Type rating interview prep
Before an airline sends you to a type rating course, it wants to be reasonably confident you'll pass it. That's what the type rating selection board is checking, not deep type-specific knowledge you can't have yet (that's what the course itself teaches), but whether your fundamentals are solid enough that the course will land, and whether you'll work well as one half of a two-person crew once you're in the sim.
What the board is actually screening for
A type rating (on the A320 family or the B737 MAX, depending on the airline) is expensive and time-consuming for the airline to run. The selection board exists to reduce the risk of failure mid-course, so the emphasis is on fundamentals and trainability, not on how much you already know about that specific aircraft.
Fundamentals retention. Whether your ATPL-level Technical General, principles of flight and instrumentation knowledge is genuinely solid, not just passed-and-forgotten. Learning speed under load. Type rating ground school compresses a huge amount of systems knowledge into a few weeks, boards look for candidates who pick things up quickly in the room, not just candidates who already know the answer. Crew compatibility. Whether you communicate clearly, listen, and won't be a difficult training partner for an instructor or a future line captain.
Technical screening topics
You won't be quizzed on A320-specific or 737-specific systems if you've never touched the type, that's not a fair test and boards know it. What you can expect is a check on the general aircraft systems and performance knowledge your ATPL Technical General subject already covers.
Jet engine operating principles (thrust, EPR/N1 concepts, flame-out and relight logic), pressurisation and air conditioning fundamentals, hydraulic and electrical system redundancy philosophy, basic autoflight and flight management concepts, and V-speed and takeoff/landing performance logic. If you've built your Technical General foundation properly on AviationGrade's practice chapters, this is largely a confidence check, not new material.
"Walk me through what happens to the aircraft's electrical system if you lose one generator in cruise." This isn't asking for the A320 or 737's exact electrical schematic, it's asking whether you understand redundancy design well enough to reason it through logically. Answer with the general principle (load-shedding, bus isolation, backup sources) rather than admitting you don't know the specific type's wiring.
Sim aptitude and MCC checks
Some airlines run a short simulator or fixed-based device session as part of selection, less to test flying skill on a type you've never flown, more to check basic instrument scan, manual handling from your existing training, and how you communicate as pilot flying or pilot monitoring in a two-crew setup (Multi-Crew Cooperation, or MCC).
Standard callouts, briefing the other pilot before you do something rather than acting silently, and staying ahead of the aircraft rather than reactive. Precision on an unfamiliar aircraft type is not expected, communication discipline is.
How to prepare when you're not yet type rated
Re-solidify Technical General, don't just re-read it. Run back through jet engines, pressurisation, hydraulics and electrics using practice questions rather than passive review, boards notice the difference between someone who can recall a fact and someone who can reason with it live.
Learn the type's basic profile, even without access to it. Engine manufacturer and thrust class, fleet role (short-haul narrow-body for the A320 family and 737 MAX), typical crew complement, and one or two well-known design differences between the type and its main competitor. This shows genuine interest without pretending to know the aircraft.
Practice narrating your reasoning out loud. Type rating ground school and sim sessions are verbal and fast-paced. If you've only ever solved problems silently on paper, get used to talking through a system or a checklist logic step by step, it's a different skill from just knowing the answer.
Review standard callouts and MCC phraseology. Even without simulator access, reading through standard operating procedure callout language (from your training materials or publicly available airline SOP excerpts) gets you comfortable with the phrasing before you're expected to use it live.