The all-time BEST maneuver to separate the men from the boys:
The Climbing/Descending Turn
1) Start at North, cardinal altitude, punch the clock to start a 1 minute timer and then simultaneously begin a left standard rate turn of 180 degrees and a 500 foot climb/descent at 500 fpm.
2) Look for perfect symmetry, so that at 125 feet of climb, the turn is 45 degrees complete, and so on.
3) The sweep of the clock, the gyrocompass and the altimeter is all watched, organized and kept in harmony.
4) At 1 minute the roll out is complete, the climb is stopped and the aircraft is in perfectly normal flight 180 degrees out and 500 feet off.
5) And the airspeed is held perfectly constant throughout.
Not for the faint of heart, it is the perfect maneuver to make the whole instrument flight thing come together. The biggest thing is to know the % torque or MP needed for 100 fpm of climb/descent, and the amount of bank angle needed for a standard rate turn, a faster one and a slower one. Juggling the corrections for a few seconds and then taking them out, bookeeping each axis is a blast when you get the hang of it.