It was just a glance at the instruments and after doing it a couple of times I found it easy enough to hold the nose at a particular attitude
Yep, good for you. I think it works.
michaelthewannabe
Yes, I know you did it that way because your instructor said so - and rightly so. It worked for you.
All I am suggesting is give it a go my way as well if your rinstructor will let you. You may be surprised that if you set the throttle correctly to start (and you now know where it should be) and really concentrate on the horizon and nothing else it will work well as G-EMMA has found.
I agree you need a reasonable horizon.
Ask your instructor what your examiner will require - he will know.