Thanks Reddo for being an actual factual, and contributing from an undoubtable position of "I know what I'm talking about because I'm ACTUALLY DOING IT"
I agree with Localiser - it's a question of balance, and I don't really mind if the student uses a checklist or not, as long as if they do they do it properly and don't miss anything, and if they memorise it then they absolutely have to know and understand what they are looking for. I typically spend about 5 minutes on the DVAs and runups with my pre-solo students and Drill (with a capital D) it into their heads what they HAVE to look for. If they don't SEE it they don't move from the holding area. I flew with a young stallion yesterday who flew through all the DVAs word perfect in record speed, but didn't notice that the oil pressure gauge was below the redline at 1800 RPM. (He's the reason I adopted this signature, although I liked it anyway).
Needless to say he's not as close to the flight test as he thought he was, but it made me think for a while - would this guy actually be able to diagnose a problem on his own? Isn't that the point of the checks?
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Confident, cocky, lazy, dead.