Dantruck,
Get a copy of LASORS for around 10 quid, and don't let schools pull the wool over your eyes with respect to LPCs etc.
Half a Pilot,
I'm a very new instructor, but...
Difficult to know who to blame. PPLs (and others) forget things they've been taught. They may also learn the same things in different ways; my first instructor was American trained, and didn't teach FREDA checks, but he taught the same checks in a different way, ie, I still did them. OTOH, I found out later that certain things HAD been missed out in my early training. ...and it's hard to find out what you haven't been taught that you should have. So often it depends on the individual instructor. and if a student changes instrutor part way through the course, there may be student notes, but will they say whether or not he/she has done...the 'A' check, emergency procedures, weight and balance, after take-off checks, to mention but a few? I think not. And the hapless student can't ask about something he doesn't know exists!