I'm one of the guys that does sim evals for new hires at Colgan -- I'm not conducting the session that you are going to in the near future, but can give you some common advice.

The biggest area of failure is a poor instrument scan coupled with the acceptance of errors. If you are 50 feet off, fix it -- guys start allowing small errors, and then get okay with them, and before long they are way off profile and starting to get themselves in trouble.

I know this might sound ridiculous, but especially during the time of 300 hour applicants NOBODY knew how to hold. If you need to brush up there is a great simulator under instrument training aides at www.thecfi.com. Know every possible entry.

And while its easy to say and harder to do, just relax. Remember the sim is just a computer, and it will do exactly what you tell it to -- go slowly and don't chase needles. The Whitestone climb is a common departure procedure just because it adds some difficulty to an otherwise boring takeoff -- aside from that I think everyone does something different. The last I heard the contract was twelve months or 16K pro-rated. Don't leave in 12 months and you won't have to worry about it.

Good luck!