The FAA exams arent as daunting as the over the top JAA ones. This is due to a few reasons such as public distribution of the knowledge base from which the FAA extract their questions. Numerous audio/visual aids to help learn from the likes of King Schools, Jepessen, etc. Instrcutor led coruses at some schools in the evenings/weekends.
Also there's none of that silliness that JAA like to use when a student who knows his/her stuff is constantly tricked and made to fall over at each and every hurdle. With the FAA exams the questions are more practical and if you don't know it you'll fail anyway otherwise you should get through okay.
Takes time to get through all the material if you really want to learn something otherwise there are those who just revise the questions of by heart and just scrape through over a couple of attempts. But what's the point if you can put the effort in to learn the questions then why not learn the subject matter? Best to learn the material as you'll also need it during the FAA oral which is quite significant and part of the testing process without which you will not be walking out to the aircraft! My Multi-engine INstrument Oral was HEAVY to say the least and the others before it weren't an easy ride neither. In fact during my single engine Commercial I revised alot and thought that I knew enough not to worry about the oral but at the end of the flight test the examiner said your flying was good enough to compensate for some areas oral, huh
Anyway I was VERY THANKFUL that I had done all the dull boring and at times pointless studying during my written exams.
Just study and go for it and remember many people before you have also done it so it is possible.
Good luck and all the best.
