The Transit & Paratransit Co. (TAPTCO) and the Motorcoach Safety Training Co. (MSTCO) completed the creation of a training course to help applicants pass the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) written test.

“As we all know, there are driver shortages everywhere. A major hurdle in hiring enough drivers is helping them pass the CDL written test. Many of our customers have been asking for help in reducing the number of applicants lost due to the complexity of the CDL written test. It can take between eight to 20 hours of study for an applicant to pass this test and it is cumbersome and hard work to achieve,” explained Jeff Cassell, president of TAPTCO and MSTCO. “Consequently, many applicants drop out at this stage. With our new interactive CD based training course, we have reduced this time to around six hours and made it easier to learn.”

“We put considerable thought into how to make this training more interesting and effective and in our testing of the finished product, the outcome has been excellent,” Cassell added. “We have two narrators in all the six programs who interact with each other and include humor in, many of the presentations. We also include a third narrator who provides many test tips to the trainee, to help pass the test. As they go through the training, applicants are repeatedly questioned on the subjects taught and guided if they answer any questions wrong.”

CD # 7 includes 11 practice tests totaling 386 questions and these are presented in the same manner as the test at the DMV. After each test the trainee is told their score and then has the ability to review the test, identifying where they were wrong and what is the correct answer.

“In creating this training course, we learned how complex the training and testing is,” said Cassell. “Creating this course was far more difficult and extensive than we envisioned when we started. This really is needed and we hope to help many more interested applicants overcome this hurdle.”

The course is available in hard copy containing seven interactive CDs together with a trainer’s guide, a driver’s study guide, and a book of practice tests. Alternately, the course is available over the web through a learning management system, so that applicants can go through the training and practice tests from any location.