If you've been riding forever, I'd suggest taking the advanced course every 2-3 years as a refresher and to keep your large muscle memory.

It will save your life.

 

We had a day of classroom and the next day was a few hours in the classroom and the rest of the day was riding 250cc bikes in a parking lot.

 

My wife and I did a weekend course last year. Classroom in the morning, range riding in the afternoon. At the end of the day on Sunday, we did the road test and received temporary licenses. There is a certain time period to submit it to DMV to get your Motorcycle endorsement. But, the testing was all done at that point. It was just submitting the documentation.

 

Here in SC the course was four days with the driving test being on the fourth day. The driving test they gave us during the MSF course was the exact course the DMV gave.

Taking the MSF course was some of the best money I ever spent.

 

Mine was 2 days of classroom training then 2 days of range training. At the end of your range training you left with a certificate (or not).

 

May vary by state. In MN, we had to pass the written test for the MC learner permit and bring the permit certificate to the MSF class. The permit needed to be obtained prior to the MSF classes
Friday night was all books.
Saturday was a small amount of books, mostly on the bikes.
Sunday was completing the bikes, and the last thing they did was run us thru the riding skills tests. If you attended all the classes, had a valid learner permit, and passed the skills test, you were issued a certificate to take to the DMV to get the MC endorsement added to your DL. Just pay the fees to get your license re-issued with the MC endorsement.

 

Pay attention and dont show up hung over! You might fail! I had been riding motorcycles for years in CA, moved to oregon and they have different rules....had to take the course to get my license here, they wouldnt just transfer it. I showed up to the class tired, wasnt paying attention at all and it pissed the teacher off. After the driving portion of it he failed me! i was the only one that didnt pass and someone dropped thier bike (and they passed). I asked him to show me one thing i did wrong during the driving portion and he said i didnt, he failed me because i wasnt listening during the class portion and walked away lol! *******! I must admit i was hung over, and had my head on the desk most of the time. I didnt think they could fail you because of the class portion! I wound up going down to the DMV and taking the test the next day and got my license.

 

Pic from the course I took. At the front of the line is a girl that had never ridden a bike. She got the highest score in the class.