Profile For Sam M.

Passed my tests, y'all! (By a hair, too.) Just want to thank you guys for the helpful tips you gave me earlier in the week. Downshifting ended up not being my problem -- not looking in my mirrors frequently enough while turning was what hit me the most. And I drove 35 in a 30 zone once, so that racked up some points. But my pre-trip inspection was almost perfect and my backing was also almost perfect!

I'm working on getting my enhanced DL now, and have applied at Watkins & Shepard. Soon I'll head out to Montana for orientation and will hopefully get hired on as a company driver. :) Really excited to start my new career.

If you see me on the road, give me a wave!

Had a breakthrough today toward the end of my driving practice today and after that all of my downshifts were seamless!! No congratulations from the instructor, but the 'click' of it in my brainpan more than makes up for it all. Tomorrow is backing practice (which I'm just fine on, like I mentioned before) and then Friday is the test. I feel good and ready now. :)

Thanks all and happy drivin'!

Thanks for the replies, all!

Yeah, we're taught using RPMs and road speeds to determine when to shift. Sometimes I get it right on, but about 60% of the time I grind and cause the vehicle to lurch. I was told that's because I'm letting the RPMs drop off too much before bringing them back up again. What's really funny is that I was doing great a couple weeks ago (under a temporary instructor) and then the regular instructor started teaching me and it just seemed that everything I did wasn't good -- the guy never gives me any encouragement and always says that I will fail. So that's made me really nervous and my shifting has gotten worse. Anyway, I jumped onto another topic, and I know it's a temporary situation, so I try to listen as best I can through all of that. I'm just crossing my fingers that my road test will go well.

Heck, I actually stalled out and still passed

Road Hog -- No way! I stall a lot right now, but I know what's going on and hopefully will prevent that from happening again in the future.

I've been having problems on hills, too, but I think I'm ok-ish now. But I stalled today when my instructor had me turn into an Albertson's parking lot that was also on an incline... I was in 6th making the turn (which is good for level ground), but I should have gone down to 4th at least before making the turn. I had to start over and try to get my way up the hill. It was a nightmare trying to eke my way around that parking lot without hitting anything!

Hey all,

First time poster here and about to finish truck driving school. My test is on Friday and as stated in the subject, I'm a bit concerned about the driving part. (Backing and pre-trip, I'm fine on those.) This is my first time driving a stick shift of anything and my shifting is really clunky and rarely smooth (except up-shifting). I read that the tester will deduct points, but the instructor is really on me about smooth shifting. Does anyone have any tips or things I could possibly look out for? The instructor keeps saying the same thing, but it's not really helping me understand what I'm supposed to do.

Thanks for any insight!