My overall grade was 'Outstanding', but I joined in Feb, so had a good -5 months before I was reviewed. Apparently it's difficult to get this where I work.
>This is the million dollar question. Why didn't the pilots turn off the system and fly in "legacy mode" like they would if they were flying the prior revision of the 737.
As a pilot, if my plane is doing something which I don't expect it to - my first thought isn't to disable auto-trim, but to consider why it's doing that. A previous crew did have the issue, and did report the problem. As a pilot, I trust that it has been fixed, so no, it wouldn't be the first thing on my mind.