Getting an hour or two in the 744 sim beforehand can ONLY be an advantage. As the previous poster says, you don't wanna go into something new for a 20min check & have to worry about making a balls of flying the thing. You aren't really being assessed on flying it but if you make a cock of it that doesn't look good!! I assume you'll have no automatics either so don't forget how that will increase the workload significantly along with the 'one off check' pressure!! I know what i'll be doing if i get a check...........