Baker College - Michigan

I'm in week 5 of training at the time of this post. The program is 20 weeks so I've got a ways to go still. But I just cleared a major hurdle today: The Vehicle Maintenance Exam. Basically, it is a 250+ point pre-trip inspection , including the brake check, that must be performed by memory. It is a test that must be passed in order to continue on in the program. They will not let you drive their trucks if you fail this portion of the course.

After putting in my time in the truck lab to learn all these parts over the last 4 weeks, plus watching various Youtube videos of pretrip inspections, and a fair amount of studying at home, I was still pretty nervous when I went in to take the test. Not surprising, considering my continuation in the truck driving program was on the line. Thankfully, my fears were for nothing as I crushed the exam completely and totally, scoring a 100%!

Next week, I will take to the range to learn basic procedures such as backing, hooking and unhooking, etc. Right now, however, I am flying high after today's major victory.

Another step closer... I now have my chauffer's license plus my commercial learners permit. I've passed my tests for tankers and doubles/triples as well. Secretary of State had a new computer system which was messing up and wouldn't allow them to add my doubles/triples endorsement for some reason. They filed it away that I passed the test and I'm guessing that will be added on later. Worst case, I'll have to retake doubles/triples, which really wouldn't be a big deal anyway.

Secretary of State had a new computer system which was messing up and wouldn't allow them to add my doubles/triples endorsement for some reason.

I reviewed my FMCSA handbook and it turns out the computer wasn't messing up at all. Doubles/Triples endorsement is not allowed on a CLP. Only Tankers.

Training continues. After what seems like forever, I've finally got to hit the range with a truck. I worked on straight line backing which was pretty easy. Then I moved onto offset backing, which is a little more tricky. Next time I'm out there, I will be trying to find some kind of reference point to know when to cut the wheel back in the opposite direction. They are doing it by counting seconds before turning, but that seems pretty inexact to me.

It has been an awful long time since my last update. The first half of the course ended this week. I'm happy to say that I have done quite well. My backing test went very well. We were tested on offset/lane change backing, straight backing, and a 45 degree back. The latter included having to get the ICC bumper within a 3 foot box. I managed to score all possible points, needing just one pull up for each side of the offset backing, and no pull ups for the 45 degree and the straight back.

I have to say, I was definitely humbled by the whole backing experience for the first couple weeks. I can say from first hand experience that those little traffic cones get squished very flat when run over by the truck. By the end though, I was getting the truck into the space within one or two pull ups every time, and with no pull ups about 50-60% of the time.

Now I am just waiting on grades for the other courses. They should all be A's with the exception of the Rules and Regulations course. Might've squeaked by with a B or B+ in that one. The final in that class was pretty tough, all based out of the FMCSR, but an awful lot of info to memorize for a test. I can see the point though. Even if I don't remember everything, being familiar with the book, and where to look for the info will be very helpful.

It'll be about a month before classes resume, which is altogether too long for me. Of the several times I've made a run at college for various things (never trucking), I've never felt that way. I'm ready to get back and start actually getting some road time in, but that will have to wait until next month.

It has been an awful long time since my last update. The first half of the course ended this week. I'm happy to say that I have done quite well. My backing test went very well. We were tested on offset/lane change backing, straight backing, and a 45 degree back. The latter included having to get the ICC bumper within a 3 foot box. I managed to score all possible points, needing just one pull up for each side of the offset backing, and no pull ups for the 45 degree and the straight back.

I have to say, I was definitely humbled by the whole backing experience for the first couple weeks. I can say from first hand experience that those little traffic cones get squished very flat when run over by the truck. By the end though, I was getting the truck into the space within one or two pull ups every time, and with no pull ups about 50-60% of the time.

Now I am just waiting on grades for the other courses. They should all be A's with the exception of the Rules and Regulations course. Might've squeaked by with a B or B+ in that one. The final in that class was pretty tough, all based out of the FMCSR, but an awful lot of info to memorize for a test. I can see the point though. Even if I don't remember everything, being familiar with the book, and where to look for the info will be very helpful.

It'll be about a month before classes resume, which is altogether too long for me. Of the several times I've made a run at college for various things (never trucking), I've never felt that way. I'm ready to get back and start actually getting some road time in, but that will have to wait until next month.

