It started as a joke…..
not even kidding!
If you would have told me a few months ago that I’d have my Class A CDL today, I probably would have laughed.
It honestly started as a joke.
A friend of mine who owns a dump truck business here in southeast Missouri made a Facebook post saying he was hiring drivers.
I jokingly commented that I’d take the job.
Instead of laughing, he replied with something simple.
“Go get your CDL.”
That one comment started a journey I never expected.
At first, I thought getting a CDL meant studying a little, taking one driving test, and walking out with a license.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a DOT physical.
Three CDL permit exams.
The required online ELDT theory training.
Finding the right CDL school.
Learning an entirely different type of vehicle.
Passing the Missouri Highway Patrol CDL skills test.
And somewhere in the middle of all that…a whole lot of anxiety.
Now that I’ve actually done it, I wanted to write the article I wish I’d found before I started.
I Changed My Mind About Getting a Class B
Originally, I planned on getting a Class B CDL.
It seemed like it would be enough for what I thought I’d be doing.
Then I started thinking about the future.
If I ever wanted to drive a tractor-trailer later, I’d have to come back and go through much of this process again.
That didn’t make much sense.
So I decided to go all in and earn my Class A CDL instead.
Looking back, I’m really glad I did.
Even if I don’t use it every day, I now have far more opportunities available without wondering someday if I should have just gotten the Class A in the first place.
I Had Never Even Sat in a Semi Before
This is probably the part that surprises people the most.
Before CDL school…
I had never driven a semi.
I had never ridden in one.
I had never even sat in the driver’s seat.
The only commercial vehicle experience I had was about six hours driving a dump truck roughly a month earlier after getting my CDL permit.
That was it.
Like a lot of people, I watched YouTube videos trying to figure out what CDL school would be like. Before choosing a program, you may also want to read an honest Ross Trucking School review from a student who completed the training firsthand.
Some were helpful.
Some made me more confused.
The problem is that CDL testing has changed over the years, and it will continue changing. Some videos used outdated scoring systems, older testing procedures, or quoted numbers that no longer applied where I was testing. Along with using current testing information, review this CDL test day checklist so outdated advice doesn't leave you unprepared.
Instead of feeling more confident, I sometimes finished a video wondering which information was actually correct.
If you’re still preparing for your permit or skills test, make sure you’re studying current material. I found our own CDL General Knowledge study guide and practice resources much more consistent because they’re built around helping you understand the material instead of overwhelming you with conflicting information.
Walking Into CDL School Was Intimidating
I won’t pretend I wasn’t nervous.
Before arriving, my anxiety was probably around a five out of ten.
Once I actually pulled into the parking lot that first morning, it jumped to about an eight or nine.
I kept wondering…
“What if everyone else already knows what they’re doing?”
“What if I can’t drive one of these things?”
“What if I just can’t learn it?”
Those thoughts disappeared faster than I expected.
The instructors immediately made everyone feel welcome.
Questions weren’t treated like an inconvenience.
In fact, asking questions was encouraged.
Looking back, that’s one of the biggest reasons I learned so quickly.
If something didn’t make sense…
I asked.
If I wasn’t sure…
I asked again.
There really aren’t any dumb questions when you’re learning to operate something that weighs tens of thousands of pounds.
Climbing Into a Semi Wasn’t What I Expected
The very first time I climbed into the truck, I expected it to feel completely foreign.
Honestly…
It didn’t.
The biggest difference was simply sitting much higher off the ground.
Inside, it felt surprisingly familiar.
The controls weren’t nearly as intimidating as I had imagined.
Yes, everything is larger.
Yes, visibility is different.
But after a few minutes, it didn’t feel like some impossible machine anymore.
It started feeling like…a truck.
That realization alone helped calm my nerves.
The Pre-Trip Inspection Was the Hardest Part
Without question.
This wasn’t driving.
It was learning dozens of components, understanding what they did, knowing how to inspect them, and explaining everything clearly. A Missouri pre-trip inspection checklist can help organize those components while you learn how to inspect and explain them.
The Air Brake portion gave me the most trouble.
Not because it was impossible…
Because there were several procedures that had to be completed in the proper order while explaining exactly what I was doing.
