DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) December 5 2016-January 20 2017

Fingers crossed for you!

Overtime: Well, I am done counting the days.

However...My quest to obtain a CDL has not ended unfortunately. I will continue writing until this happens. It will happen!

I did get another opportunity this morning. I got through the straight line backing just fine. Today my meltdown happened on the offset backing. This has normally not been difficult for me.

There were a number of factors that contributed to today's failure. 1. I should have done a better job adjusting the mirrors prior to testing. Hindsight advice: If thr mirrors arent adjusted properly. It is MUCH more difficult to make minor corrections as needed.

2. I had an extremely difficult examiner. This particular one deducted points if you were about to break a barrier even if you hadn't yet so I had much less room for error than I had with other examiners. She also expected the entire back end of the trailer to cross the plane before pull ups were allowed. Most examiners from what I've seen will allow you to break it with a corner... this also leaves much less room for error initially.

3.My nerves got the best of me again & I simply wasn't executing/ thinking things through as well as I had in practicing.

I have another free appointment with the d.o.t on February 8th. I will try to get an appointment with a 3rd party examiner at some point this week...This option costs $100 per test but I need to make this happen asap so hopefully that works out. This may end up being a costly detour. I have invested too much at this point to give up though. I will write more after my next test, more to come!

Johnny, sorry for your misfortunes! You are providing good info tho!! Are they providing cont. training for you or have you been sent home? More info on this would be appreciated! Best of luck!!

Overtime: Well, I am done counting the days.

However...My quest to obtain a CDL has not ended unfortunately. I will continue writing until this happens. It will happen!

I did get another opportunity this morning. I got through the straight line backing just fine. Today my meltdown happened on the offset backing. This has normally not been difficult for me.

There were a number of factors that contributed to today's failure. 1. I should have done a better job adjusting the mirrors prior to testing. Hindsight advice: If thr mirrors arent adjusted properly. It is MUCH more difficult to make minor corrections as needed.

2. I had an extremely difficult examiner. This particular one deducted points if you were about to break a barrier even if you hadn't yet so I had much less room for error than I had with other examiners. She also expected the entire back end of the trailer to cross the plane before pull ups were allowed. Most examiners from what I've seen will allow you to break it with a corner... this also leaves much less room for error initially.

3.My nerves got the best of me again & I simply wasn't executing/ thinking things through as well as I had in practicing.

I have another free appointment with the d.o.t on February 8th. I will try to get an appointment with a 3rd party examiner at some point this week...This option costs $100 per test but I need to make this happen asap so hopefully that works out. This may end up being a costly detour. I have invested too much at this point to give up though. I will write more after my next test, more to come!

Hello Tim, I haven't really been sent home but I'm not staying at the school. It is a private school that I paid for that is close to my home. I am not attending full time anymore but they still give me opportunities to practice on the day before testing & will also provide a vehicle for me to test with whenever I need to test...As far as I'm concerned, they have been very supportive despite my failures. They don't just want to take your money..your success matters to them!

Johnny, sorry for your misfortunes! You are providing good info tho!! Are they providing cont. training for you or have you been sent home? More info on this would be appreciated! Best of luck!!

Overtime: Well, I am done counting the days.

However...My quest to obtain a CDL has not ended unfortunately. I will continue writing until this happens. It will happen!

I did get another opportunity this morning. I got through the straight line backing just fine. Today my meltdown happened on the offset backing. This has normally not been difficult for me.

There were a number of factors that contributed to today's failure. 1. I should have done a better job adjusting the mirrors prior to testing. Hindsight advice: If thr mirrors arent adjusted properly. It is MUCH more difficult to make minor corrections as needed.

2. I had an extremely difficult examiner. This particular one deducted points if you were about to break a barrier even if you hadn't yet so I had much less room for error than I had with other examiners. She also expected the entire back end of the trailer to cross the plane before pull ups were allowed. Most examiners from what I've seen will allow you to break it with a corner... this also leaves much less room for error initially.

3.My nerves got the best of me again & I simply wasn't executing/ thinking things through as well as I had in practicing.

I have another free appointment with the d.o.t on February 8th. I will try to get an appointment with a 3rd party examiner at some point this week...This option costs $100 per test but I need to make this happen asap so hopefully that works out. This may end up being a costly detour. I have invested too much at this point to give up though. I will write more after my next test, more to come!

