Here investing 101: Spend time and money in a way that will provide a positive return on investment. If the time you spent prepping actually results in increased income, then it gives you a net profit. That means you will be paid for that time. If your time spent prepping won't directly lead to increased income, or if that income won't be more than your estimate of the value of your time, it was a poor investment.
So, your prep time was either a valuable investment, or it wasn't.
Here's a rough breakdown of my prep for the Basic:
Watch a video (about 30 min), read the knowledge requirements on the TC site (10 min), open a pdf of the CARs and read Part IX, paying attention to things listed in the knowledge requirements (about an hour - I went through it twice), load a pdf of the AIM and search for key words and phrases from the knowledge requirements (half an hour), Google and Bing search for knowledge topics not covered in the AIM or CARs (it felt like 10 minutes because it was interesting, but was probably an hour). Add a preexisting understanding of basic physics and mechanical things (no extra time on that). Plus 20 minutes to write the exam, it all adds up to around four hours. Granted, I did get a question wrong on the Basic - got the same one (plus a few others) wrong on the Advanced. I answered with what I felt was more sensible, rather than what the CARs requires - my bad.
For the Advanced, I watched 3 videos, then repeated the rest of the steps, but looked at the knowledge requirements for advanced in addition to Basic. My plan was to write the Advanced a couple of times to get a feel for the questions. That plan didn't work out. I was speeding through, just selecting what I felt was the most obvious answer to each question - part of my strategy; I wanted to identify the areas that needed more study. I wound up passing. I wasn't happy with my score, but I'm not going to write it again. So, including writing both exams, you're right, I did spend more than 4-5 hours. The total was closer to six.
Finally, I find it very hard to believe that anyone would need 200 hours to prepare for such easy tests. I'm not calling you a list, it may be that you have difficulty learning things, it just doesn't match the information I've seen or the people (only a few) who I've coached.
FYI, I've also read the flight review requirements. Looks like a couple more hours of prep...