Test Day----No Go

4 weeks later,and i still cannot get it together. Failed road test,and backup. By the grace of god,i passed the pretrip. Shifting a freightliner standard 10speed trans,i can upshift with no problem, but downshifting is a loss. I go back december 10th to take the 2 test with the 3rd party tester again. I will give it another try. Maybe some things are meant to be,and some are not. I do not know. I do not think i have to many options left in this field. Time will tell.

What are you having problems with.... Can you break it down for us how do you down shift and how do you think you are down shifting..... If there is someone else in the truck with you other then the instructor ask if they can record your shifting patterns and see where your going wrong.... We can tell you all day how to shift but its easier to see it done or you can ask the instructor to show you again and record how he/she does it...... I suck at typing and almost everything comes out wrong I'm not trying to be mean in any way lol just offering help

4 weeks later,and i still cannot get it together. Failed road test,and backup. By the grace of god,i passed the pretrip. Shifting a freightliner standard 10speed trans,i can upshift with no problem, but downshifting is a loss. I go back december 10th to take the 2 test with the 3rd party tester again. I will give it another try. Maybe some things are meant to be,and some are not. I do not know. I do not think i have to many options left in this field. Time will tell.

Dude, is shifting the problem?

I will give it another try. Maybe some things are meant to be,and some are not. I do not know. I do not think i have too many options left in this field. Time will tell.

Gary, don't ever doubt yourself like that. If trucking was simple there wouldn't be trucking schools, a training process, a CDL , drug tests, background checks, and a million regulations. Learning to drive a truck is tough as h*ll and driving one is always dangerous. So of course there's nothing easy about the learning process. But there certainly isn't anything about it that you can't handle.

I mean...think about it....there have been many millions of truck drivers that came before you and there are millions out there doing it right now. Do you really think they're all capable of this and you're not? Of course not! That's ridiculous! What they've done that you haven't so far is fight through the struggle of the initial learning process from beginning to end. You're still in the middle of the process. The struggle will continue for a while. Once you get your license you're going to go out on the road and realize that everything up to now was the easy part! It's going to get worse. And by God you're going to get through it all just fine!

Listen, learning to drive a truck is a skill that all of us had to learn. Nobody is born with it. Nobody inherits it. Everyone learns the hard way. We've all made a lot of mistakes. We've all looked like clumsy idiots at times. We've all been frustrated and embarrassed at times by what we perceive to be our slow progress. But before you know it you'll be out there running solo and literally trying to figure out what you thought was so hard about shifting, backing, and all that. Once you're good at something you sometimes can't figure out what was so d*mn hard about learning it. That's just the nature of things.

Believing that "Some things are meant to be,and some are not" is an attitude that leads to failure. That's what a person tells themselves to feel better when they know deep inside that they should have found the courage to continue fighting on. Learning to drive a truck isn't about being on the lucky side of fate. It's about perseverance, discipline, hard work, and humility. It doesn't matter if you fail the driving test 10 times you're still just as much of a trucker as anyone else once you pass it on the 11th try. Nobody cares what it took to get that license as long as you have it.

And you have a ton of options left in this field. Until the Federal Government sends you a letter banning you from the trucking industry for life you have every opportunity to see this through. If one path doesn't get you there then find another. If a door closes on you then climb through a window. But never quit and never doubt yourself. Never.

Go back for the next test and give it your all. If you pass - great! On to the next step. If not - no problem! Keep working on this step. It doesn't matter. There's never going to be a brick wall stopping you from getting your career underway. Quitting is the only thing that can stop you and that's something you have 100% control over. So put the doubts out of your mind. Forget about fate. Forget about running out of options. Focus on the challenge you're facing right now and don't even consider settling for anything less than success. One path or another is going to lead to a successful career in trucking for you. It doesn't matter which path as long as you keep walking it and keep moving forward.

Keep us updated and we'll make sure you get the right advice to keep moving ahead with your career. There are some amazing drivers here in this forum that have gone through far mightier struggles than you have so far. So don't get discouraged for a moment. It's all just part of the process. You'll see!

Thank you for all your advice and input on how to deal with the handling results from my test day. I told myself that, Gary, just pick up the pieces and carry on. Remember and study some more,and remember what i have learned from the last 4 weeks. I am really glad that there is a website like yours that i can confide in when there is doubt or questions. And it has been very helpful. So,since my last contact to you, I will start monday morning at the school yard and start practicing backups and road test and shifting. Will be taking the final test again on december 10th. Will be in touch. Thank you again for all the advice and input. Gary

Gary, I am so glad to hear you are going to keep pushing on. I was no rock star in CDL school and even encouraged twice to not test at all because my backing was awful. I told the school they could kick me out, but I wasn't a quitter. I did manage to pass my tests on the first go, but I had already decided that I would figure out how to pay for a private school near home if I had not. The things we have to work the hardest on in life are what gives us the most satisfaction. I have been blessed that most thing's I have done in my life have come fairly easy to me, but getting my CDL is one of the things that means the most because I had to work so hard to get it. Hang in there because you CAN do this!!!!!