Comments By Sweet Jimmy

Congrats! Just pay attention and work hard, and keep a positive attitude. Several in my class don't seem to take it seriously and it's starting to show.

After a steep learning curve on downshifting, I think I finally have it down. After my road trip today my instructor told me that if this had been test day I'd have passed the road test with flying colors. That really boosted my confidence, emulating Kori's attitude had paid off. There have been recruiters visiting at the end of the day for the last several days. I've been leery of everything they said, but the Schneider rep seemed honest, as did the Howard guy. I have a job waiting, but I'm listening to everyone.

Nothing much to report today, but I thought Brett might like to know that my partner and I were disagreeing on how the offset backing was done. I was going to look in my book and looked over and my partner had a post from here pulled up. This site was wildly useful before school, and it's still coming through for me during school.

You just don't get the certificate if you don't pass all the school tests. You could potentially fail the backward serpentine and do well on all the other tests and still pass the class. I'm sure I'll get it, still have 4 more weeks of school. I think I'll pass the school, but the pressure isn't so great on me as I already have a job waiting. The boss was going to let me take the test in one of his trucks, but I felt I'd be a better driver if I had some schooling.

Well, they told us this week that it's possible to fail the class and still get your CDL. It appears that the school standards are far more stringent than CDL standards. They said that if we fail the school tests that they will re-test us at CDL standards. This made me feel better because the backward serpentine course is pretty tough. It's the only thing I've had trouble with so far. They did point out that if we pass the class that we will get a certificate stating that we have 200 hours of driving experience and that companies really like that. I thought they were blowing smoke up our nether regions until recruiters started talking to us and told us that they love hiring from Bevill State because new hires from this school are usually very well trained. They took a poll to see who planned to go OTR, and I was the only one in the class. Kinda shocked me. More later, if anything of note takes place.

Day 5

We've lost several class members due to them being unable to pass the permit tests. My instructor took us on a more challenging road course today, and I let the trailer get off pavement during a right turn. Didn't pull up enough before starting my turn. My instructor lost his mind, and while I was glad for the instruction, I think he overreacted a bit. But I won't make that mistake again. Other than that, all is going well.

Way to go! Good luck!

Day 4

I've been here for a few months trying to learn what I can from everyone else's experiences, and I kept thinking "how can they have that much trouble shifting?" Well I offer my deepest apologies for thiking I'd come in and shift like a pro. I'm sure I'll get it, but the downshifting is still a tough row to hoe. I'm still very impressed by the instruction and driving time we get at Bevill State. No school tomorrow due to testing for some company, and I'm okay with that. I can do a few more jobs in wrapping up my company business. after i get it fully closed down, It's all truck driving all the time. Still keeping the "Kori" attitude, it's paying off big time!

Great job! If it's like my school, you'll be glad you got your permit before class. All but 4 of my class didn't, and they've been in the classroom all week while we"ve been driving.

Day 3

I got to drive a semi for the first time on the road, even had to pull a U-turn. I was actually able to downshift a bit better today, the instructor said I did really well, so I'll take it. The guy from yesterday that couldn't straight line back evidently quit. Brandon, if you're still reading this, I found out that the state unemployment department will pay for this school if that's an option.