My experience has been this:
1) read the books a couple of times. Make notes on the items that look difficult to remember (anything that is an acronym you'll probably need!)
2) use the question bank to gauge how much I actually know. Usually I do 3-4 runs and note *all* the wrong answers.
3) Spend a couple of hours looking up, understanding and realizing why my answers were incorrect.
4) repeat from number 2
I've found items that are in the books that you don't think are relevant, that then come up in the question bank. I think if you attended a sit-down ground school they have more of an idea of the syllabus that needs to get taught, as opposed to just trying to learn the whole book.
I break up my sessions into 20 minute blocks - 5 mins break (cup of tea, browse internet or something) then back for another 20 mins.
Managed to pass all my PPL exams this way, and I'm about to pass my IMC in the next week or so. This approach worked well for me..