you will commonly hear the phrase "firehose" when talking about airline tng. among army types, i often hear this being described as going through the IE course and the AQC at the same time!
that being said, i honestly didn't think it was that bad. true, at times it can seem like a ton of info in a short period of time, but truthfully it isn't if you break it down. it is a very long course and i think ample opportunity is given to learn everything. one of the keys is time mgt, a trait you know we learned in the army. as i and others have said, you can't wait until the last minute to study any particular topic. e.g., don't wait until two days before the e.p./limits test to start studying for it...
to put it in army terms...AQC level but you should already have an IE level of instrument flying before you get here...
also, this tng is not the "build an airplane" type of tng, a philosphy i felt the army had and many old-school types have. if you simply focus on what the instructors teach you that is really all you need to know for this phase of tng.
in case you didn't get the answer to your crashpad question, there were several advertised at the tng center, and a few more in the breakroom at the sim bldg that you might also want to check out.
are you still in the 14 oct class?