I was really close to enrolling there, at one time, but I was still only 6 months removed from my felonies, at that point, and the company recruiters that were at the informational seminar, advised me to wait 3 years, and try again. I was back on the other side of Michigan by then, and chose a local school, but hit another hiccup, so now, after my initial attempt at entering the industry 12 years ago, i am trying again. anyhoo, good read so far.

Stay safe

I was really close to enrolling there, at one time, but I was still only 6 months removed from my felonies, at that point, and the company recruiters that were at the informational seminar, advised me to wait 3 years, and try again. I was back on the other side of Michigan by then, and chose a local school, but hit another hiccup, so now, after my initial attempt at entering the industry 12 years ago, i am trying again. anyhoo, good read so far.

Stay safe

Good Luck. It is very thorough, to be sure.

6 weeks to go. Class time is pretty simple this quarter. It's been nearly all map reading. Many of the students are having a rough go at it, mostly due to them growing up in the GPS era. I'm just old enough to have used and been familiar with maps, so that's been pretty good. The real challenge thus far is the actual road time. At this point, I'm probably good enough to pass 3rd party, but I could definitely use some polishing. The last real problem I have is losing my gear on the 6th to 4th downshift (or 5th to 3rd in the 8-speeds.) Sometimes I can save it and find the gear, but other times I definitely get down to a total crawl and can finally find 1st. I know how to use road speed to find the lost gear, but for whatever reason, those low gears are very finicky. I've got a few more weeks to work on it, and then the final 2 or 3 weeks will be focused on the 90 degree back, plus the PTI stuff for 3rd party.

Final Report: I have finished the course. I took my State test today and passed. I am now the proud owner of a class A CDL. Baker was a good school to learn how to drive trucks. It was definitely one of the longer courses out there at 20 weeks. I think they are condensing it to 16 pretty soon. That may seem like a long time, but I was totally prepared for that State test as a result.

I was able to get roughly 50 hours of road time before actually having to take the State test, and that was quite helpful, especially for getting the hang of shifting. We probably spent about the same amount of time on range/backing, and pre-trip inspection.

In the first 25% of the course, Baker expects students to pass a pre-trip that is much more thorough than the State's requirements, before being able to move on. That can be kind of intimidating. Indeed, a fair amount of students did not clear this hurdle and didn't make it to the end of the course. That being said, once you can pass their test, the State version is a cakewalk.

The second 25% will be spend working on straight backing, lane change backing/offset backing, and a 45 degree back (to get ready for that 90). That is where you will also learn about hooking and unhooking. This portion is about 5 weeks or so. At the end of it, you will take an exam where you must perform these tasks. At this point, you've completed 10 weeks, the first half of the course.

It is important to remember this is only the hands on portion of the course. There are about 8-12 hours a week of classes going on at the same time. That's where things like logs, FMCSR, trip planning, and theory (how to shift, hazards, etc.) are discussed.

After a break, you will return and complete the final 10 weeks. Its back to about 8 hours a week of class, and 5 hours a week of road time. Road time is spent with one trainer and one driver, so that 5 hours is spent entirely behind the wheel. At first, it isn't going to be pretty. We were driving either 8 speed or 10 speed manuals, and there will be plenty of gear grinding, losing your gear, etc. For me, this half of the course coincided with the rough part of this year's winter. Needless to say, I got plenty of experience driving in the snow. I think this was a good thing. I'd rather experience the winter driving with the instructor, rather than dealing with it for the first time alone, and with a full load to boot.

To finish out, you will take a mock State test at the school, which will be graded the same as the real deal. I really liked that part, as it helped me be prepared for the actual State test. A couple of the instructors also got a good idea where the actual State testing route would be, allowing for the students to practice some of the tricky scenarios they would encounter. A 135 degree right turn being one of these. That wouldn't have been fun to encounter for the first time under the pressure of the test.

To wrap up this long winded report, I will say that the school was a good choice. If you put in the effort, the instructors will do their best to help you succeed. If you think its just going to be a breeze, and don't care, you will probably end up like the 60% or so who didn't make it to the finish. There is a variety of instructors who you will work with throughout the course. This is especially nice, because there isn't always one way of doing things. You can combine what you've learned from the various instructors with various backgrounds, and put that together into a game plan that works for you. As for me, I'm ready to move on to my next step on this path and get a job in the trucking industry.