Having passed my IFR checkride last month, here are my opinions
on training materials:

First of all: no one book or set of training materials will provide
everything. I recommend using at least two different sources of
"primary" training materials, augmented with plenty of auxilliary
books and other materials.

The ASA books are every bit as good as Jeppesen's. My primary
study book was ASA's "The Pilot's Manual: Instrument Flying"
At 600 pages, it covers ALL the material very thoroughly, and will
serve as a good reference now that I have my rating.

I was pleasantly suprised by the the good quality and readability
of FAA's "Instrument Flying Handbook." It has IMHO, the best
explanation of the cause of compass turning error that I have
seen. I would put it on the must-have list.

Rod Machado's "Instrument Pilot's Survival Guide" is more valuable
for its "how-to" info than for test prep. But very entertaining,
and also a must-have.

I also used Jeppesen's FlightSchool Multimedia Software. It was
useful for drilling for the written, and had some info tidbits that
I did not find in any of my other reading materials. But it required
substantial patience: it crashed a lot, it was slow, and the charts
used to illustrate some of the questions were difficult to read.
One nice feature is that if you pass enough practice exams, you can
print out a certificate, send it to Jeppesen, and they will sign
you off to take the written exam.


Full disclosu Jeppesen is owned by Boeing, and I work for Boeing.
If you buy any Jeppesen products, it is remotely possible that I
might somehow indirectly benefit. But probably not.


Happy studying,
Ross Oliver