B737 type rating;
Groundschool - I had 4 weeks, 3 and a half weeks tech, half a week company performance and loading. Personally I found this far less intense than ATPL groundschool. No real tips as it is purely learn and churn. By the end of 4 weeks it can get very, very boring! Got home 2 of the 3 weekends, but stayed on the last weekend so as to be able to access CBT during final exam revision.
(Pipertommy - the performance stuff that we did was all practical - how to interpret and use company performance manuals, how to do manual loadsheets etc. Some basics were reviewed - what is V2, ASDA/TODA, V1 ranges etc, in a 2 hour session but ATPL level knowledge is assumed and not covered.)
Sim - 4 hours per day, with 3 or 4 days on, 3 to 4 days off, a month in total. Time off was more than enough. All sims at reasonable hours of the day - the merits of the 2am sim shift have been long discreditted.
Tips would be to learn your power and attitude settings very well so as to allow you to manually fly the aircraft well and concentrate on the emergencies and drills (although majority of the sim is done with autopilot in).
Get to know your sim partner well. As suggested above, "armchair" fly all your drills with your sim partner back at the hotel. Help each other along.
Finally, accept critisism from your instructor unconditionally and if you are struggling with something, don't try and hoodwink the instructor. Sounds mad, but one person on my course was chopped for doing this. If you make a hash of something, put your hands up and discuss it frankly.
Re Dartagnan's comments on weight loss - wow, my entire course gained about half a stone, what with all the free food at the hotel. Indeed, many uniforms, measured before the TR, had to be sent back for alteration!!