Like has been said, depends on the operator. Previous employer, the rides and oral were IDENTICAL. Current employer, FO isn't required to demonstrate a no flap visual.

True, under a conventional training program. If your shop uses AQP it's not quite that way.

To the original poster, it would be nice to be able to knock out an ATP on an FO PC, assuming you had an APD do the PC. Couple things to consider, you are going for an additional rating, which means the potential of a pink slip. If your company does a PC where you only do a single sim session, you had better be on your game without having seen the sim in a year. Again, depending on your employer. My previous job, FO's went every six months just like a CA. The six month was the standard PT (training, non jeopardy). The 12 month PC was a two sim (jeopardy) event. However, it was STILL AQP which takes a lot of pressure off. My current place, the FO goes once a year but they are talking about going to a 9 month cycle. The benefit of doing it during upgrade is that you've had more exposure to the sim and the training environment.