Knowledge & Skills Test

I should probably wait til tomorrow to go over these but just to make sure I'm clear on these...Knowledge is what I know from the CDL Book, Skills is the Pre-Trip, Driving, etc. correct?

General knowledge is part of the written test. It's usually the sections of Rules & Regulations, Driving Safely and Transporting Cargo Safely lumped together. Combination Vehicles, if I remember correctly, is a separate section on the standardized test. Some material will overlap. Most folks get the Air Brakes part of the written test too, in order to have the air brake restriction lifted on their CDL. Air Brakes is actually an endorsement test. Also, there is some material from pre-trip that overlaps with sections like Driving Safely that you will cover in your written test. Not trying to confuse you. Here's another way of looking at it:

Written Test(s):

General Knowledge - Rules & Regulations, Driving Safely, Transporting Cargo Safely,

Combi Vehicles section

+ whatever endorsements you'd like to test for ( only exception is that Transporting Passengers also requires a separate skills test in a vehicle that is a bus)

Skills Test:

Pre-Trip information - whether you're attending a private school or company school, learn the pre-trip the way they teach you. Usually they work closely with who they know will be testing you for your skills test, and will teach you what the examiner will be looking for. Plus, each company or private school has their own unique way of teaching the pre-trip to their students or potential employees

Air Brake Leak Test - usually included with the Pre-Trip, as is an in-cab version of the Pre-Trip

Driving - the actual road test, will vary for each school / company and even for each examiner

Maneuvers - certain backing techniques and other miscellaneous skills

Hope this helps. If you're using the High Road to basically just study for any written tests needed to be able to obtain a Class A CDL and drive a tractor trailer, you'll need to focus on:

Rules & Regs

Driving Safely

Transporting Cargo Safely

Air Brakes (endorsement)

Combination Vehicles

Anything else is peripheral material or info you'd need for additional endorsements. All of the High Road material is valuable, but the above listed is what you'll really need to focus on to be a basic "vanilla" truck driver.

General knowledge is part of the written test. It's usually the sections of Rules & Regulations, Driving Safely and Transporting Cargo Safely lumped together. Combination Vehicles, if I remember correctly, is a separate section on the standardized test. Some material will overlap. Most folks get the Air Brakes part of the written test too, in order to have the air brake restriction lifted on their CDL. Air Brakes is actually an endorsement test. Also, there is some material from pre-trip that overlaps with sections like Driving Safely that you will cover in your written test. Not trying to confuse you. Here's another way of looking at it:

Written Test(s):

General Knowledge - Rules & Regulations, Driving Safely, Transporting Cargo Safely,

Combi Vehicles section

+ whatever endorsements you'd like to test for ( only exception is that Transporting Passengers also requires a separate skills test in a vehicle that is a bus)

Skills Test:

Pre-Trip information - whether you're attending a private school or company school, learn the pre-trip the way they teach you. Usually they work closely with who they know will be testing you for your skills test, and will teach you what the examiner will be looking for. Plus, each company or private school has their own unique way of teaching the pre-trip to their students or potential employees

Air Brake Leak Test - usually included with the Pre-Trip, as is an in-cab version of the Pre-Trip

Driving - the actual road test, will vary for each school / company and even for each examiner

Maneuvers - certain backing techniques and other miscellaneous skills

Hope this helps. If you're using the High Road to basically just study for any written tests needed to be able to obtain a Class A CDL and drive a tractor trailer, you'll need to focus on:

Rules & Regs

Driving Safely

Transporting Cargo Safely

Air Brakes (endorsement)

Combination Vehicles

Anything else is peripheral material or info you'd need for additional endorsements. All of the High Road material is valuable, but the above listed is what you'll really need to focus on to be a basic "vanilla" truck driver.

That's what I was looking for. I saw in the manual that there were certain areas I needed and didn't need. It was the "Skills" test that was confusing me. I'm going to try for my permit and thought if it was a skills test that I would need to Show that I knew how to do it instead of answering a question on it. I'm hoping I pass the permit and I will be doing "Hands on" work at school such as pre trip, driving, etc. Thanks for your response.