It's not supposed to be a case of one or the other. Shepard's "method" includes taking a full ground school before starting to use their software. Take a complete ground school first, then move on to Shepard if you wish.
Percentage of questions by topic is published in the PAR ACS. It's still the luck of the draw what questions you'll actually see. The FAA stopped publishing the questions/answers in 2008 so no one has a complete and current list. They are changing questions and answers agreesively these days, so...
Growth has been shooting up the GA 400 corridor for 30 years now. Dahlonega used to be a sleepy tourist town in the Blue Ridge foothills, but even it is becoming urbanized now.
And don't short change yourself. Get as much towered-airport practice as you can. I see too many pilots on flight reviews who intentionally avoid airports with towers.
That's the way humans handle things. Ignore warning signs until it's too late to respond. Personally, I'll outrun it and I don't have any kids to worry about.