 67 to pass I got the shaft

next time. say they're not cracked.
:wink:

yep have to tell the examiner what your doing and looking at. If it helps you to pass, make it like a story your telling outloud, from start to finish. and always try to touch what your telling about. especially under the hood areas. and fifth wheel areas. make eye contact with each section.

you will nail it next time.

Re: failed pretrip again
 

Re: failed pretrip again
 

As harsh as it sounds he has a very valid point. Heck, my cdl school I went to would not pass you on your pre trip unless you got 195 out of 199 items.

When I went to school we had a saying...."It is not cracked, broken or illegally welded".

We used it for every part on the truck that we inspected. Of course we needed to know what the parts are and name them as we inspected them, but that saying covers about 95% of your pretrip.

The pretrip went something like this: The student had a running commentary going.

Walking up to the truck: Looking for fluid puddles and drips that shoud not be there and checking the overall appearance of the truck to make sure nothing is cracked or broken.

We then went down the driver's side: Listening for air leaks, looking for fluid leaks as we go. Checking to make sure all wiring and hoses are in their proper place and in working order. Checking to make sure the 5th wheel is properly locked around the king pin and it is not cracked, broken or illegally welded. Moving on down the trailer we were checking all parts for the cracked/broken deal. Get to the wheels and tires and it was: Checking to make sure tires are same type and size, no debris between the tandems, the wheels are properly secured and nothing is cracked, broken or illegally welded......

Anyway I think you get the point.

Had a total of seven tests on pretrips. One for each of four sections, two for the whole thing (one timed, one not. 45 minute limit at Maryland MVA) and a second in-cab/air-brake test. You don't get about 100/120 on the whole pre-trip (and perfect on the air-brake), you don't get to take the school's truck to the MVA to test.

Instructor told story of a former student who was a used car salesman. He did his pre-trip in 'sales pitch' format, as it made it easy for him to remember. I suggested to some of my classmates to do it as a 'rap'. Whatever gets you checking stuff and checking it right.

I was training with millis I went with 1 trainer for a week we did not do 1 pretrip went with 2nd trainer for 4 weeks did not do 1 pretrip. it must not be that big of a deal

"...not cracked, bent, broken, or loose. Properly mounted with no damaged or missing parts..."

Since I got my CDL, I have vowed never to say that phrase again.

And then drivers wonder why they have wheels fall off or they end up sitting on the side of the road for hours waiting on a wrecker, or get that deer in the headlight look when a LEO hands them a several thousand dollar fine.

As someone that just passed their CDL skills test last Friday, I echo the comments about treating it like a story that you are telling out loud. I had to do an engine start, in-cab, coupling system and trailer pretrip. I started with the coupling system, then did the trailer, then the engine and finally the in-cab. I went into a very detailed and long narrative. I made good eye contact with the examiner, called him Sir, invited him to crawl under the truck with me to look at what I was describing and generally gave him more info then he probably wanted. It took about 40 minutes for me to do the pre-trip with him. Make sure you touch and / or point to everything you are speaking about. There is no way to give too much info to the tester. Hang in there and the third time will be the charm. You should not miss any points in the pretrip inspection. This is where you show yourself and the tester the vehicle is safe to operate.

BOL and drive safe out there!!

thanks but in ohio we only get 30 min so you have to move fast

I used one of those cheap laser pointer cat toys when i took the test. It helped me keep focused on that particular part and showed the DMV what i was looking at!!!

peace out,
feulman

It is not uncommon for the examiners to cut short the pre trip exam once they realize you know what you are talking about.

By cut short I mean not have you go through everything and instead ask you questions about a few key areas.

The Pre-trip can be a pain in the ass. My best advice is memorize it. Memorize to the point to where you can recite it out loud with out looking at the truck or parts of the truck. I would lay in bed and recite it several times every night before I went to bed. Make sure you include everything your looking for "cracked, broken, missing, properly secured and has no illegal welds".

bol

Frame. Goes from the front of the tractor to the back. Properly mounted, no illegal holes or welds, not damaged, not leaking. :D

my feeling is that is is ridiculous to be expected to check everything from memory, there should be a standard checklist that you go by, you could use the list to check and show that you know how to check the things that are on it
if you knew an airline didnt allow their pilots and mechanics to use a checklist, but made them check the plane by memory, would you fly with them? I wouldnt..

I took my test in ohio. the big thing is they want to know what your looking for. I ran out of time and didn't get to do the pump down on my brake test but since I nailed every part before that I still passed.

learn the parts they are looking for.

