I totally agree here. Every one of my students do a loop and a roll on their first day. It's great for moral of the student. I am sorry if your instructor did a little differently, but every instructor is different and has a different method for instruction. One quick comment on what you said about your time on a simulator. When I have a new student that says they have "tons" of time on a simulator I usually ignore that statement completely. Why? Because even though they have spent a lot of time on the sim there is no way of knowing if they learned and practiced the correct things on the sim. In cases students with a lot of simulator time with no proper instruction need MORE instruction than those who don't. In many cases I have had to unteach the bad habits that they student picked up on the simulator before I can start teaching the the proper way to fly. That is one of the bad things in my mind about a simulator. They are a great teaching tool if used properly, but when used improperly they can do more harm than good.

Ken