A Level I inspection takes about an hour and touches everything: you, the truck, the trailer, the logs. The difference between a clean sheet and a violation is almost always preparation, not luck.
Before the trip: the boring 15 minutes that save you
The pre-trip inspection catches most of what an inspector will find: lights, tires, brakes, leaks, securement. Log it. A documented pre-trip is also evidence of diligence if something fails on the road anyway.
Paperwork lives in one place, always: CDL, medical card, registration, IFTA cab card, insurance, and the lease documents if you're running under a carrier's authority. Fumbling for documents sets the tone for the whole inspection.
During: professional, brief, honest
Answer what's asked. Don't volunteer theories, don't argue roadside — the appeal process exists and works better with a calm record. If your ELD is managed by your carrier, know how to pull up the current log and the previous seven days; 'I don't know how the device works' is itself a finding.
After: the score follows you
Inspection results feed CSA scores — the carrier's and, practically speaking, yours. Clean inspections are an asset you carry from job to job. If you're leased on, a carrier with a real safety desk should review any violation with you and file a DataQ challenge when the finding is wrong. If your carrier shrugs at bad data on your record, that tells you something too.