Truck Driving Institute TDI Sanford Florida

Ok. Here is my first week thus far. the recruiter ****** should have been a used car salesman. Now he did not out out lie as far as i know so far. However he has a real good way of sugar coating everything and being vague. Put him on the spot. Ask direct questions and make sure you are very direct with all questions. When he says that it will cost $1 for the soda, you need to ask how much for the cup? Cya.

The high school diploma equivalent quiz. We were told no big deal, easy 10 min reading quiz. Bullsheet.

Do not goto to school without knowing everything. Study, study, study. You will not learn in class. They are not there to teach you the material. They are there to teach you too drive. Trust me. There will be no time too learn the book stuff.

Make sure you have all employment history for 10 years with every start and end date, phone #s, addresses, and supervisors name. All traffic violations for life with all exact dates, and your life time criminal history, dates and all info. The good news is at School they give you your dmv record and background check so you can get all the info. However on my background it came back clean, no arrest or nothing. This was bullsheet. I have been arrested and convicted of little minor ****. We were stronly advised not to tell one single lie on the applications. So i put down everything. That was made very difficult cause i had no exact dates.

In my case because i studied, i wish i would have went before school and got my permit, would have made life much simpler. I thought you had to have dot physical first but i was wrong. Now this part may just be florida but the test for permit is on a computer at dmv. You have the option to skip questions. Use this option. What it will do is put all the questions you dont know at the end of the test rendering your odds ways better. Also, the test will stop once you answered enough questions right to pass. You may not even see your skiped questions. If you get a question wrong it tells you right away so you can keep track.

If you live over 50 miles away you can get Hotel for $100 for ALL 3 weeks of school. You check in monday night and check out fri morn. Very nice place with microwave, two burner stove top, fridge with ice maker, dish washer, sink. No oven though. After school goto walmart and buy groceries, it will save you a ton of money and you only get half hour for lunch. Pack your lunch. Much better and you wont be rushed. Now i was told that we may get bunked in hotel with another student but i got a room to myself so far.

Hope this helps someone and i will keep on adding as we go.

Nothing real new to update but a couple of things as i am wraping up my 1st week. Instructors are great and really are there to help out. They will not only be there to teach but they really go the extra mile to help you with real world advice. As far as front office staff go. I watch applications go to the office by the hundreds where they review them, highlight any mistakes so you can correct them, then they fax all of them to all the company's. They do all this in what seems to be record times. They are working their asses off to make sure you get a job. Just awesome. I had a prehire before i even started school.

Let me touch on drug use for a minuete. I believe i heard them say that if you have anything in your system, even as old as 30days to go home cause you will fail and ruin your chances entirely in this school. Do not fail a dot drug screen. I watched a couple leave after that statement and watched a guy be told to leave today because he failed. DO NOT TAKE WHAT I SAID FOR A GUARANTEE. i must admit i did not pay much attention when they were talking about the drug screening because i dont do any drugs.

Tomorrow, friday. We get to go out in the yard and start learning backing up and stuff. I will be so glad to get out of the classroom.

2nd week is in the bag. The whole week you spend half a day driving and half a day practicing parallel parking, offset backing, and alley dock parking. When out driving you will be with a trainer and 2 other students. You will be city driving for most of the week. The first day you go to a nice quiet road and keep driving there to get comfortable shifting and turning. All the trainers are awesome and very helpfull. My best advice is to take your time, think about your shifts, and dont flustered. You are gonna screw up. It happens. Learn from it and move on. Every day you will notice you keep improving. As you improve, the instructors will keep challenging you. I could not be happier with my experience so far.

Ok. 3rd week is split up driving, backing maneuvers and just repetitive practicing. The drives get longer and further. On Wednesday you will have to test out for the school. Then Thursday and Friday are the dmv testing. The testing is done at the school by some of the instructors as they are officially dmv testers. You will first have to pass your pretrip inspection, then your maneuvers on the range. (Must pass) then your driving test. I passed all today. Let me tell you its a emotional rollercoaster. You are nervous as hell then you pass something then your happy, then you realize you have another test then your nervous again. WOW. What a ride.

Here is the bottom line. The school was great. Everyone has their faults and quarks. But overall i am very satisfied with the school. They do a great job and are very professional. Yet the instructors are lively enough to make it interesting and up beat.