Odd one this, I just read the books and did the exams, I thought they were all fairly easy, although I did take the full 90 minutes for the nav exam, mostly checking what I had done.
I'm not particularly bright so if I can do it etc. I think there's an element of 'mystery' about flying that certain quarters like to maintain. There's nothing difficult about any of it really, although certain pundits would have you believe so. If it was real superman stuff there wouldn't be so many of us.
I'm a muso by profession and it's just the same. There's no mystery at all about music, none of it is difficult, there's a lot to retain that's for sure but that's all. Yet there are elements who would have you believe that reading the score of Beethoven's fifth requires extreme arcane knowledge and initiation into a mystic brotherhood. Some folk just like to think that they are special I suppose.
That's not to say you shouldn't plug your fellow and more experienced aviators for all they are worth, I'm always asking about stuff.
Mr Glyn, it is indeed a fascinating and worthwhile pastime, enjoy! I sometimes sit in the cockpit for a while before I start up just absorbing the fact that I'm a pilot and I'm soon going to be making this collection of sheet aluminium and rivets dance through the air. Wonderful stuff.