Tex - I feel your pain!! it's not just the numbers and theories...it's the sheer irrelevence of most of it as well. Sadly it's a case of just head down and get on with it.
The strangest thing is, after all the huffing and puffing it ends up coming down to how many of the questions from the bristol q bank you can remember in one go.
The FAA have got it right in my view by cutting out the crap, rather than making it difficult just for difficults sake.