This is a good read! It's hard to talk about anything else when you're just learning, isn't it?
My experience suggests that it's a good idea to keep plugging at the exams, even if you do have ages. I didn't, and it really held me back a couple of times (first solo and pre-skill test). On the other hand, it's harder to learn and remember the content without the first-hand experience, especially law, nav and fpp. Hmmmm....
Ah well, keep up the head of steam!