The weekend IFR seminars are great.
John is a great guy.
the program is well structured and thought out.
the bad news is many of the instructors are terrible. They work on "ish" time, and really dont know either how to instruct well, oreven how to fly IFR well.
It is all good in theory , but the practical side is bad..Book for 0800 and you will typically be standing outside a locked office. When your instructor does show up, another 20 minutes or so ...but as someone mentioned, the coffee is free. I was always 30 minutes early for my appointed schedule..Not once did we ever get started on time.
They also seem to want to schedule for their convenience, which means it takes a long time to do the rating, or in my case, a renewal. Keeps them busy , but when a company is paying for your hotels, schooling etc, they get a bit upset when you tell them the best schedule you can get is one flight a day..
I would take the weekend seminar, do the written , and find a less professional school that can schedule better and has better instructors.