Mountain View-Los Altos Adult School

This review is based on a Nursing Assistant course I took starting January, 2014.
I called and visited multiple locations in search of a program that would best fit my needs. I was thrilled to learn MVLA offered a course which fit them. The subject material came very easy to me. It was partially due to the teaching staff and partially due to the fact I have played a crucial role in assisting with the care of loved ones in my life. Clinicals in the lab were shown to us EXACTLY how we needed to do them during our state boards. Literally, exactly. When it was time to take the boards, I felt confident. Apparently much too confident, as I failed and had to reschedule. at no fault of the instructors. 2^nd time around, I passed. YAY!
Because of complications at one of the facilities, we worked in two nursing homes for our clinicals. This taught me one thing… I did NOT want to work in a nursing home. It was advised to me to participate in the Acute care class directly following the NA course. I was unable to enroll due to a conflicting work schedule. I applied to hospitals without the Acute care course under my belt. I waited a month to hear back, but am proud to say I am an employee of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. I can’t wait to further my education. Thanks to MVLA and their wonderful staff, I have the proper groundwork to do so.

I took the MSF course here a couple of years ago. I don’t remember which instructor I had, but I don’t think it was the militant one that previous reviewers had mentioned.
The class is 3 days long– one evening of lecture and two saturdays of riding. I was in a class with only two other girls and then several guys– many of which already rode motorcycles. Apparently, you can get an insurance discount by completing the course, so many were in for that reason. Or had been riding with just a permit for a long time.
The classroom portion is pretty boring, but important to learn. It could probably be condensed into a shorter period of time, but whatever– it’s only one evening.
I was super nervous about the riding portion. I didn’t even know how to drive a stick shift car at the time! But the instructors were awesome and patient. I was put on a small Kawasaki bike, which was really comfortable for me. One of the other gals was put on a scooter, rather than a motorcycle, since she only wanted to learn to ride a scooter!
The school will provide a helmet and gloves, but you are responsible for wearing boots that cover your ankles. I did not have any, so I went and bought some inexpensive rainboots and they did the trick.
I took my particular session in November and and both weekend riding courses, it poured the entire time!
So, there were probably about a dozen people in the class, which means, a lot of waiting. You spend a lot of time waiting for your turn to do the instructed maneuver. It would have been nice to do more riding and less waiting!
What was really impressive was how serious these instructors take everything. They will stop you after ever move you do and tell you what you did wrong or right.
During the second half of the second riding day, it turns into the examination portion. It’s amazing how serious and solemn this part of the class becomes! You’re deducted points for each incorrect move. You’ll have to do basic moves like a figure 8 (can’t put your foot down), shift from 1^st to 2^nd gear and then stop and start, stop quickly, and much more. It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. If you drop your bike, it’s an automatic fail. One girl did drop her bike, she was ok, but immediately taken off the course.
Thankfully, I passed! It was quite interesting to see a handful of those guys that already knew how to ride not pass the course!
I highly recommend taking this course if you are considering riding a motorcycle. It’s proven that riders that complete this course are much safer riders! It’s for your own good!

!!DO NOT SAY YOU WERE NOT WARNED!
Look, in general I would recommend Motorcycle Classes to any new rider, this did help me plenty, being new to a bike and all.
What I’m simply saying is Do Not Take Them Here!
I should have done my research prior to hating this class since day 1, because that’s when I decided to see if it was just me feeling this way! NOPE, when I looked up reviews on Unilocal,Google, and Yahoo ALL TERRIBLE… Even read the «Filtered ones» Only reason they don’t show because some have profanity, mostly all directed to Tim. I don’t blame other peoples frustrations. I completely understand why now!
Tim is rude! Simple as that.
He claims to want to help you, and ya at times he will coach you correctly and give tips, but he’s treats you stupid and likes looking down on students. As if New Riders were not nervous enough on a bike, Tim just made me feel stressed out more anxious riding. With his smart remarks and his constant yelling!
He doesn’t have patience and would rather kick you out the class. I experienced this, even when asking questions about riding. I’m not the only one! These reviews speak for themselves. Many riders did not even return, near half failed. I guess in his mind it’s because they are not capable drivers. But I’m guessing it’s him not being a suited instuctor! Because talking to other people who have taken classes elsewhere, and reading other reviews, they seemed to enjoy it and actually stayed the 3 days to learn and became proficient riders!
Keep going on just how bad this was? Well I came here because they had open seats registering on the CA site. So I Paid online. Then got a call a couple days later that class was canceled because not enough people registered. Umm hello? That’s a testimony to how bad this place is! Anyone looking to sign up knows how fast theses classes fill up, especially in the summer! Well stupid me for not taking my refund. I waited that extra week and finally did my courses.
Oh He Failed That’s Why He’s Leaving A Poor Review, Right? WRONG!!! I PASSED ON MY FIRST TRY. I don’t want any funny business or them messing with my waiver, so I waited to get it in the mail before writing this review.
BOTTOM LINE IS STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE LIKE A PLAGUE.

