Whelp guys. I made a post earlier about Better Learning V. After some crazy donating I acquired it in significantly less time than it was projected.
The results are in.
If my math is right BLV is 100% retroactively viable. Learning it after you know 37 skills already will NOT stop it from adding those excess five skills to your list of skills that incur no penalty. Learning BLV knocked two days off of Mining IV.
Definitely worth the huge investment I put in.