This is going to vary according to the inspector/DPE you take it with. I'd clarify before the ride so you have a good idea. The inspector I took mine with liked that I went to the books a bunch. In most cases, he was asking puposely hard questions seeing if I'd go in the right direction. I'd open to a section, scan for a minute, find it read it and explain it. The worst thing in the world you can do is BS. Your credibility as an instructor is paramount. Be careful using anything that isn't from the FAA.

Like anything else, there is probably an amount of "let's look it up" moments that you can use. However, if you can't back up what you're saying in the text is shows you really don't know the material. How can you be 100% sure you're saying the right thing?

Lesson plans are great, as an outline. I made very loose ones that only outlined the key points because I like to engage the student. When they're asking questions, they're learning.

Another biggie, use correct terms. Act like the inspector/dpe has never seen an airplane and doesn't know a tab from a stab. It's a trim tab and a horizontal stabilizer.