Wow, from the sound of the other reviews it looks like things have not changed much. I took this class in 2005. Passed both the written and driving portions. Tim Arnold rubbed me the wrong way the first moment I met him. Throughout the first class, it was obvious he hates his life, and anyone he comes into contact with. Basically plays the Drill Srgt. role, and likes to have a lot of power over others.
Tim especially didn’t like his students asking questions regarding the content, which I find absurd considering the fact the he is there to teach and we are there to learn. I filled out an MSF survey after the class noting my dissatisfaction with Mr. Arnold in particular, yet never heard anything back.
As you can see, this class and Mr. Arnold’s particularly negative, rude and militant behavior left enough of a lasting impression on me to write this review 5 years later. Brian was a bit rude at times as well, but no where near T. Arnold.
I would not reccommend this class to anyone based on these reasons.

i would not recommend this class to anyone! Majority of the teachers are mean and rude! the only one’s that are awesome are Doug, Linda & Josh. there’s1 more but i 4got his name. But it’s hard to get these instructors cuz they are different all the time which sucks cuz u want the same one that instruct you on the first day. Brian failed me cuz i missed 4 points. WTF! what a waste of my time, day and money!

The lecture portion of my class was taught by Tim Arnold. He seemed like a fairly nice guy. One of those «funny» guys that makes jokes through 80% of the lecture. He did have a lot of useful information and was very good at the verbal instruction portion of the class.
For the two riding sessions I had Brian. I did not enjoy Brian’s instruction. Here are a few of the reasons why:
#1 After a new exercise Brian said to me, more than once, «did you even understand this? Because you didn’t do it right at all» and that was the entire extent of his feedback. Not, lean to the left or look left or keep your eyes up just «you didn’t do it right at all».
#2 During the exam I asked him for clarification on a turn that we were going to be tested on and he said «this is the turn that we did all day» me «we did a series of turning exercises today, which one is this» Brian «the one you did all day long» me «again we did a variety of turning exercises today could you please tell me the name of the exercise» him «just follow someone else» and he stomped off.
#3 I and half the class failed the riding exam.
I sent Tim Arnold a follow-​up email right away asking him to review my riding assessment. Since he had been such a nice guy in the class I expected him to see that there were only six people in the class (half the normal class size) and see that HALF of those failed and ask Brian what happened. I don’t know about anyone else but if I were given half the customers that my position was expected to be able to handle and HALF of them still failed I would not be patted on the back as an exemplary tester, but instead my instructional skills would be questioned.
Instead Tim Arnold (who is the manager as well) refused to even review my riding exam with Brian and told me I could take the class again. I then tried to schedule a second class and it took me no less than 10 emails and THREE weeks to get him to schedule me into a class, during a time that I specifically asked NOT to be enrolled in. Six of my emails he didn’t even respond to.
The next riding lesson was again with Brian. Brian was 80% less douchebag-​y that day and actually provided helpful feedback instead of «you didn’t do it right at all».
The two assistant rider coaches from both sessions were great; Linda and Doug both provided great feedback in a detailed manner and remained upbeat.
I spent two weeks riding my motorcycle around town with my learners permit before my next riding lesson and subsequently passed. If you have never driven a manual car or a motorcycle before I would say you have a 99.9% chance of failing. So if you book with these folks be aware that it will likely take you two weekends.
This is not a system where they work more with the people who need it, everyone gets the same amount of time and if you pass you pass, if you don’t see you again for five hours in the sun on asphalt. I would recommend the course offered in the Mission College parking lot over this one. Everyone I know who has taken it mentioned how they worked with those that struggled to ensure they learned the material and passed. This was not the case with Tim Arnold’s crew.

Tim Arnold is the worst teacher I have ever had. He will verbally abuse you and try to intimidate you through out the whole weekend. I didn’t even come back on Sunday to take my test because he made me so upset. He will take his anger out on you!!! Not the way I learn and I am surprised that someone like this is allowed to teach! I am sure this school has better teachers but I would absolutely not suggest taking it with Tim Arnold for the practical session in the parking lot. I did enjoy the classroom section and learned a lot.

Having just completed this course, I would highly recommend it. Good value for money. The only minor complaint is that they could use better distinguishing markers on the ground, or atleast use more of them.
One piece of advice — if you are taking the course during summer, go for the morning (7AM to 12PM) slot for the Saturday riding classes. If you go for the afteroon rides you will be boiling inside that jacket!
And oh, be on time. They are very strict about it.

I took the California Motorcyclist Safety Program (
) in Mountain View, CA. There was a classroom session, and a practical session in the parking lot (on real bikes); to pass the course, you have to pass tests from both sessions, which allows you to be exempt from the motorcycle licence road test at the DMV. The instructors were very helpful, and seemed to genuinely want you to learn how to ride a bike properly (probably because they will eventually see you on the road). In my opinion, the value of this course is more in the experience… I now know that riding a bike IS for me, and I AM capable of riding safely. Many people seem to think that riding a motorcycle will bring horrific mutilation, and certain death… I now know better. If you are at all interested, I would strongly recommend this course.