I think I'm quite lucky... my first (and longest duration) instructor insisted I was near-perfect on the radio, showed me a few spins and let me recover from one, positively LOVED me having to do wing-down on-the-limit crosswind landing (so lots of sideslip practice) and showed me what the mixture knob was for other than starting and stopping the air-conditioning fan on the front.
That said, when I passed my GFT I realised that I was really nervous about flying solo! So I guess he left the confidence bit out
Hersh