I assume the instructor meant 4-5 more hours on top of the 5 you've already logged?
I don't know where in the world you are doing your PPL but in the UK the syllabus is pretty tightly tied down and detailed in several books your FI can recommend (for example
this one, which I'm using). That will show you what exercises you will be doing and the probable sequence.
8-9 hours to a solo is pretty quick and I suspect pretty rare for a new pilot these days when things are so tightly controlled. I'm at much the same stage (circuits prepping for 1st solo) after 11 hours and we have cracked through the lessons at a decent pace. You need to cover trial lesson, straight and level in the cruise, slow flying, climbing (full power and cruise), descending (glide, cruise and emergency), level turns, climbing and descending turns, stall recovery (fully developed and incipient both with flaps and banked) as well as take off, landing, the various checks and managing the radio. All done consistently safely. That's a lot to cram into 9 hours! It's also not something you'll get from reading a book.
I'm interested by your comment about a simulator - I didn't think they were used much in PPL training, would be interested in hearing more