Fun times getting my Texas CLP - Long read

The start to my trucking career has begun! Last week I received my Texas cdl permit.

The week prior I spent hours and hours and hours of studying for the Texas commercial rules, general knowledge, combination, and air brake. I'll be honest I was really nervous as I've never been a "great" test taker. At this point I've taken every practice test I can find online.

For those that live in Texas you have to have an appointment or get there really early to hope to get a walk-in spot for the day. All the appointments were showing 2+ months out to even get an appointment and that simply wouldn't work in my situation. So....my trek to the dps started at 4 am (they open at 8) to try to grab one of the walk-in spots. That was a disaster honestly. After waiting in the freezing cold for 4 hours it was finally my turn to present my documents only to be turned away because my address document wasn't accepted. I asked are the rest of my documents sufficient and if so I would run to my house and I could be back in less than 30 minutes. The officer told me yes everything else is good to go. Rushed home grabbed the new documents and headed back.( McKinney DPS office is horrible btw) I get back in 25 minutes handed my documents over only to be hit with another dps employee stating my identification document wouldn't be accepted, even though it was on the approved document list they gave me. So I go back home and grab absolutely every document of id I have. I rushed back, and spoke with the same employee that states all my paperwork is good for testing, BUT they are all full and not taking anymore for the day. Emotions of complete defeat are starting to set in at this point. So I rushed home again to see if I could find an appointment anywhere within 250 miles within the next week. So I go back home and grab absolutely every document of id I have. I rushed back, and spoke with the same employee that states all my paperwork is good for testing,BUT they are all full and not taking anymore for the day. Emotions of complete defeat are starting to set in at this point. So I rushed home again to see if I could find an appointment anywhere within 250 miles within the next week. So I go back home and grab absolutely every document of id I have. I rushed back, and spoke with the same employee that states all my paperwork is good for testing, BUT they are all full and not taking anymore for the day. Emotions of complete defeat are starting to set in at this point. So I rushed home again to see if I could find an appointment anywhere within 250 miles within the next week. So I go back home and grab absolutely every document of id I have. I rushed back, and spoke with the same employee that states all my paperwork is good for testing, BUT they are all full and not taking anymore for the day. Emotions of complete defeat are starting to set in at this point. So I rushed home again to see if I could find an appointment anywhere within 250 miles within the next week. So I go back home and grab absolutely every document of id I have. I rushed back, and spoke with the same employee that states all my paperwork is good for testing, BUT they are all full and not taking anymore for the day. Emotions of complete defeat are starting to set in at this point. So I rushed home again to see if I could find an appointment anywhere within 250 miles within the next week.

Luckily I found the Terrell office had a appointment 2 days from this point so I had a sigh of relief. So I just thought to my self if nothing else, its more study time. Fast forward 2 days, I make the hour and half drive and arrive at the Terrell Dps office a hour early just to make sure there are no hiccups. ( you can check-in 30 minutes early) The clerk calls my number and I proceeded to the counter. I'm feeling great at this point all my documents have checked out and I'm ready for my first test. She instructs me computer 3. I get all logged in for the Tx commercial rules and question 1 pops up and I've never seen this question so I take my best educated guess. Question 2, 3, 4, 5, haven't seen these either. The next 3 I knew followed by 5 more I hadn't seen either. The test ends after 16 questions, and I knew that meant I failed. I got up let the employee know I didn't pass and she informed me it happens all the time. Come back tomorrow and lets retest. In Texas you have 3 chances to pass your test before you have to start the process all over again.

So I start my drive back home and the disappointment and defeat in myself is really starting to set in at this point. I decided to take 2 days to find all the proper study guides and read section 14 front to back. The High Road training helped me honestly the most and had a lot of information that helped me retain more. So I set back out to the Terrell Dps office to retest. She remembered me and got me right in.
The disappointment and defeat in myself is really starting to set in at this point.
95% on the first test. I opted to go out to the car and do 2 practice test before starting my second test. 100% on the next test and went back out to the car for combination test, missed 3. Air brakes my final test which I felt was my strongest but still went back out to the car and did the same studying and aced the last one.

Such a sigh of relief! I'm looking forward to start my training in two weeks now!

 

Wilson Logistics checked the most boxes that had availability. More often than not recruiters I wasn't able to really get much of a response from.