Profile For Matt T.

Well although I failed on my backing evaluations during trucking school they had me take CDL test anyway and on test day and I passed ! I finally managed to get it right. Passed everything on my first attempt at the CDL. Failed the backing evaluation at school 3 times in a row before test date. I didn't want to move test date back and decided to take test anyway and hope I would fix errors and nail it on test day and I did just that. Got a 89 out of 90 on my pre-trip inspection, backing I got 6 points but still passed, and my driving I think the most allowed to get was 30 points and I think I got like half that so I passed. Took me 17 days from not even having a permit to getting a CDL so I am happy.

The backing instructors make it harder at the school so even though students may have difficulty at school it will be much easier for them on test site. At school we are backing on a hill slanted and they move the cones in to make it harder to back. They did mention to me that backing would be a lot easier on the actual test site since it is flat and they were right.

I guess I did pass the driving evaluation at the school but barely... but I did flunk the backing :(

The driving school is local to me so after work I been driving the same routes in my car my instructor takes us on just to get familiar with the route. I pretend I am in a truck and try to drive my car like I am in a truck. I imagine I am pulling a trailer and so I been practicing taking my turns wide trying to visualize my back tandem tires approaching the apex of the turn then turning and counter steering. My turns were too wide on road evaluation, but I would rather have too wide of turns then not turning enough and my tandem tires hitting the curb. I take my turns in the car the same way I would in the truck at 5-7 mph with a steady pull. I keep close to the left side on right hand turns. I have been practicing making my mirror checks before the intersection, during, after the intersection. I have a habit of driving in my car a little slow, but on the test if you drive 10 mph or lower than the posted speed limit you fail the exam. If you are 5mph or lower it is a warning and then you get points taken off for driving too slow on the driving exam. So I been practicing driving the car at the posted speed limit and not trying to get any lower than 3-4 miles under the speed limit. On ramps in my car I take them like I was taught in a truck at 25 mph. Anytime I make lane changes in the car I look before the turn, during the turn, and then after the turn checking the mirrors. I do an exaggerated head turn now to check my mirrors because I was checking them just using my eyes and got docked for it on school exam. instructor said test examiner can't see eyes move just your head, so been practicing moving my head when I look so the test examiner will actually see me taking my mirror checks. I also say things out loud to so come test day I am showing the test examiner that I know what I am suppose to do.

The backing unfortunately can only practice at school, but will try to get as many turns as I can. At our school sometimes we have 7-12 students per backing instructor so your getting maybe one time to practice your backing in a day, if your lucky maybe twice.

I have been 2 weeks at a truck driving school and my backing and driving is not looking good at all. Next week the class takes CDL test and if we pass CDL they hire us as drivers. I passed written test on first try easy and I found the pre-trip easy. After 3 days I had pre-trip and in-cab memorized easily. Memorizing a bunch of material and passing book tests is the easy part, driving is the hard part for me.

Our school evaluates us before we take our CDL on our skills and tells us if we flunk or pass. I flunked the driving and backing evaluation at school :( About half the students did very poorly on the evaluation; they failed or were very close to failing. I got two college degrees and was working as a Computer Technician at my old job before I decided to try trucking, but I feel really stupid in trucking school and feel like a failure.

Family members are thinking I should give up and go back to my old computer job. I haven't even taken the CDL driving test yet, but the backing and driving evaluations the school gives all their students before they take the CDL is not looking good at all. I have a very hard time judging distances. The instructor will tell me bring the truck within 2-3 feet of this cone I have a very hard time eyeballing distances and will bring it 4-5 feet instead. He will say move 6 feet behind this line. I can't just eyeball how much 6 feet is. Instead of it being 6 feet it will be either not enough like 4 feet or too much like 8 feet.

So I don't know what to do. Should I withdraw or wait it out and at least give myself a shot at the CDL exam and see what happens. I feel so discouraged. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.