In order to prepare for this, I reviewed the radio work and flight path with my instructor, and also attempted to use a flight sim program. The idea was that I wanted to remember what we had done dual last weekend, so that I could fly the same route solo tomorrow with more ease. The more automaticity I could develop, especially with radio work, the better, I figured. I also wanted to practices various approaches to the two more unfamiliar airports (Muskoka and Peterborough in this case).
Half the battle with using a sim is figuring out how all the keyboard or joystick controls work. In some cases, it is more hassle to fight with that stuff than it is worth. The distraction of learning the program takes away from the benefits of practice, especially for those on a limited time budget and/or short attention span (sadly, I suffer chronically from both!)
In the end, I practised the radio calls while visualsing the approaches, based on the mini-maps I had drawn in my x-country prep sheet