So, clearly Sheppard Air works. Finished the exam in under 45 minutes - longest part was flipping through the test supplement book (which you do not practice using Sheppard). I only missed 1 question- and I know the one I missed. It was a holding question and was between direct and teardrop entry (I clearly chose wrong, 
).
I will say the step where you have to go through the entire question bank (for IRA currently 1005 questions)- it’s painfully long. I probably took more time than needed reading through explanations and trying to understand questions I was missing (shame on me for trying to learn), but I have to say I will for sure use Sheppard for the rest of my written exams.
I’m taking the FII tomorrow- which everywhere I’ve read said it’s the same question bank- Sheppard says it’s not (money grab?), so I’ll update tomorrow. But to say the least, the test that I paid to prep for- I was very prepared.