Is Classroom Time Mostly A Waste Of Time In Cdl Training Programs?

I notice some schools minimize classroom time and spend most of the time teaching people how to drive while other programs spend over half the time in class.

I understand some class time might be important but It seems like class time is mostly an excuse for lack of trucks or trainers and too many students.

I talked to alot of drivers and they say you really don't learn anything to you get out with the company trainer.

What's your opinion?

Hey there Tim! I had a choice between 2 schools when I started. One had a mandatory so many hours of classroom time before they would let you in a truck, and another that only had classes on Saturday in order to pass the permit. The rest of the week you could come and go as you pleased on your own schedule to work on backing with instructors. Option 2 was half the price and I got exponentially more seat time than option 1.

The reason the first school emphasized classroom is because they had to have so many hours of class work in order to be accredited and allow people to get loans to attend. Not a horrible thing if you need a loan to pay for it and don’t want to go to a company and do free training, but I would say go to a school that emphasizes teaching you to back up and drive the truck. Anything you would learn in a class like trip planning or map reading you will learn from a trainer week 1 on the job. You’ll get help in driving too, but you’ll both be happier if you’re better trained to drive and back the truck up than read an read an atlas perfectly.

Tim, welcome to our forum!

Classroom is vitally important. Let me ask you a few questions.

Do you have any idea how to calculate the weight you'll be losing off of your drive axles as you burn off fuel from your tanks?

Can you tell how many holes you need to slide your trailer tandems back if you're six hundred pounds over weight on them?

Are you well versed at calculating the driving/working hours you'll have available after completing the second portion of an 8/2 split sleeper berth?

Do you understand how to locate the scale houses on your Motor Carrier Atlas?

Can you calculate and plan out a 2,600 mile trip so that you can make the scheduled appointment time given you by dispatch?

The easiest part of being successful at trucking is the physical part - the driving of the truck. The hard part is the mental stuff. That's where it gets critical that you know your stuff.

I think you should get started on the classroom stuff immediately. It's that important. Click on the following link and you'll be entering the best classroom training available. Good luck with it!

High Road CDL Training Program

I didn't go to s school so I don't know what an accredited course looks like.

Things I learned in a classroom: 1) how to handle downgrades 2) how to cross railroad tracks with hazmat 3) how to do a proper pull up 4) how to shift 5) so much Smith system 6) what turning lane to use and what lane to turn into when there are multiple lanes 7) how to do an emergency pull over

Can these things be learned in practice? Yes, but this is what worked for me. I was able to visualize everything better and apply the things I learned when it was time to.

Waste of time? Sure, until you run into a situation where you think to yourself, "We went over this in class. Wish I had paid attention".

A company paid training program will give you lot's of classroom instruction. They need you to learn their system, workflow of receiving loads, delivering loads, how to work their Qualcomm or Tablet, especially HOS regulations, reporting and editing.

I went to a local private school to get my CDL. There we had almost NO classroom. Road training in the morning, backing course in the afternoon. A few videos and some reading material, but they only focused on the skills necessary to pass the road test. So when I went to company training, all I had was my CDL. Then we did classroom every morning and driving/backing every afternoon. Without that two weeks of classroom training, I would have been totally unequipped to go out one the road. And then the two weeks with the trainer brought all that classroom stuff head on with reality. After I went solo, I spent almost all my free time reviewing the classroom material and training manual until I could do procedures from memory. But it took several months to get reasonably competent.

Classroom is vital for any new entrant into truck driving.

A company paid training program will give you lot's of classroom instruction. They need you to learn their system, workflow of receiving loads, delivering loads, how to work their Qualcomm or Tablet, especially HOS regulations, reporting and editing.

I went to a local private school to get my CDL. There we had almost NO classroom. Road training in the morning, backing course in the afternoon. A few videos and some reading material, but they only focused on the skills necessary to pass the road test. So when I went to company training, all I had was my CDL. Then we did classroom every morning and driving/backing every afternoon. Without that two weeks of classroom training, I would have been totally unequipped to go out one the road. And then the two weeks with the trainer brought all that classroom stuff head on with reality. After I went solo, I spent almost all my free time reviewing the classroom material and training manual until I could do procedures from memory. But it took several months to get reasonably competent.

Classroom is vital for any new entrant into truck driving.

You're talking about company specific training that's different and that's my point. They will teach you that stuff when you get to your company it's specific to the company. Classroom time at an external driving school is different. You would have had to learn all that stuff with the company anyway.

The classroom time was just as important for me as the driving. I learned a whole lot from classroom time. My instructor taught way more than the book. I learned about chicken coops and all kinds of off the wall trucking stuff. Plus a lot of talk about Brake fade. Snub vs stab braking and all kinds of drilling things into my head. I also learned about life on the road. Controlling my road rage. Never to gesture to a 4 wheeler. It goes on and on. Shepard’s hooks and button hooks and diagrams. Of all kinds of maneuvers. His motto was slow methodical and something else I can’t remember. My instructor was passionate about his job. Like a Harvard professor of trucking. The last few days another guy took over and it was just teaching the book. It’s true though that class room will only get you so far but it’s critical to being a professional driver. If your going to pay for a private school and don’t get a good class room instructor then your being done a serious disservice for your money.

I think it depends more on the student and good luck. Your question is 'do I need classroom time, can't I learn this when I go 1-on-1 with my trainer', well yes and no. Yes, if you are a proactive guy and love to ask questions and you can absorb the knowledge thrown at you while multi-tasking then I think you can ditch the classroom portion. Not everybody is like this though and people of diverse intelligence(using tact here) learn at varied paces. At the end of the day, you can be Albert Einstein, but if your trainer insists on sleeping all day and using you as a low-paid team driver, then you are SOL as learning goes. Just like as in life, you never know what you are going to get, there are good ones, not-so-good ones, and horrible ones. Better to be safe than sorry.

Tim replied: "You're talking about company specific training that's different and that's my point. They will teach you that stuff when you get to your company it's specific to the company. Classroom time at an external driving school is different. You would have had to learn all that stuff with the company anyway"

And yes, Tim, I made that distinction in my comment. Maybe you missed it. Please try to focus.