COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Below you’ll find details for each of our training courses and what you can expect to learn. Whether you're aiming for your Class A CDL or looking to refresh your skills, our courses are designed to meet the needs of today’s transportation industry.
4-Week Class A Courses
Professional Driver Fundamentals (CDL100)
Week 1 · 40 hours
Your first week builds the knowledge every professional driver needs before getting behind the wheel. In the classroom, you’ll learn vehicle control systems, shifting, backing, and coupling basics, and how to perform a complete vehicle inspection. You’ll study safe and advanced operating practices, including visual search, speed and space management, hazard perception, night and extreme-weather driving, skid control, and railroad crossing safety.
You’ll also cover the non-driving side of the job: hours-of-service rules, trip planning, cargo handling and documentation, roadside inspections, accident procedures, drug and alcohol rules, fatigue and wellness, and DOT regulations. The course includes 1.5 hours of human trafficking awareness training. The week ends with a hands-on vehicle component lab, where you’ll identify the systems you studied on a real tractor-trailer.
Basic Vehicle Controls and Backing (CDL200)
Week 2 · 40 hours
In week two, you move to the range. You’ll practice the pre-trip vehicle inspection you’ll perform on your CDL skills test, then learn to control the truck through the backing maneuvers on the test: straight-line backing, alley dock backing (45° and 90°), offset backing, and parallel parking on both the sight side and the blind side. You’ll also practice coupling and uncoupling a tractor and trailer. Training combines instructor-led range driving with guided observation of other students.
Prerequisite: CDL100
Road Skills and Traffic Management (CDL300)
Week 3 · 40 hours
Week three takes you onto public roads. With an instructor in the cab, you’ll apply vehicle control, shifting, signaling and communication, visual search, and speed and space management in real traffic. You’ll learn safe driver behavior and how to recognize and respond to hazards early. Range proficiency practice continues throughout the week so your backing and maneuvering skills stay sharp.
Prerequisite: CDL200
Road Skills and Traffic Management (CDL400)
Week 4 · 40 hours
Your final week prepares you for the conditions professional drivers face and for test day. On the road, you’ll practice railroad-highway grade crossings, night driving, extreme driving conditions, and skid control and recovery, and apply hours-of-service rules. The week finishes with focused CDL preparation and review across pre-trip inspection, range maneuvers, and road driving, so you’re ready for your CDL skills test.
Prerequisite: CDL300
Class B, Class B to A, Refresher, and Other Campus Programs
The courses below make up our Class B, Class B to A, and CDL Refresher programs, and the Class A program at campuses not yet offering the 4-week format. Program length and course combinations vary by program and location.* Contact your local SAGE campus for details.
Commercial Driver’s License (CDL 101)
This course teaches drivers how to prepare for the state CDL exams. It consists of test-taking skills, CDL endorsements (general knowledge, air brakes, combination vehicles, double-triple trailers, tankers, hazmat), and vehicle inspection test information.
Basic Operation (TRK 101)
This course gets the student started on the way to becoming a tractor-trailer driver. The student learns to "pre-trip" (inspect) a tractor and trailer, becomes familiar with the various parts and controls of the vehicle and its use, and how to hook up a tractor to a semi-trailer. The basics of shifting, backing, coupling and uncoupling are emphasized. The student also begins to practice driving on the range (off-street driving area).
Prerequisites: CDL 101
Safe Operating Practices (TRK 102)
This course allows the student to apply all of the basic knowledge learned in the previous unit to driving over-the-road on public streets. The student learns how much space the tractor-trailer needs, speed control, night driving proficiency and many other skills that are necessary for them to operate one of these vehicles safely and efficiently.
Prerequisites: TRK 101
Advanced Operating Practices (TRK 201)
This course provides the student with the opportunity to learn the high-level skills that professional drivers need to operate safely under all types of complex traffic conditions, including inclement weather and driving emergencies.
The student learns how to quickly recognize hazards and how to deal with them before they become emergencies. The student will learn the fundamentals of emergency braking, evasive actions, and responses to other emergencies.
Instruction focuses on the causes of skidding and jack-knifing. Techniques for avoiding and recovering from skids are also addressed.
Prerequisites: TRK 101 & 102
Vehicle Maintenance (MNT 101)
This course deals with various parts of the vehicle and how to determine when those parts are working properly. While it is not the purpose of this course to teach the student to become a mechanic, a professional driver should be able to recognize certain improperly working parts of the vehicle before serious damage or an accident occurs. The student's safety as well as that of other highway users depends on him/her having this knowledge.
The student also learns how to safely and correctly perform basic everyday vehicle servicing and simple maintenance tasks, as well as how to determine when the vehicle needs the attention of a skilled mechanic.
Prerequisites: TRK 101
Non-Vehicle Activities (NVA 101)
This course covers such things as cargo handling, hours of service regulations, trip planning, accident procedures and reporting, personal health and safety, public and employer relations, and other duties that must be handled by drivers to ensure their safety, the safety of the vehicle, its cargo and other highway users. This course includes a minimum of 30 minutes on “Truckers Against Trafficking.”
Prerequisites: TRK 101