My training experience at HOU was the exact opposite, I guess.

We had the same ground instructor the whole way though. He had been teaching the course pretty much since the beginning of FSI getting the contract. Were able to use the sims, with the motion and visuals turned off, to practice flows. That was much better than the "paper tigers". The sim instructors I saw were all pretty sharp.

With the exception of one guy, our whole class passed. And that was with SH doing all the orals and checkrides.