Instead of going for a AAA, go for a certain percentage. When I recently went through Empress and PB L7, I aimed for 98% and PC on anything below a 5, and for anything above I tried my best to get at least 96%. Also, misses were completely unacceptable unless I all ready had a FC on them. Playing hard songs all the time will make you good at passing as long as you're staying somewhat within your ability, and working for timing (not grades but consistent timing, make sure you get that right) will make you good at timing on easier songs, usually one or two difficulties below your maximum passing ability unless you're passing almost all the 12s, in which case it will improve on the easier 12s as well.
Changing ghost or judgement or movies or such is completely superficial and will not help unless you are specifically uncomfortable with one of them (many people turn off ghost A for example, while I can't play without it since I base all my scores on that and need to watch it constantly). What does help is a comfortable sudden+, comfortable hi-speeds (notes don't cover too much of your peripheral vision but aren't in a small enough area that you can't read), using random to improve your dexterity through constantly changing charts, and playing with Hard if you're looking for ways to improve your passing or comboing ability.
Music games don't necessarily help a lot, as I played DelightDelight Revolution with 5-key charts and DDR sims for about 2 years before I got IIDX, and played DDR for about a year before IIDX as well. I've been playing IIDX for over 7 years and Exy has surpassed me in one, so everyone is different and no one is going to have the same experience.
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