CRST, The Second Chance: Waterloo.

Congratulations!!

Thank you Sandy S, I am waiting for your next postings in your CDL training diary😀

not much except Road test tomorrow!!!!!

Relax. That is very important, next watch you're mirrors keep your head moving, tell the instructor given the test everything you see and make sure you watch your speed. Good luck

Believe it or not, this actually works! Not only does it let the examiner know what you are seeing and doing but it helps calm the nerves. At least it worked for me.

Part Four. Okay so for this particular part I am going to write about what happens after you have passed your road test. Depending upon when you passed your road you either got a ride back to the hotel and where instructed to come back for night classes. If you came back after lunch and passed, your choices are pretty simple do a ride along or hang out somewhere at the school. Since arriving you walked into a class room full of stressed out, anxiety filled student. The only thing you have thought about is those test you need to pass. If you have no experience shifting it only complicates the matter. So it's your first night class. You walk into the classroom you and the other students as usual the instructors are talking among themselves, with students, people are joking laughing , there is some trash talking among students and instructors about their sports team. Then there is you, right off the bat your going to notice something 😳 that something is very very wrong😵, your bleeping spidey senses are going nuts, your in full analytical mode. Your brain is screaming "Danger Wil Robinson, Danger Will Robinson" 😱. Your looking all about, your on the verge of a nervous breakdown oh my God you think this is it , the start of the zombie apocalypse😵. In a few moments. your about to be dinner for zombies😯😠😄😭. But then you stop, mentally you pull your self together. You suddenly realize what is wrong. Your not stressed or worried. Okay you are, but not as much as you have been. Your relaxed. The instructors take roll call and then it is out the trucks to start driving. Prior to this point every time you have gotten in that truck, you had been thinking about the road test. Now you're going for a drive to boost up your experience and to prepare you for a road test when you get back to Cedar Rapids. Okay so to prepare you (future CRST students) there is an night drive evaluation. I know you're stress levels shot up again. Your thinking oh my God I can fail and be sent home! The answer to that is yes you can. But you would have to run a red light, take out a light pole, a couple of cars and come to a stop inside a McDonald's Those things will get you sent home. Basically if they feel you are unsafe as a driver they will send you home. So what are your chances of being sent home at that point? Well short of the McDonald's truck crash scenario I described, your chances of being sent home are very very slim. Your reading this thinking how you be sure? The simplest way to put it, is you would have never have reached this point if the instructors had any concerns about your driving abilities. You would have never gotten passed the practice course at the school and if you had some how gotten to the road to practice, and showed you were unsafe you would have been pulled from driving. For your road test you wouldn't have passed. So relax. The evaluation is pass or fail but in reality it's not. Basically the instructors are seeing where your strong and weak points are, this information will be sent back to Cedar Rapids and then to your trainer. Mostly the night course is to help students who got sent to Waterloo to prepare for the road drive evaluation upon returning cedar Rapids, More test? Evaluations? Oh yes indeed😄

Congratulations!

Your experience is more common than you think. Here's an article concerning truck driver training that those of you following along here should easily relate to.

The Emotional Roller Coaster Of Training

Here's an excellent Podcast about The Bootcamp Approach To Trucking.

Excellent links, "The bootcamp approach to trucking" Living in complete solitude in the country, I spend days at a time, at times weeks at a time without face to face interactions with people (family or people that I know). I live and thrive in relative solitude. I went 57 days without leaving my home or even driving. I spent time bounding around on a 50 acre patch of land... in an off-road vehicle. I nearly feel like I have been prepping for a life of solo travel. Frankly I worry about extended times in the Cab with a trainer... I am so much the loaner...

Thank you for sharing this...

Hearty Congratulations Joseph!!! Thank you for sharing your experience(s). I feel / felt for you and no doubt will live elements of and travel the path you described... somehow, it puts me at rest (in living) the experience first hand, through your story. I feel 'proud of' you.

Boco there are many Trainer articles in the Trucking Truth blog section. Here is one of them:

Your Trainer will Test More Than Just Your Driving Skills

Keep in mind the road training period is relatively short. It’s your only opportunity to learn in a real-time fashion and receive input from a person who knows a whole lot more than you do. Be the student.

