Ground school: mine was a nightmare. All the groundschool was packed into 5 days and I found the CBT (computer based training) to be tedious and laborious. It might be a good way of learning for some people, but not for me. Worked day and night and still struggled to get it all learnt before the exam. Tips for ground school: revise any areas of the airframes and systems ATPL sylabus you are not sure of so that when u get there u will at least have some idea of what a "DC busbar" is for example. The groundschool for mine was pretty much all airframes and systems, there was a performance exam as well, but it was nowhere near as complex as the performance stuff in the ATPL sylabus.
Sim training:
u need to get it into your head that flying a multicrew aircraft is more about flight management than in a light ac. By this I mean managing the systems, the auto pilot, the flight route, checklists etc. As such, a lot of the work can be done outside the sim, try to get a cockpit poster and run through the procedures and checks as much as possible, if you can do this with your sim partner all the better. Time in the sim is limited and expensive, so try to do as much learing and preparation outside the sim as you can.
Did I have any free time?
During the ground school no, the CBT and evening study took up pretty much the whole day. I had a few days off between the gs and the sim training though.
During the sim training, yes. The sim sessions were 4 hrs long and I spent a couple of hours revising procedures so I had a few hours each day to chill out, which were much needed.
What would you do differently in the next type rating to make life easier?
Get hold of the aircraft manuals in advance to do some pre-study before the ground school.
Top tip:
Learn the procedures before you go in the sim and do as much "armchair flying" as you can before you go mad. Get plenty of rest and sleep, my tr was pretty intense and I definitley needed a holiday afterwards.