CRST Permit Training Experience

Hello folks, I am new to this forum and I heard about you guys from a fellow student and I thought I would see whats the deal. I registered last night and took my test today.

After a long bus ride out here to Iowa from Florida eve though they have a facility in Jacksonville (that was full) I am glad that I made the choice to come out here to Iowa.

The instructor that I have has been great and I'm only on my third day in class.

I retain information easily but i was dissapointed by the fact i missed over three hours of instruction because of the DOT Physical. No makeup besides just asking another student or reading the manual by it's self and I don't do well with asking other students for help i would rather have someone that already has experience in the field so that I can ask questions and get the answer from someone who has experience with that and the concept behind the answer from them.

I wish that the training was a little less fast paced for some of the other students that might take a little more time to understand the material.

Don't get me wrong but just know this might not be the program for some people. I do highly recommend the program for most people because they do teach you but be prepared for self study and finding a group to study with.

I will try to update this with my experience from the actual behind the wheel portion of the training.

I passed all three exams on the first try, using only 30 mins out of the 90 that we get for all three tests meaning an avg. of 10 mins per test. Gen Knowledge: -5 Air Brakes: -1 Combination: -2

Welcome to TruckingTruth, Melvin! I may have been the one that referred you, however I am not sure. I know once you get to the range here at NADTA, you will have a great time. The instructors are super cool. I see you discovered the High Road Program. Gratz on passing your permit tests the first go. Let me give you the welcome packet as we call it here. It contains very useful links to get you started:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

Anyway, again, Welcome to TruckingTruth and (hopefully after you get your CDL: CRST).

Elcome Mr. Pancake. I wanted to briefly comment on this from your above first post:

I wish that the training was a little less fast paced for some of the other students that might take a little more time to understand the material.

Why do you wish this? Your goal should be to learn everything needed to pass the CDL test, not much more than that. 3-3.5 weeks is ample time to achieve the base set of knowledge and skills in order to pass the tests. They are not teaching you how-to be a truck driver. Once you have your CDL and begin the process of road-training, the true essence of that fact will become obvious.

Try to keep something in mind, the fast pace nature is also many times part of the "weeding out" process to determine who is willing to focus and apply themselves. A test to see who is serious and who is not. The folks who are not serious will only get in the way of those who are serious. Just a suggestion, 100% of your attention should be on your success, let the instructors worry about those who are falling behind.