jools - on the assumption that it is the wind calcs you are not liking, rather than the distance/time, lbs to galls etc - are you being taught to put the wind mark above or below the centre mark?
The 'wind up' versus 'wind down' method debate is not one to argue here, but one way is simpler than the other. I certainly struggled with one way and found the other more intuitive
A bit of debate here if you are interested:
CRP5 "wind up/down" - ATP Forum
The other way to make it easier is to buy the E6B USA aluminium version which has the instructions written on it ! you don't need to remember anything, just follow the rules.
You won't have to use one in anger in a written exam, but being comfortable with it for pre-flight planning is useful. Being able to use one in flight to calculate drift on a diversion is also something you might want to consider rehearsing, but in reality, using the 'clock/max drift' mental maths for drift is much easier
Max Drift = Wind X 60/airspeed
E.g Wind 10 Knots, Airspeed 120kts
Max Drift = 10 X 60/120 = 5 Degrees
Once you have max drift, consider if it is at >60 degrees, 45 degrees 30 degrees or head/tail on.
If >60 degrees, use all of the max drift as a heading correction
If at 45 deg use 3/4 max drift (memory aid remember 45 min is 3/4 of a hour)
30 deg - use half max drift
On the nose / tail - no correction
Hope that helps?