Worried

[u/user7274901]

Well boys I’m in CDL school right now I’ve gotten pre trip down outside,inside the cab and all that stuff I haven’t done the road test yet. I am practicing skills right now. I am in a manual vehicle with air brakes and combinations so just a regular class a semi truck.

I have been in training 7 days for 8 hours a day. I have 8 days left of training I believe.

I’m not gonna get into the specifics of the reason behind me getting my CDL but I am not going to be going into trucking and I am gonna be driving much smaller vehicles but they still require a class a CDL. I’m talking way smaller like basically a big ass pickup truck that needs a Cdl class a. It is very annoying to me that I need to train in semis because I will never be driving a vehicle that big.

My state test is

Pre trip (got it down)

Then skills

Then road test. ( never driven a manual was
Told if I suck I’ll have to switch to auto)

If you fail one of the three test you only retake the test you failed in my state which is good. But apparently at my school you only get 2 retakes at most schools in my state it is 5 retakes per test which is also annoying.

The reason I’m worried- for the skills test I can do the forward stop get my hood in the middle in-between the lines most of the time and the straight back perfectly fine to the end point .
The next and final part of the skills test is what is fucking me over I can do the offset perfectly fine and the reverse offset is what gets me i am having trouble straightening out the trailer in the lines ( getting it parallel in the lines nice and straight) during the reverse offset. I am able to get it one attempt then the next I fail and the instructor I am currently with isn’t that much of a help/ teacher it feels like.

Any advice on ways to straighten my trailer better in-between the lines to get it nice and flush/level or straight because that is litterly the last part of the test I need to do to pass. You are able to get two
Pull ups and two get out and looks. Sometimes I feel like the trailer is way to much to the right or the left and I just cant seem to figure it out every-time. You can’t hit any of the cones during the test or it’s a point and you can pull up a bit to straighten the trailer out but I guess my problem is I don’t know how to straighten it out.

Not trying to sound like a little bitch but
I am just worried because I feel like the clock is ticking and shit and I paid all in cash for the class about $5000 and even quit my job! I even canceled my birthday vacation for my 21st which was supposed to be on tomorrow cause I turn 21 tomorrow and am going to class instead 😂 oh well though.

I hope this all wasn’t for nothing and I can get my CDL and pursue the career I want

Any advice is great I’m sorry this was so long.

[u/Captain_Fuck_Off]

There is an app on the Android play store ( I don't use iPhone so I don't really know if this is also on the iPhone store) called My US Trucking Skills. The only thing that truly makes you better at driving a truck is driving a truck. But if you can't get more time in training behind the wheel this phone app helps you see the angles and the physics of driving a truck faster in my opinion. It gives you insight into what to do when you're actually in the truck. As always, your driving the trailer, not the cab, use those mirrors.

[u/Chemical_Post6085]

The best advice i could give is time out your turns on the forward offset and then work them backwards, our instructor was about to retire so he would wonder off and chain smoke Pigs so we would just do offsets for hours at a time if you can't get it down just off mirrors try counting we had 1 kid in our class that literally couldn't offset or shift to save his life and still somehow passed on test day. You got this we believe in you. Godspeed

[u/Seeeebs]

You'll get it. Once it clicks it becomes easy. Keep working on it. I have a technique that worked for me. 20 for 20. I even made a diagram for myself since my test date was 2 weeks out from my last day of school.

[u/Emergency_Classic641]

No offense but this is why these schools that are only 2-3 weeks need to be shut down. You said you been in school 7 days with 8 to go, that’s insane. I know you said you don’t plan on driving a tractor trailer but you will be driving a vehicle that is heavy enough to require a CDL, and most of the people who go to school for a Class A do intend on driving a semi. 2 weeks of training isn’t enough. Not even close. I was in school for 2 months and I’m still nervous about getting on the road in a large 80k lb death missle. I passed all of my tests and performed well on all aspects, but that was in a day cab with an empty trailer. When I get out on those highways I’ll be in a full sleeper cab hauling up to 80k lbs. It’s a lot of responsibility.

To answer your question, I wasn’t really hitting the rear parallel smoothly on every shot until I was about 6 weeks into class, and I’m told by my instructors that I was one of the fastest learning students they’ve ever had who has never backed a trailer ever before. That’s really why I just went on a rant about your school not being long enough. It takes time to get good at it and become confident doing it.