Probably Asked A,thousand Times.

I am scheduled for my state exam at school on Tuesday at 1:30. I asked for a few more days to practice pretrip and airbrakes but he said I had six months to prepare so Tuesday it is. I said I'd come in on Monday to practice airbrakes and pretrip. He said I'm not allowed to. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Very strange operation. So how did all of you prepare mentally to keep your nerves in check?

So how did all of you prepare mentally to keep your nerves in check?

Try to keep things in perspective. Is this the most important thing you've done in your entire life? For some it is and those people spend a great deal of time preparing. For others, it is just the next thing, not the biggest thing. Only you can describe its relative importance in your life. Keep in mind that the anxiety of the test is only a stepping stone to the anxiety of the job. When you're blocking traffic while backing across five lanes of LA traffic and praying you can get the trailer into that tiny alley in one shot without pulling forward, that test won't seem like such a big deal.

I've been through some things in my life that make this look like a tea party but those things I went through took me over 20 years to recover from and now this is literally (considering what I've been through and how far I've come) a cross roads in my life. I'm prepared as much as possible but am aware of how important it is to me to finish strong. I'm doing a lot of praying. I wanted to come in Monday to prepare all day and the director said it's against the rules. I got great grades and had perfect attendance but there was a HUGE drop off in the quality and quantity of the training once we got behind the wheel. My classmates and I were shocked at how professional and talented the instructor and instruction was in the classroom and then how dramatically poor in comparison the actual road training was. Blew our minds how bad it was.

So how did all of you prepare mentally to keep your nerves in check?

Try to keep things in perspective. Is this the most important thing you've done in your entire life? For some it is and those people spend a great deal of time preparing. For others, it is just the next thing, not the biggest thing. Only you can describe its relative importance in your life. Keep in mind that the anxiety of the test is only a stepping stone to the anxiety of the job. When you're blocking traffic while backing across five lanes of LA traffic and praying you can get the trailer into that tiny alley in one shot without pulling forward, that test won't seem like such a big deal.

Schools are something else. Trial by fire comes to mind.

Kevin, here's a few thoughts that might help you out.

For one, I'm the type that never likes to finish second at anything. So I also prepare hard and take my pursuits seriously if it's something I'm really into. But naturally you can go too far with this. To say you're at a crossroad in your life is putting undue pressure on yourself. You can take the exam as many times as you would like. Many people fail it once or even twice before getting their CDL. Obviously no one wants to waste the time, energy, or money it takes to fail the exam and have to take it again but it's far from being a disaster. So don't put that much pressure on yourself.

Second, almost no one ever feels prepared to do anything when they're new in trucking. When you first head out onto the highway you feel like you're not ready. When you have to take the exams you'll feel like you're not ready. When you go on the road with a trainer they'll ask you to do stuff all the time you don't feel you're prepared to do. When you go solo you also won't feel like you're ready. Getting started in something that's complex, difficult, and dangerous like trucking means you have to get used to the feeling of not quite being 100% ready for everything all the time and not quite being in control of the circumstances around you (like other vehicles, weather, traffic conditions, etc) as you'd like to be. You just have to keep your nerve, stay focused, and try to stay relaxed while you work through it.

I asked for a few more days to practice pretrip and airbrakes but he said I had six months to prepare so Tuesday it is

Honestly, even though you don't feel like you're ready you had better be ready after 6 months of training. Most training programs are a matter of a few weeks to a month. After 6 months you're ready. Don't sweat it.

There are also other factors to keep in mind. For one, the instructors will know if you're ready far better than you will. They have a lot of experience getting students through the testing. For two, having you at the school when your training is already completed will interfere with the other students to some extent.

Just try to relax and go with the flow. You've completed your initial training and you're ready for the testing. Now go for it. Try to remain relaxed and confident and allow yourself to do what you've already learned how to do without overthinking it. You'll be fine.

Let us know how it goes and best of luck to ya!

