Profile For Brandon H.

160 Driving Academy Run Down

I always knew that the local community college offered CDL training courses, what I didn't know that three or four years it was outsourced to the 160 Driving Academy. I had little information. I started investigating the school sometime in late April and it only took two or three days for me to determine this was the route I was going to take. The great thing about the 160 Academy is that there is several options for financing, luckily i had the opportunity to explore these options.

160 Driving Academy offered the following financing options:

- Full Self- Sponsorship/Self Pay. This is pretty self explanatory, you pay for the cost of the school and nothing more. I believe this was in the range of $3500 - $4000 for the four week course. - State Sponsored. This is the option that if you were receiving unemployment that the state will train you for the new skill or pay the cost of it. - Company Sponsorship. This is the most popular as far as what I heard and this is the route I am taking. There were a list of four different companies in-which would foot the bill for the program as long as you commit to them for a certain amount of time. The four options for companies were Swift Transportation, PAM Transport, Schneider and HO Wolding.

I took the first step and expressed the interest in the Swift sponsorship, however after continuous research and based off of our member Patricks experience I switch and decided to go with HO Wolding. I agreed upon a one year commitment with them for the assistance in covering the training.

I set my start date for April 29th and would begin full time training until the four weeks were complete. The instructors Sherry and another gentlemen (for the life of me I cannot remember his name) were absolutely wonderful. They had one goal and that was to make sure you passed your CDL test. Week one was strictly studying for the permit exam an oddly would only study general knowledge, air brakes and combination. On Friday I would pass all three tests and receive my permit. The following three weeks followed continuous review of the pretrip guide and skills. In my class there was a total of nine of us. Split into two groups four then five. I was apart of the group whom would do shifting and road practice in the afternoon and skills and pretrip in the morning. It was a bit rocky with the students in my group, but we survived. Upon testing I passed pretrip and skills with flying colors...it wasn't until the darn driving course I hit the brick wall. Upon making my last turn I was clouded by confidence and hugged the curb a bit too much. Second day I was able to pass with a "smooth" score according to my instructor.

In all I recommend the 160 Driving Academy to those who are able to learn at a fast pace and are able to do a lot of self teaching. Luckily I had prior experience to be able to know what to expect and have basic skills. By no means should you let confidence cloud you. It will guide you to a lot of headaches. Multiple students learned the hard way. Out of our class of 9, 8 passed. That is a good turn out!

If you have any questions about 160 Driving Academy have no hesitation in asking questions.

Stay tuned for the next chapter.....Day 1.....Amherst, WI....HO Wolding.

Brandon, you will have to let us know how it goes. Unfortunately, I won't be available to train you. My wife cracked her whip and sitting in the jump seat for the next 4 weeks.

Drive Safe and God Speed.

Well darn. But she is your wife! Enjoy it. I'm enjoying a quick break before doing a road test. Last night was a restless night. I sure will be ready for some shut eye soon. I'll start the diary today at somepoint.

Good luck, I'm starting my last week of school tomorrow.

Awesome! What’s your move after that?

Well I’m off to Amherst, WI tomorrow. I’ll be taken the ol Greyhound, thankfully only a seven hour ride compared to others. I’m looking forward to being apart of the HO Wolding family. I’ll keep y’all update :)

HO Wolding

Well after good luck ran through my pretrip test and my backing; it ran out on my road test. On my last turn I rubbed the curb. Thankfully he examiner acknowledged that I was able to drive and agreed to take me on another spin and on that one I aced it with zero points..so at this point I am a Class A CDL holder with the state of Illinois. Spending the next few weeks getting everything together then I’m off for orientation on June 4th.

Today was a success! No points on the pretrip. Tomorrow is backing skills and road test. Two didn’t make it today but I’m confident they’ll get it tomorrow!

As I’ve mentioned before I started CDL school about four weeks ago. Well today’s the big day...testing today. Unfortunately with the size of our class (9 students) we only can do pretrip today and skills and road tomorrow. I feel confident about passing. Just gotta remember not to release the clutch so quick. I’ll keep y’all updated!

Thanks all!

Patrick I suppose a trainer would be needed haha. I’m looking forward to it! Trucks are blue right? Haha 🤣

Illinois CDL testing is so much different than Missouri where I previously had mine. Although they are going to national standards starting in July.

Previously I had mentioned on here that I was returning to the industry and going back through a academy in Champaign, Illinois.

I am now ending my third week of school entering my fourth, I take my pretrip and backing on Thursday and road test on Friday. That’s if everything goes according to plan which I am confident that it will. I’ve booked my orientation with HO Wolding for June 5th. Man the closer it comes the more eager it is to get things rolling. My class started with 10 and ended with 9. Unfortunately the gentlemen couldn’t make it passed permitting.

Just wanted to give y’all an update. I appreciate everyone here!

Brandon