Just curious, what do you think were some of the contributing factors of why people didn't pass? Were the ones that did not pass non-CFI's? Lack of IP? Lack of glass cockpit?

Inconsistency, there is no syllabus and you have no idea what you are doing from day to day in the sim. Makes it impossible to study or prepare for the day ahead. Some instructors start day one with gotchas and stump the chump moves which zero explanation while other instructors have a completely different expectation. Combine this with months between sim sessions and it’s a recipe for disaster. People wash out and/or fail from all backgrounds. Heck people that have thousands of hours of pic in the 200 don’t make it through training without extra sim sessions. I also have first had knowledge of several people being told on day one of sim training they won’t make it because “x number of sessions isn’t enough and i recommend every one for extra training” this is true for both new hire and upgrades. Then after that person gets recommended for more training they go sit at home for at least a month and lose whatever motor skills they had.

My class had a wide variety of backgrounds, the common theme from the ones struggling was that they came back to aviation after a long time in a different job. Along with that, the ones that struggled were loners, they didn't participate with the class outside of the classroom. No one in my class that made it to sims washed out.

The expectations are very clear, the tests come directly from the homework and quizzes, get in a group and study those. It's not unmanageable, the group of guys I hung out with would get together immediately after class and study for 1-2 more hours every day and then go out for dinner and drinks.

It's a free-for-all, at best.

The tests were easy, everyone made it through the test first time, very few get through the sim first time. Those lucky enough to get free Germany sims have a better chance. The familiarization helps since ctp is outsourced now.