BitHigh
Question answered 100% by villas and r.r.r.
Indeed I know nothing about your background; still it is worthwhile to consider Fly3's comment. The conversion course is demanding and requires a lot of free memory storage to begin with as well as eagerness to listen and learn until the very end. In fact I believe the most important stuff arrives at the later stages when the philosophy of handling abnormals would be explained.
Repeatedly, the trainee gets a little burned out and overloaded towards the end. That's when the overall outcome of the course becomes less then optimal. Most likely to happen with pilots who start studying early and hard on their own, with no expert guidance in how to read the books and see interactions among the systems. Such dedicated people even could get an incorrect grasp of some information which then need to be sorted out, forgotten, and re-learned again, thus making the course harder on themselves.
I see you are actually using a A319 QRH. In case your provider does train to A320 standard, you may be required to undo some bits of knowledge if you go too deep on your own. (180 turn geometry, speedbrake autoretraction, autoland configurations ...).
My recommendation for pre-study would be:
1] Airbus Flight Deck Briefing for Pilots
While not part of the training package these days, the best start to get acquainted with the aircraft, even before one listens to stories and advice from friends already rated. Nice illustrations and fun to read too!
2] CBT chapter Introduction (each system), maybe some systems' Description (Fire prot, Eng, Fuel)
3] Avoid trying to crack the nut on autoflight from books. Would take weeks and not get you any far at all. It is best and easily learned when showed on the MFTD / APT by an instructor, only then pick up the details and reinforce knowledge from the FCOM.
For the training itself, obtain your personal, paper copy of Flight Crew Training Manual. The information there is not available from FCOM, it is pretty much all the instructor should explain verbally. If he omits or you forget, you know where to find it. If the instructor shares his wisdom beyond what's printed, write it down into it. For the first year of opeartion, this could easily become your most valuable resource.
On the other hand, I would suggest the FCOM to be used in the electronic format from day one in order to become proficient as early as possible. The true value of such skill will become obvious once line training starts.
Last edited by FlightDetent; 4th Aug 2013 at 15:21.