What is the hotel like? Does it have fridge and microwave?

Currently in training at IAD. Some people are in the Hampton others are at the Marriott. Not sure about the Marriott but the Hampton has a fridge and microwave.

What’s the deal with this limitations and memory items test on second day?

Don’t fail

They test you at the beginning of training and the again at the end to see 1) whether you came prepared in the first place and 2) if not, that you took responsibility to learn what you missed the first time around when you take the test at the end of the course.

I would not freak out if you screw up the first time through -- many people in my class did. However, by the end of systems you need to know every limitation and be able to recite every QRC checklist from memory or you're going to raise red flags during sims.

Do they give out the memory items and limitations before day 1? If you're a brand new FO without turbine time, some of them won't make sense until you get to systems. Hell, a few them make no sense if you've been flying the airplane for a while.

Yes, they are given out during onboarding, alone with flows, callouts, oral guide, and cockpit posters.

They arent going to bounce you out of the class if you "fail" the first memory item test. It's more to see that you are trying. They have held people back for not passing the later one. If on your oral you don't know those and limitations stone cold you run the risk of failure.

They are testing you on the information they gave you before hand and told you to have memorized when you show up on day 1. Sounds to me like they are checking to see who actually did the required work.

Will the bounce you if you fail? I doubt it. Will it trigger "Increased Scrutiny" or be in you training file? I'd be interested to know honestly.

It's also a pretty small amount of rote information, so it doesn't take much time or mental bandwidth to get down.

Word from my systems instructor, who was a line pilot and not a "company" guy, said that if you failed the test it became a strike of sorts against you, and that the director of training would take your performance on it into account if you needed help later. So yea, I guess in a way the test result is recorded somewhere, but I saw my training file regularly and it had no mention of that test.

I know to some people studying the limitations is difficult because it's hard to see the relevance in some of the minutiae, but trust me -- once you are in systems it will all become clear why you need to know that stuff, so just do yourself a favor and study everything before you arrive and you'll be that much less stressed.