When I went through initial at Pinnacle (Endeavor) the Indoc, Systems, and Graphic Flight Simulator were auto-pass if you showed up and showed initiative. But...when you got to sims you'd better be able to fly the airplane. There is TTP (Train To Proficiency) but a couple of those sessions that don't look promising and you're done. Training was like 2 totally different phases. Phase I in the classroom was no biggie. Phase II in the sims was treated with a level of seriousness that you had not seen before and the difference was like night and day. And with good reason. If you can't perform in the sim you won't perform in real life when things go wrong. We had some really good instructors (who are no longer there), Eric Flemming , Jesus Rivera, & Nate Gilliam come to mind, and they knew how to teach effectively and get the most out of each sim session. Even our Check-airmen (Greg Franklin, Nick Richards for example) were always looking for an opportunity to teach when you got a line-check. It's their job to find something you do wrong. There are no perfect flights so they can find something on any given flight. And they did, but they used them as learning opportunities. If you've never been through 121 initial training you don't know what to expect so the OP's questions are valid. My 2 cents.