CDL TESTING

I am scheduled to test on Tuesday and although the school KNOWS I cant pass the pad maneuvers they are forcing me to go. I apparently have become confused. I was told by another classmate that if I cant get the parallels or ally dock that I could do my 2 pull ups and 2 get outs, when it came time for those and blow the horn, knowing I couldnt get them. Depending on passing both straight back and offset without any points, I would still pass the pad test. Does anyone know if thats the truth or is it considered auto fail, when I'm pretty sure I wouldn't pass to begin with. Not being on the negative side, but I just can't learn from watching those before me, when I watch for 20-30 mins of a mess. Unfortunately I have been there too long and they want me out, as I believe they have overbooked and the one chance a day we get just doesnt seem to be enough. Any opinions?

I am scheduled to test on Tuesday and although the school KNOWS I cant pass the pad maneuvers they are forcing me to go. I apparently have become confused. I was told by another classmate that if I cant get the parallels or ally dock that I could do my 2 pull ups and 2 get outs, when it came time for those and blow the horn, knowing I couldnt get them. Depending on passing both straight back and offset without any points, I would still pass the pad test. Does anyone know if thats the truth or is it considered auto fail, when I'm pretty sure I wouldn't pass to begin with. Not being on the negative side, but I just can't learn from watching those before me, when I watch for 20-30 mins of a mess. Unfortunately I have been there too long and they want me out, as I believe they have overbooked and the one chance a day we get just doesnt seem to be enough. Any opinions?

I tested today, and I contemplated doing that when I pulled alley dock. However, according to our teacher, if you try to cut corners on our examiner, he's going to be looking extra hard for ways to fail you because you dodged something you were told to do. So in the end, I dealt with it and took 7 points on my alley dock (1 encroachment, 5 extra pull ups.)

Is it a case of more practice needed? Our class had a guy that couldn't grasp the concept of how a trailer moves in reverse. He's scheduled for retraining, but if he hasnt got the basic idea down after 2 weeks I just don't see it happening for him.

I'd say to just give it your best shot, and don't quit if you think it's not going in.

That was good advice! I didn't really wanna do that for the same reasons u stated. I can tell u how to get the job done on the outside but I get inside and it's a new game. Having only 1 turn per day really puts a damper on things and now apparently the instructors have given up on me, so they no longer tell me what I'm doing wrong. They ignore me and wait til I'm so frustrated that I get out as I know others want their 1 turn as well. They too paid what I did. Regardless if this is a dog eat dog job, it seems the right thing to do, so everyone gets that 1 chance to practice!!

That was good advice! I didn't really wanna do that for the same reasons u stated. I can tell u how to get the job done on the outside but I get inside and it's a new game. Having only 1 turn per day really puts a damper on things and now apparently the instructors have given up on me, so they no longer tell me what I'm doing wrong. They ignore me and wait til I'm so frustrated that I get out as I know others want their 1 turn as well. They too paid what I did. Regardless if this is a dog eat dog job, it seems the right thing to do, so everyone gets that 1 chance to practice!!

Heidi,

Keep it simple. Do not overthink yout turns. You know what to do in order to bring the trailer tandems where your drives are considering the few feet of difference in the path. You operate the tractor to drive the trailer.

Peace.

classARod

Thank you Rod, I have heard Info overthink things, I wish I would just lose that thought process

I don't know what state you're testing in, but I took mine in Missouri. We had 20 points total we were allowed on the pad. 1 get out for straight back and 2 for everything else. My goal was get through straight back and offset with zero points. That way I had 20 points for my last maneuver. I succeeded. My third maneuver was alley dock and it was nice to know I had those 20 points available. Also in MO once you passed one part you didn't have to retest on that if you failed the next step. Hope that helps. Good luck.