I start doing profiles and FOM reading a couple of weeks out, I try to do it enroute as much as possible.

The abnormal profiles that we don't use every day need to be reinforced with repetition if you expect to be able to execute them smoothly. Your initial checkride followed two weeks of intensive focus on that stuff, remember?

I also block off at least one full day prior to sim. I spend that in domicile (away from distractions at home) and cover systems, as well as refreshing profiles and memory items. I don't spend weeks learning useless trivia which only counts for sim...I cram that the day before. Make several sets of flash cards for systems and FOM stuff.

As for the sim itself...yeah, it does not fly like the airplane so you are usually behind at first. Mitigate this by knowing your profiles COLD so you don't have to waste brain power trying to remember when to go flaps 8. Also try to hook up with your sim buddy the night before or the morning of...if that's not possible, go in and use a paper-tiger or even an empty sim.

Actually I always refresh go-arounds and V1 cuts before each trip...experience has shown that neither I nor the guys I fly with can execute them smoothly if we haven't though about them for several months.