If your looking for something to practice in the meantime to feel like your doing something towards your test. Review your automatic fails, if you have a hard copy of your CDL training manual or can look it up online. That was my primary focus when I took my first road test (class b in a 10sp dump truck) and will be on my next too. I tell you what I have my class A scheduled for next week and it feels the same way it did the first time I took a CDL road test. Nervous as heck but that's just because it's a test. I'm hoping this go around the same thing happens....nervous pre testing, come test time just going through the motions like it ain' no thing. And yes, I think that the nerves of test taking are different that OTJ nerves, because it's the waiting and anticipation of a test. For me personally I handle immediate stress better. You'll be fine. And hey like Brett said, people do fail the test, multiple times even. My guy failed a few times. He passed eventually and has been trucking for 20+ years now.

Thank you!!!

Kevin, here's a few thoughts that might help you out.

For one, I'm the type that never likes to finish second at anything. So I also prepare hard and take my pursuits seriously if it's something I'm really into. But naturally you can go too far with this. To say you're at a crossroad in your life is putting undue pressure on yourself. You can take the exam as many times as you would like. Many people fail it once or even twice before getting their CDL. Obviously no one wants to waste the time, energy, or money it takes to fail the exam and have to take it again but it's far from being a disaster. So don't put that much pressure on yourself.

Second, almost no one ever feels prepared to do anything when they're new in trucking. When you first head out onto the highway you feel like you're not ready. When you have to take the exams you'll feel like you're not ready. When you go on the road with a trainer they'll ask you to do stuff all the time you don't feel you're prepared to do. When you go solo you also won't feel like you're ready. Getting started in something that's complex, difficult, and dangerous like trucking means you have to get used to the feeling of not quite being 100% ready for everything all the time and not quite being in control of the circumstances around you (like other vehicles, weather, traffic conditions, etc) as you'd like to be. You just have to keep your nerve, stay focused, and try to stay relaxed while you work through it.

I asked for a few more days to practice pretrip and airbrakes but he said I had six months to prepare so Tuesday it is

Honestly, even though you don't feel like you're ready you had better be ready after 6 months of training. Most training programs are a matter of a few weeks to a month. After 6 months you're ready. Don't sweat it.

There are also other factors to keep in mind. For one, the instructors will know if you're ready far better than you will. They have a lot of experience getting students through the testing. For two, having you at the school when your training is already completed will interfere with the other students to some extent.

Just try to relax and go with the flow. You've completed your initial training and you're ready for the testing. Now go for it. Try to remain relaxed and confident and allow yourself to do what you've already learned how to do without overthinking it. You'll be fine.

Let us know how it goes and best of luck to ya!

I am scheduled for my state exam at school on Tuesday at 1:30. I asked for a few more days to practice pretrip and airbrakes but he said I had six months to prepare so Tuesday it is. I said I'd come in on Monday to practice airbrakes and pretrip. He said I'm not allowed to. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Very strange operation. So how did all of you prepare mentally to keep your nerves in check?

Just think of it as a demonstration rather than a test. U are demonstrating to the tester what is done while pre tripping doing ur backing and finally ur road test. The tester probably never drove a truck in his or her life. Everyone is nervous just try to take a deep breath and show the tester what u got.

Yosemite Sam wrote in response to the CDL exams:

Just think of it as a demonstration rather than a test. U are demonstrating to the tester what is done while pre tripping doing ur backing and finally ur road test. The tester probably never drove a truck in his or her life. Everyone is nervous just try to take a deep breath and show the tester what u got.

Sam...the "tester" must hold a valid and active CDL, they are accompanying a CDL permit holder on public roads and highways. At least the ones I have met and know, they are all former truckers.

You are right as they must have a valid CDL in order to accompany the permit holder taking his test. When I took my test the tester who was also the owner of the atlas testing site. Never drove a truck a day in his life he said. Just wanted to help Kevin to calm Himself before his test

Yosemite Sam wrote in response to the CDL exams:

Just think of it as a demonstration rather than a test. U are demonstrating to the tester what is done while pre tripping doing ur backing and finally ur road test. The tester probably never drove a truck in his or her life. Everyone is nervous just try to take a deep breath and show the tester what u got.

Sam...the "tester" must hold a valid and active CDL, they are accompanying a CDL permit holder on public roads and highways. At least the ones I have met and know, they are all former truckers.