My Motorcyclist Training Course (MTC) Experience
Originally posted on Wordpress on February 12, 2020.
This article is for anyone interesting in learning how to ride a motorcycle, or in using the Motorcyclist Training Course (MTC) toward the driving portion of their California motorcycle license test.
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On February 8th, a week after my LASIK surgery, I took an MTC in Norwalk, CA. It was a 2-day course for $350, and they provide learner bikes. If you don’t have your own motorcycle helmets, they provide those as well. If you pass both the written and driving portions of the MTC, it waives the driving portion of the motorcycle license test, meaning that all you have to do is pass the DMV written test within a year of your MTC certificate.
Day 1
Saturday’s session was from 8am-4:30pm. Class started promptly at 8am, so I recommend arriving 15 minutes early the first day to fill out a few forms. Each day you have a classroom session, followed by a session out on the range. The range is where you ride: it’s a sectioned off portion of the parking lot that has paint markings on the ground specifically for MTC.
In the classroom, I highly recommend participating and asking questions. Yes, I’m that person; no, I’m not annoying about it — a few people from class ended up approaching me since they knew who I was as a result of my participation. Asking questions will also keep you from falling asleep, if you’re not a morning person like me. Also pay attention to statistics or write them down, since some of them will be on the written test.
What I wore or brought to MTC:
- Snacks
- Full bottle of water (it can get hot out on the range)
- Pens (although they have some in the classroom)
- Leather motorcycle gloves (they have extra if you forgot yours. I recommend Cycle Gear for affordable riding gear)
- Long sleeve top or jacket (I recommend your top be long-sleeve if it’ll be hot outside. Definitely layer)
- Long jeans
- Sturdy shoes that covered my ankles
- Bag lunch — you have only 30 minutes for lunch (I brought a salad from Trader Joe’s, plus a fork)
- Cash, since parking was $2 if cash, $2.25 if you paid with a credit card
Our class was pretty much half fresh babies who had never ridden before, half experienced riders. Experienced riders included people who were practicing with their permit, who were riding dirty (aka without a license), or who hadn’t ridden in a while and wanted to get their motorcycle license again. Some of the experienced riders hadn’t passed the riding portion of the DMV motorcycle test, and didn’t want to risk not passing again since that would mean a longer wait for subsequent attempts.
There were 24 people in the classroom, and once we got out to the range, we were split into two groups of 12 each, 2 instructors per group. In some exercises, all 12 of us would be riding; in others, we were split into groups of 6 and 6, where 6 people would ride in our half of the parking lot, and the remaining 6 would line up and observe the active 6.
Day 2
Sunday’s session was from 8am-4:50pm. This 2nd day is when you take your written and driving exams in order to pass MTC, after which you receive a completion card that day that you can use at Cycle Gear for 15% off an entire purchase and which you can use at Harley Davidson to have the cost of your class reimbursed if you purchase a bike there.
But the real piece of paper that matters — if you pass — is the one they mail to you, which is what will allow you to get your California motorcycle license in conjunction with passing the DMV written exam. It basically replaces the riding portion of the motorcycle test.
For the MTC written exam, you need 80% to pass. There were 50 questions, so you can miss 10. I marked which questions I was unsure of so I could go back to them later if I wanted to, and fortunately I only had 3, but I still deliberated on them since we still had a lot of time. Turns out my instinct was correct, and I’m glad I ultimately went with my initial responses. I was the first to turn in my exam and I got 100% correct, and apparently a perfect score is rare. My younger brother also got a perfect score (but I turned in my exam before he did, hah!!).
Someone who left the classroom toward the end told me that the people who didn’t pass the written test, they had the chance to change/update their answers for the ones they got wrong in order to pass. Looks like the MTC is fairly lenient on the books smart.
For the MTC driving test, everything that they taught you on the range on day 2 is what they test you on. You can miss at most 20 points. I missed 13 points, my younger brother missed 12 points. He lost 6 points since he hit a few cones during the very first test, the weaving one, which was honestly a total fluke.
- I lost points for stopping past 8 feet from the cone, during the sudden stop test
- I lost 5 points for not going fast enough during the cornering test. We were told to go as fast as safely possible, and for this test we had a practice corner right before our test corner. We weren’t told that we could get docked points for not going fast enough
- I forget if I lost points in other parts/which other parts I missed points on, but you will lose points if you hit cones — so try to avoid that!!
You automatically fail if you drop your bike during one of the tests, which from what I deduced, should mean that you’re ok if you drop your bike while waiting/in between them. (I totally dropped my bike the previous day when my engine stalled, because my clutch was out (not pressed in) when we were moving slowly in line.)
Out of the 12 people in my group, everyone passed except for 3 people. There was also a guy from a previous class who was retaking the riding test, and they let him practice on a motorcycle prior to his test, since we got to warm up on the bikes via our riding classes. Since you’re paying $350 for the class, everyone has the option to retake the riding portion another day, if they don’t pass that day.
MTC Notes
For my own documentation, some of my notes are below. 99% of the range notes we learned while in the classroom, but I included them in the range notes for if it was applicable to the training exercises we did in our <20mph range conditions. Hot tip, a lot of the below information showed up on our MTC written quiz.
Classroom Notes
Medium doesn’t allow nested bullet points, which affects the logic and readability. So dumb. PLEASE FIX. As a result, please see ‘MTC Notes’ in my original blog post for classroom notes, as well as range notes, including a description of what countersteering is:
Taking the DMV Written Test for my Motorcycle License
I was hoping to renew my driver’s license, get Real ID, and get my motorcycle license all in one trip to the DMV. However, because it was February and my Driver’s License was expiring in September that year, I couldn’t renew the expiration date —it was too early for an actual renewal, and the most I could do was get a new driver’s license (with Real ID) issued from the DMV with the same September 2020 expiration date, which was in 7 months.
But then…COVID shut everything down in March, I ended up renewing my driver’s license in the mail for I think it was $60, and then finally got Real ID and my motorcycle license a year later, in February of 2021. It’s the end of March now, so it’s been 2 months and it might be time to call the DMV to follow-up on my (missing?) licenses.
For the motorcycle written exam, I recommend studying the official handbook/pamphlet. I studied a lot via practice exams, but I would say the questions were fairly irrelevant. I still learned from them, so it wasn’t a waste of time, but the actual exam questions were word for word lifted from the official handbook. As a result, I failed my first two attempts and finally passed the written exam on my 3rd attempt.
Because I was also applying for a REAL ID, which counted as a driver’s license renewal, I had to take the written exam for my driver’s license as well. LOL I had no idea I had to do that, but fortunately I still ended up passing on my 2nd attempt, despite not knowing that I had to study for it as well. It was overall easier than my motorcycle written exam.
