I recently passed the cpje and ive been out of school for a year, and I did not attend school in CA. My advice would be to know your common retail and hospital meds, most questions can be answered if you know the products. Make sure you know the exam bulletin well, the questions are based on the breakdown they give you.
People may tell you not to focus on studying the law too much, but these are easy questions to get correct on the exam and things you need to know once you are licensed, so defintely buy a copy of weissmans and read it through at least once. I found the newsletters the board posts on their website useful for focusing in on the types of issues they may want you to know for the exam. The exam focuses more on product selection and counseling points than the naplex.
I studied for about 9 hours a week over the course of 2.5 months while working as an rph in ny 30hrs/week, i think the important thing is to know your comfort level where your strengths and weaknesses lie (i spent more time reviewing hospital and IV meds since most of my experienc has been in the retail/specialty market) and spend your time wisely. If you need to study 8 hours a day, then study 8 hours a day if not dont stress yourself out. I studied from the apha review book for hospital products/disease states as well as reference texts (lexicomp handbook and drug facts and comparisons) and had a copy of weissmans law text. The exam is not extremely difficult just random; they ask about a wide variety of drug products and pharmacy topics. I scored an 82 and this was my first attempt, and i took the exam on 2/15/13.
Hope this helps, good luck!