On test day, I actually stopped myself twice during the air brake test and asked to restart before finishing because I knew I’d gotten off track.
That’s something many people don’t realize.
If you catch yourself making a mistake before completing that section, you may be able to request a restart depending on the testing procedure you’re following. I wasn’t going to keep going and hope for the best.
I wanted to do it correctly.
Understanding the systems helped me far more than trying to memorize a giant speech.
Our CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Mistakes That Can Fail Your Test explains exactly why understanding each component is so much more effective than simply memorizing words.
Repetition Was What Finally Made Everything Click
There wasn’t one magic trick that suddenly made me remember every truck part.
It came down to repetition.
Over and over.
One thing that helped me was pretending I was explaining the truck to someone who had never seen one before.
Almost like they were blind and deaf, and I had to make them understand exactly what each component did and why it mattered.
Instead of saying something like:
“It’s properly mounted and secured.”
I’d think…
“Why does this part exist? What would happen if it wasn’t mounted correctly?”
Once I started understanding the truck as one complete system instead of hundreds of random vocabulary words, the pre-trip became much easier to remember.
If you’re struggling, don’t just read your checklist.
Walk around the truck.
Point at every component.
Say its name.
Explain what it does.
Explain what you’re checking.
That’s when it finally started sticking for me.
Backing Wasn’t Nearly as Scary as I Thought
If you had asked me before CDL school what part I thought would be the hardest…
I would have said backing.
Without hesitation.
Watching experienced drivers back trailers into tight spaces makes it look almost impossible. One of the most demanding examples is the blindside backing maneuver, where limited visibility makes tight-space practice especially important.
The funny thing is…
Once someone actually explains how trailers respond and you spend some time practicing, it starts making sense.
I had backed bumper-pull trailers behind my pickup before, so I already understood the basic concept that trailers move opposite of your steering input.
That experience definitely helped.
During school, I practiced the required backing maneuvers six different times over two days.
Each attempt built more confidence.
The biggest advice I can give is simple.
Slow down.
Go slower than you think you need to.
Tiny steering corrections are much easier to fix than large ones.
The trailer needs time to respond.
If you turn too aggressively, you’ll spend the next thirty seconds trying to undo that one mistake.
I Ended Up Getting a Perfect Backing Score
This was probably the part I felt best about after the test.
I finished the backing portion with a perfect score of zero points.
That doesn’t mean I rushed through it.
Quite the opposite.
I took my time.
I watched my mirrors.
I made small corrections.
I stayed patient.
On the final backing maneuver, I used GOAL (Get Out And Look) one time just to confirm the back of the trailer was completely inside the box before getting back in, sounding the horn, and finishing the maneuver.
That’s all I needed.
One thing I learned that really helped my decision-making was understanding how the scoring worked.
On my final backing maneuver, I had:
- Two free pull-ups.
- Two free GOALs. (Get out and look)
After that, every additional pull-up cost one point.
But hitting a boundary line cost two points.
That changed how I thought about the test.
If I wasn’t completely happy with my setup, it made far more sense to use another pull-up than risk clipping a line and losing even more points trying to recover.
Understanding the scoring helped me stay calm instead of trying to force a bad approach.
Then It Started Raining
As if I wasn’t nervous enough already…
The rain showed up.
Oddly enough, it actually helped my anxiety.
It gave me something else to focus on besides worrying about the test.
The one downside?
My paper checklist was practically dissolving in my hands.
Thankfully, I really wasn’t depending on it anymore.
By that point, I had repeated the inspection enough times that I could work through it without constantly reading from the paper.
That gave me a lot more confidence walking into the actual evaluation.
I Was Sure I Had Failed Before I Even Started
I don’t think I ever said it out loud…
But I honestly believed there was a good chance I was going to fail.
That feeling stayed with me all the way until I finished the pre-trip inspection.
Once the examiner moved me on to the next section…
Everything changed.
I finally thought…
“Okay…maybe I actually can do this.”
Confidence started replacing anxiety.
Not because I suddenly knew more than I did an hour earlier.
Because I had already cleared what I considered the hardest hurdle.
The Road Test Was Much More Relaxed Than I Expected
After passing the inspection and backing portions, we headed out on the road.
The driving portion lasted about thirty minutes.