Okay due road training I have been here a few times. Mostly to read articles. Okay so I thought I would come back and wrap up this training diary. So what it's day something? I have lost track. Okay so the last night drive session you do at the Hawkeye campus is a Tuesday night. Your final day (Wednesday ) is spent in a classroom. You watch some videos, do some paperwork and in the afternoon many of you will go get your CDL licenses. Finally around 5pm you will get on a bus going back to Cedar Rapids. Thursday morning you will start orientation. Remember how I mention there would be another evaluation when you got back to Cedar Rapids? Well let's get to it. Me and three other students were sent out with a testor. I would end up being the last student to do the evaluation. First student got ready to go. They shifted into third let off the clutch started to roll forward and the air breaks came on. The student had checked his gauges and verbally stated what each one was at. The air pressure had been at 140, it had dropped to under twenty in seconds. The testor didn't seem to concern which raise some red flags. So the student let the air pressure build up and soon we are were on the road. On this driver if you get place on a manual your basically going to be shifting between 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. The drive is very short, your in a city dealing with city traffic so you don't get going real fast. So the first student is moving along. Back at Hawkeye during night classes you practice doing sharp right and left turns. So the first real hard turn is an extremely sharp right "it's called the dead man's right " the testor mentioned 8 out 10 students fail to make this turn correctly. As the first student approaches the turn they slow down and started to shift down from 5th to 3rd gear and that's where trouble started. Back at the yard we had notice it shifted hard. Now as the student tried to shift to 3rd it wouldn't go in. They tried 4th nothing. They were struggling to find a gear, the shifter simply didn't want to engage any gear. The testor looking out the window advise the student to find a gear, but it was too late. The student stalled out. Not only did they stall out they hit the curb. Double failure the testor told the student. The student drove back the testor told him it was his shifting that failed him but he would get another chance. The second student made all the turns correctly but stalled out about a block away from the school. Stalling out is an auto failure. Two students down. Student number 3 made it through by the skin of his teeth. Like the other two students he had struggled with shifting. Now it was my turn. I was given the go ahead to start. I go to shift into 3rd gear I pressed on the clutch started to shift and the shifter bounced back to neutral. I tried again and again nothing. I tried different rpms, I tried shifting to 1st and 2nd gear, absolutely nothing was working. I stopped. I put the truck in neutral pulled the air breaks and shut it down. The testor glared at me and smirked well I think we can call that a failure they took their clip board and started to mark something. I had not come this far to fail. Sir I said there is something wrong with this truck. As you have witnessed the other three students had trouble shifting. There is also the air pressure issues. Each of us had an air pressure issue. The testor retorted or perhaps it's you students can't drive. He checked something off and went to check something else off through gritted teeth I advise him not to check anything else off. He looked at me then his clipboard back at me. I started the truck back up and this time the shifter slid into 3rd and away we went. We approach the dreaded dead man's right. I started to shift from 4th which I shifted to back to 3rd. All of the sudden the shifter was stuck we were rolling towards the turn going a bit faster than I wanted. I revved high and slid the shifter with all of my might to 1st gear. We enter the turn and I moved the truck as far left as I could, there is the curb to the right and this cement corner traffic control thing to the left I was right next too it I was inches away from it. The testor looked out the right side and started clapping dude you bleeping nailed this mother - You clear the corner by 3 feet easily. As I continue the turn I came to yield sign , there was heavy traffic to my left. I had to slow down as I came to a stop I gave the truck a little girl than depressed the clutch slightly. I knew if I could control the clutch and rpms I could get going again once it was safe to do so. Then traffic slowed down and came to a grinding halt in front and to the side of me. I felt the truck shake and knew what was coming. The truck stalled. I didn't say anything. I restarted it and eventually finished the evaluation. I knew I had failed. But at the end thank the testor for his time. To my surprise the testor told me I had done fairly well accept for stalling out. I had kept clam and relax. He said all my turns were perfect. He said he was impressed with my driving and told me I had a future as a driver. He said I would retest tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday. I was never retested neither were a lot of others who failed the evaluation. Why you ask? Well simply put its an evaluation To be continued

The conclusion Okay where was I?? Oh yes the evaluation. Okay basically the evaluation is just that it's an evaluation of your skills by the instructors in Cedar Rapids. If you attended school at the Hawkeye campus , school, then the instructors at the cedar rapids school have no clue where you at skills wise. All the evaluation drive is simply away for the people in Cedar Rapids too see where you are at. Let me a sure you that if you had made that far you will be signing a contract, you will be hired on. Once you pass your three required test. Pre trip and in cab, backing and the road trip portion you have made it. The night classes you attend are to give you more drive time and experience with tighter turns. Once you get back to Cedar Rapids the evaluation as I said is way for the staff there too watch and evaluate you. Now I know some will say but wait I could still be sent home, cut given my walking papers. Okay yes there is a chance that could happen Oh yes you might actually mess up bad enough on that evaluation in cedar rapids they send you packing. This would include you causing a wreck that would send the tractor trailer flying through the air taking out a light pole crashing through a McDonald's finally landing in city hall, throw in multiple twisters and a rampaging dinosaur, there goes your CRST career. The staff at cedar rapids and at Hawkeye have been doing this long enough to know those are going to make and those who aren't. As I said in another response, if they think you are unsafe in any manner pose a threat to the general public as a driver you won't leave the yard at Hawkeye. Another instructor at Hawkeye told several of us students they send people home because they know it's a waste of staff time and energy to train certain people, because they know within six months the person is going to be back to flipin burgers. They can weed people out because of their attitude and effort they put in. Which generally is zero. So that it. If you are a current or future CRST student. My suggestion and advice is to relax. Listen to the instructors, ask questions, as long as you are making a effort the staff will work with you. If you mess up shake it off figure out what you did wrong learn from it and move on. The staff at both schools want you to succeed. That only works if you give 100% own the training. Good luck.