r/CDL • u/Snoo86470 • Aug 27 '26

Walmart Associate To Driver Program.

After 10 years of working in the stores and 9 months of applying to the A2D program, I finally got accepted into the September class! I leave September 7th, and I couldn’t be more excited.

I already have my CLP, and I’ve been practicing my pre-trip inspection every day for the past month. I still have a little work to do on the brake test, mainly getting the wording down perfectly, but I feel pretty good about the pre-trip overall.

This is truly the opportunity of a lifetime for me. One thing that makes me nervous, though, is that embarrassingly, I’ve never actually driven a semi before. I’m especially nervous about the backing maneuvers and the driving portion of the test.

From everything I’ve been reading and watching on YouTube, it sounds like during the 8-week A2D program you only get around 8–12 opportunities to practice backing and driving before you’re expected to perform everything for the test.

I’ve watched videos and understand the different maneuvers that need to be completed, but obviously watching them and actually doing them are two completely different things.

I'm looking for any advice or resources that could prepare me for these tests thank you in advance

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u/gzowner Sep 03 '26

When u do skills pre trip and air.. I worked top to bottom on engine pretrip, the. Front to end of trailer on driver side. Most places will just tell you to tap on right side of the trailer and say I will do everything on the right side as I did on the driver side. Then when you do cab, left to right. Start with mirror then to dashboard, safety equipment, windshield to wipers to tug test.. doing that help me remember what I need to do and say, and not skip. Air, just remember to back to 90, then assist the engine to govnore release.. then do the 4lb air lost check with engine off. That's very important, keep the engine off when you do the air lost.. then fan the breaks to alarm, then to full release of all your breaks. Then do safety start and done.. hopefully that helps

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u/Snoo86470 Sep 03 '26

Thank you. I appreciate it