You must be the only one who likes his humor. Why don't you spend some
time
with an instructor in a simulator and doing ground school. the courses
are
only geared to passing the knowledge test.

I already have my IFR ticket. The knowledge is what I'm after. All I
really need is a refresher course, but I'd rather just go through the entire
home study course so I don't miss anything. The sim time is not needed as
when I can afford to fly again I'll get an instrument comp check and that
will no doubt take awhile longer than usual. Maybe between 5 and 6 hours of
hood time will get me back in the hack again.

The FARs and AIM come out every year - you cannot go wrong buying it and
reading it.

That is without question as the FAR/AIM is required to fly PIC. It's one of
the thing I gotta have anyway.