If it has fluid state its not leaking. if its glass or plastic state it not broke or cracked. metal say its not cracked no broken welds loose or missing bolts or whatever applies.

also in ohio you only have to do the drivers side and mention what is different on the passengers side.

basically if you look at the truck and point out the parts and WHAT to look for to make sure they are working you will be fine. I started from the top and worked my way down and back. get the same pattern and you will won't miss things.

my tester told me after words how many people would miss the windshield etc. he said they would sit there starring at it and never mention it.

you do have a check list. its the truck. you look at all the parts! your really just learning what they are and how to tell if something is wrong. top to bottom front to back. point out all the parts and tell how you would know if something was wrong.

you learned the pre trip in school not the trainer. the trainer is there to put everything you learned into practice in the working environment. MY trainer told me flat out, i'm not here to teach you the pretrip that is your responsibility i'm here to teach you how to drive safely and how to get the job done. did he do a "real" pretrip everyday? no. did he check things throughout the day and did he know what was going on with everything having to do with the truck.? yes.

Re: failed pretrip again
 

Well.... I gotta agree with KC on THIS one! If I were in charge, 67 would NEVER pass! So you are saying you missed by 4 points being 2/3rds PREPARED!! :shock:

On the other hand, I don't think you should have been penalized for not saying your lights weren't CRACKED! I've never heard of this! Who cares if the plastic shield over the light is cracked or not? What matters is whether or not the light is WORKING! :roll:

I also don't really agree with the "catchall" phrases that some were taught. Saying an airline has no illegal weld is ridiculous, and only tells ME that you may not REALLY know what could be wrong with it when checking it!

Although I agree that a student should MEMORIZE the pretrip AND be able to recite it WITHOUT looking at the truck, I say it is best that you LEARN the parts of the truck, and what can go wrong with them. Use "cracked" when something can BE cracked, and illegal weld only when something could BE welded.

Break the truck (and therefore the pretrip) into segments or "systems," and memorize those segments. Then show that you UNDERSTAND what you are looking for in each segment.

I think Bengalman was ROBBED on those 4 points, terminology shouldn't be the deciding factor, but I wonder about the OTHER 33 "points." And PLEASE change your thinking concerning how "big a deal" the pretrip is! :roll:

I think it is highly possible, though, that the examiner felt he HAD to find a way to deduct those 4 points, because you had proven you couldn't do a COMPLETE pre-trip, but (because the bar was set too low,) you were "in danger" of PASSING! :lol:

A buddy of mine got his cdl a few years ago. He was also a pilot (among about a dozen other things) and made this exact same argument. It got him nowhere with anybody, and he got to memorize it just like the rest of us.

Re: failed pretrip again
 

That's what we did at my school for the pretrip:

Not sure, but this might even be how the score sheet in Maryland is broken down. I thought about looking at my scores and scoresheet, but barely passing gets you the same CDL as a perfect score. Besides, I never looked at my scoresheet for motorcycles or automobiles either:)

In NY... I know NY is messed up. We have to walk all the way around the truck doing the commentary on tires, wheel, stickers, reflectors, lights, 5th wheel, air lines, leaks, all that standard stuff. Have the examiner check our brake lights and turn signal at the trailer. then get in and do the static brake check and all the interior safety stuff and 50 foot brake check. All in 10 mins.

In ten minutes? It's not physically possible to do what I had to do in 10 minutes. Best I could do with doing all the stuff we did in MD was about 26 minutes. Hell, the brake checking took a minimum of about six minutes by itself (governor cut out, warnings, knob pop, build up rate, parking brake test(s) and 50 ft). (Yeah, it's more than what is strictly required, but not that much)

You doing underhood stuff, brakes and suspension?

well. of course, this assinine rule was made by our government, the same people who know more than you about when you are tired and how long you need to rest

Re: failed pretrip again
 

He's right.

Maybe truck driving isn't the job for you. Running down the road with a 80,000 lbs worth of truck is a lot of responsibility. The pretrip is a very basic thing to learn. Missing 37 points shows lack of interest in my book.

Good luck with future test.

We don't have to do under the hood... we have to do the warning and knob pop and all that, not absolutely sure what you mean by governor cut out, other than just making sure your air is at the operating range... So literally we run around the truck grabbing parts, calling stuff out we are looking and jump in the truck and get the inside done and roll.

Air pressure doesn't go too high is what I mean with governor cut out.

One thing I found is you can do the full 45 minute MD inspection in about 15 mins if you don't have to actually say it.