Brody is spot on.
If you don't like how close ATC are vectoring you in, tell them you want a longer finals.
If the cruise level ATC have given you is too high to not give you enough time in the cruise to brief the descent and approach, tell them you want lower.
MAKE ATC WORK FOR YOU!
The sim is all about crew co-operation and flight and workload management. Everyone should stop getting so worked up about have practice sim time or not having practice sim time. The actual hand flying, in my view, counts for very little of the assessment.
If you know your hand flying is going to be ropey, which let's be honest, for most of us it will be, allow for this and MAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF.
Fuel is never an issue, so what's the rush?