Military.com 1. Lots of Time Behind the Wheel If you're going to drive a truck for a living, you have to drive a truck during school. It seems like common sense, but many schools feature too much time in a classroom and not enough behind the wheel. Both components are important, but students should get a minimum of 44 hours maneuvering a big rig and 104 hours of classroom instruction during at least three weeks of schooling. 2. Healthy Student-to-Instructor Ratio Look for a school with no worse than a three-to-one student-to-instructor ratio, making sure you get the individualized ...