I used Gleim to prepare.  I HATE Gleim with a passion and had to supplement heavily with my CPA review materials to feel prepared. 

I will say that I did not give myself quite enough time for the essay questions on both parts.  I can't really speak to the difficulty since it varied a great deal.  Some of the essays were harder/some not so much.  For both parts I ended up with a little over an hour for essays which wasn't quite enough. 

However sicne the MCQs are worth 75% of the exam I don't know that I would do it any differently second time around.  I did get through the essays but not with the amount of detail I would have liked to have provided. 

The CPA is very different in that the "simulations" are worth 40%, meaning they carry much more weight than on the CMA and as such "deserve" more time. 

I will say that the practice MCQ for Gleim are pretty good.  If you get the test prep software download do ALL the questions and make sure you understand them.  The main issue with Gleim is that they do not include all the testing material in the text of their book- so you have to find it through the MCQs.

Does that help?

Oh- but as for any questions being the same on the test prep and the actual test- not that I remember. 

The calculation questions are always sort of the same, different company name, different numbers, etc, but there are only so many ways to ask for a specific calculation.

Lastly- do make sure you READ THE QUESTION.  It sounds stupid, and its the one thing I really was prepared well for with Gleim.  Some of them are "tricky".