Profile For sambulate

Today was day 1. It's now an 8 week program(Class starting April 21 2022). I had heard previously it was 6 weeks so this is updated info if someone else has reported in previously.

The first day was just handing out a few extra materials on arrival, meeting a couple of the instructors and other staff from the trucking program. All the staff seems professional. Our coursebook is a JJ Keller ELDT Obtaining A CDL Book (ISBN-13: 978-1-68008-493-1) along with several other Keller books and 2 log books. We will be covering through Chapter 30 at basically 1 chapter a day with daily online, open book, at home on PC/mobile. There is an additional weekly test we get Friday online that is due by Sunday 2359.

In the afternoon we went to part of the practice area and looked at a truck, an instructor went over a quick rundown of a pre-trip(we will work this more in depth tomorrow) and sliding the fifth wheel and tandems while were out there. We'll start shifting and getting ready to do first driving early next week.

I was actually surprised while doing some stuff on what to look for during a pre-trip they pulled up some pages from truckingtruth dot com showing ABCs!

Hey Travis! I joined TTT just to reply to your posts about your experience at Cape Fear CC. I haven't finished reading, but I intend to. Thanks for recording it!

I'm currently in a community college trucking program in NC (the same one for the second time in 25 years--long story), but am not happy with the way they're doing things. Lessons are inconsistent, instructors are not on the same page regarding processes and give their personal preference for how they want us to do things (which is obviously confusing), and we were lucky to get any kind of organized handout for pre-trip. Expectations are not necessarily clear; they get defensive and snarky if you question anything. One instructor stewed in contempt and made snarky comments when we made mistakes on our fourth road instructional ride (manual). They set us out on the road with manuals on the third day without any real practice on the field. They don't use much in the way of visual aids or available technology in class. Not to mention the hella old equipment they're teaching us on. Etc, etc...

While I don't feel as if this program fully prepared me for the real world the first time I went through it 25 years ago, I do not remember it being anywhere near this bad the first time I went through it. I re-enrolled thinking they may have changed things over the years. (Aside from adding a simulator, they didn't change anything.)

I am considering withdrawing from this program and getting into Cape Fear CC instead.

Would you say that your instructors at CFCC remained professional, fair, gave positive feedback, and were willing to listen to your questions and/or to repeat things so that you understood a concept? Did you practice backing in the large 53-foot tractor/trailers in many situations, or just two or three setups?

Thank you for any information you can give.