I have the impression that there are a lot of misunderstandings about the current theoretical IR(A) requirements. You have to take 7 written exams. For these to pass you need the ATPL books.
But you only need to know certain parts of these books. Every time you come across a topic that has "commercial jet operations" written all over it you'll see in the notes provided by EASA that this topic is outside the scope for PPL/IR. Even for the much feared meteo exam.
I did the course in distance learning and it costed me 2 half-days at the FTO for evaluation. Luckily I knew the material and I didn't need extra tutoring. But the important thing is I did it at home, in my own time. I passed the exams at the first attempt. I can't say I really needed to study things I found irrelevant. OK, maybe the license-requirements-bit in "Law".
In my opinion the theoretical exams are hugely over-estimated. It is still a lot to learn,
but how you do it is totally up to you.