~~DISCLAIMER~~ Civilian pilot~~ so if you normally don't credit anything a non winged guy says, read no more.Prior flight time is an all encompassing term that groups everyone into one pool. However, there are differences in pilots and there are differences in schools.
I have roughly 250 hrs and I have flown with 8+ instructors. It is easy to receive uncle Bob training from one instructor and great professional instruction between different instructors at the same establishment. Sooo there clearly is no absolute gouge to say having a certificate is going to help you succeed.
Application
I am going to say that flying experienced helped me get excepted. I was a non select, reapplied with an added instrument rating. This helped me get excepted because it improved my app. from the previous submission. I had many improvements, it was one so it HELPED.
I'm not in primary so im not going to say I know how hard and magically different flight school is. However, critical thinking is a must for any rating. Any experience IMC, turbulence, night, something unexpected forcing you to apply knowledge previously learned is practice at that skill. It might not be applying the NAVY way, but it is practice at applying what you have learned to an aircraft.
NO a PPL won't make learning what you need to pass flight school easier, but it has to help application of what you learned. IMHO
There is clearly no written way to get through OCS, API or anything in Navy training.