The requirements of 10 years ago are long gone. The new AQP ride is much more lenient and therefore the training leading up to it is more forgiving. The old checkride was about a 45-60 min ride where you had to nail it. No retraining or do overs. Now with most AQP programs you are able to redo two items once or one item twice with no "teaching" in between. The sim events leading up to the checkride used to be much less forgiving because the instructors knew that the standards were so tight at the checkride. Upgrade type rides at my old company had a 30-40% pass rate before AQP and before all FO's were required to have an ATP.

Systems has also gone from overkill, gee whiz knowledge to "what can I manipulate in the cockpit" in those same ten years. I know what bus bar powers it but does it actually help me when I am rifling through a QRH anyway?

People saying that training isn't that hard is pretty incredible because it used to be a world of suck. I have seen more than a few grown men brought to tears from the older programs. Your initial training will be pretty straightforward if you relax and listen to your instructors. Fast and dirty way to do well: Study what they say, forget your last airplane/company and don't compare procedures, eat/sleep/workout to stay healthy, and look over whatever you are doing the next day the night prior. A good attitude and a little book work is all that is needed now.