Overtime:

1/25/2017.

Today I used a 3rd party examiner (still d.o.t certified to test). This was the alternative to making appointments which are 3 weeks out with the d.o.t for free.

3rd party tests are $100 per test. I registered for skills test & road test so I committed $200 with my credit card to take another shot today.

Once again, I was unsuccessful.

It is somewhat embarrassing to write this but I want to write an accurate portrayal of my experience & it is not complete until I successfully obtain my cdl.

Sadly, I discovered that I don't test well even on maneuvers that I do well on in practice. My nerves just get to me on test time. I was close today... no meltdown on the easy maneuvers ( straight-line & offset). However, I managed to get myself wedged into a bad position that was difficult to correct on the alley dock maneuver, it was correctable but not without a ton of pull_ups ( too many to pass d.o.t) I had just gotten myself straightened out when I was informed that I had accumulated too many points. I will not let this happen again. If I see myself about to get worked into a bad position... I will just reset and start over next time ( that is all you are allowed to do until part of the bumper crosses the plain). I was stubborn and made it to where a tiny portion of my bumper made it but that didn't give me much room to do the pull-ups that this allows you to do anyway....

I put another dent on my credit card this afternoon & am already signed up to test again on Friday.

More to come ( hopefully not too much more!)

I 'll buy the meal if you pass friday, you pay if you don"t! I'll be in MO. in March to get a house ready to sell! One of my issues holding me back! Give yourself a "OORAH" pep talk prior to the testing friday, give yourself alittle b**ch slap in the face as well !! YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Just don"t screw up the road test after !!!! LOL Have fun with it man !!!

Thanks for writing again Tim,

I would take you up on that but if all goes according to plan, I will be at Melton corporate headquarters in Oklahoma at that time...Otherwise I would probably still be in Des Moines Iowa & extremely disappointed.

& good luck on your house & any other obstacles you may have!

I 'll buy the meal if you pass friday, you pay if you don"t! I'll be in MO. in March to get a house ready to sell! One of my issues holding me back! Give yourself a "OORAH" pep talk prior to the testing friday, give yourself alittle b**ch slap in the face as well !! YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Just don"t screw up the road test after !!!! LOL Have fun with it man !!!

Attempt of motivation!!! Good luck!!!!

Overtime, continued:

1/27/2017.

I finally passed my backing skills test today!!

It only took me 5 tries, how embarrassing. I went in this morning and practiced for a half a day to get the kinks worked out & that seemed to help a lot. I did well on it too. It only took me about 15 minutes on all 3 maneuvers & I broke no boundaries or cones whatsoever. I lost 4 points total on extra pull ups ( under 12 is passing).

$300 extra dollars (spent on 3rd party examiners so I could test in a timely manner) later this is done.

I did get my first crack at the road taste finally today. This is my last obstacle toward obtaining my class A CDL. Unfortunately this was not a success.

It seemed like today was going to be the day & the test had been going well. Unfortunately I had a situation toward the end of the exam where I lost a gear while trying to upshift going up a hill. This caused me to roll backward slightly & I had to come to a complete stop to recover. Since traffic was behind me, I impeded traffic, making the test an automatic fail.

The examiner gave me a nice encouraging short speech after the test was done. In short, she apologized that it was necessary to fail me today & that she thinks I will be a great driver & to keep at it & told me all the things I did well also.

Although today didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, I am happy to have overcome something that had been a major obstacle to me.

I was also able to call the d.o.t & get my next free appointment moved up to Feb.1 (Wednesday). It was originally Feb. 8th. They were able to move it up because I only have the road test to do now & don't need as much time set aside since I no longer have to take the skills test.

The head instructor at DMACC even set aside time to practice 1 on 1 with an instructor beforehand to sharpen up before my next test..

I would like to add that I am extremely impressed with how accommodating the school has been in taking extra effort to work toward me succeeding. I have not had to pay a dime extra for all the extra fuel & practice that they have needed to provide me after what should have been my graduation date & nor have I gotten any flack from any instructors for the amount of effort it has taken & continues to get me through this. I am glad I went this route!

More to come!

Johnny, congrats man!!! Your determination is a model for great success. Good luck!!