I've never used the afs in my nexstar simply because it is unreliable, I've heard of instructors that have almost crashed because of the fight they had with the afs. If you have an instructor teaching you - turn it off!! I think that if you can take off and land on the simulator you'll do just fine without it. Practice lots of turns with the plane flying toward you also. Towards you because your instincts may be backwards at first.

Turn it off and learn how to fly right the first time!!