There were plenty of turns.
Different speed limits.
Traffic signs.
Normal driving situations.
The examiner was fairly quiet throughout most of the drive.
They weren’t trying to distract me.
They weren’t trying to trick me.
They were simply watching.
The two things I kept reminding myself over and over were:
Keep scanning.
Keep checking my mirrors.
Those two thoughts stayed in my head almost the entire drive.
I also made a conscious effort to stay around five miles per hour below the posted speed limit whenever appropriate.
There was no reason to push it.
I was also very gentle with the brakes.
Smooth driving looks much more controlled than waiting until the last second and braking hard.
The Highway Patrol Examiner Was Firm but Fair
Before the test, I pictured someone who wanted to fail people.
That wasn’t my experience at all.
The examiner was professional.
Serious.
Quiet.
But fair.
They weren’t there to coach me through the test.
In fact, they really won’t help you.
You need to know your material before you arrive.
After each section was complete, though, they explained any mistakes that had been made.
I appreciated that.
The goal wasn’t to intimidate me.
The goal was to determine whether I could safely operate a commercial vehicle.
Looking back, I think they handled it exactly the way they should.
Then I Heard the Words I’d Been Waiting For
After everything was finished…
The examiner looked at me and simply said:
“Congratulations, you passed.”
Just like that…
Months of studying.
The DOT physical.
The permit.
The ELDT theory.
Choosing a school.
Learning the truck.
Practicing the pre-trip.
Backing.
The road test.
All of it was finally over.
I had my Class A CDL.
One of the first things I did afterward was call Ross Trucking School to thank everyone.
I genuinely appreciated everything they had done to help me get to that point.
I wasn’t calling because anyone asked me to.
I called because I wanted them to know how thankful I was for the time they invested in helping me succeed.
What I Was Completely Wrong About
Looking back, there were several things I believed before starting this journey that turned out to be completely wrong.
I Thought Getting a CDL Was Just One Test
I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
There was the DOT physical.
The CDL permit.
Three written knowledge exams.
The required ELDT theory course.
CDL school.
The Missouri Highway Patrol skills test.
It’s a process, not a single afternoon.
I Thought Driving Would Be the Hardest Part
For me…
It wasn’t even close.
The pre-trip inspection required far more studying than actually driving the truck.
Once I understood how the truck handled, driving became much more natural than I expected.
I Thought the Examiner Wanted Me to Fail
Not true.
The examiner wasn’t looking for reasons to fail me.
They were looking for evidence that I could safely operate a commercial vehicle.
There’s a huge difference.
I Thought Six Weeks Was the Only Way to Learn
Many CDL schools run four to six weeks.
That works well for a lot of people.
My experience showed me that if you’re willing to pay attention, ask questions, study beforehand, and put in the effort, it’s possible to learn much faster than I ever imagined.
That doesn’t mean everyone should expect the same timeline.
Everyone learns differently.
I’m simply sharing what my experience was like.
My Biggest Advice for Anyone Getting Ready for CDL School
If I could tell every future CDL student just a few things, it would be these.
Come ready to learn.
Pay attention.
Ask every question you can think of.
There really aren’t any dumb questions.
Don’t rely on outdated YouTube videos without checking current information.
Understand the truck instead of memorizing words.
Go slow during backing.
Be smooth during the road test.
And don’t convince yourself you’ve failed because of one small mistake.
Most importantly…
Don’t let fear keep you from getting started.
If someone had told me just a couple months ago that I’d go from never even sitting in a semi to earning my Class A CDL, I probably wouldn’t have believed them.
Now I’m living proof that it’s possible.
If I can learn it…
There’s a good chance you can too.
If you’re still working toward your CDL, I’d recommend using our CDL General Knowledge Study Guide
What Happens During a CDL Road Test Complete Walkthrough
and CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Mistakes That Can Fail Your Test.
Those were the areas that made the biggest difference in helping me understand what I was actually preparing for instead of simply trying to memorize answers.
Author: Daxon Weaver
Dax is the founder of TruckingResource.com and recently earned his Class A CDL after starting as a complete beginner who had never even sat in a semi. He shares honest, first-hand experiences to help new drivers understand the CDL process, avoid common mistakes, and feel more confident before test day.