I passed the California Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam (CPJE) on my first attempt in the summer of 2021. According to the California State Board of Pharmacy CPJE statistics report between April 2021 – September 2021, the overall pass rate was 55.9%. I spent 8 consecutive weeks studying for that and NAPLEX collectively, and I took my NAPLEX one week after the CPJE.
The CPJE is a 2-hour exam with 90 questions. If you don’t know the breakdown of the exam or even anything at all, then start with the CPJE Candidate Information Bulletin.
Read everything carefully. I won’t go over the content outline and other details since it’s already listed there.
General Tips:
Clinically, you need to be as prepared as you are for the NAPLEX.
CPJE’s formatted questions are a lot shorter compared to NAPLEX, so any little information that is provided could be important for answering a question. If you are given a patient’s labs or medications list, take a closer look. You might have to use that information to see if there are any contraindications or drug interactions.
If you see a question asking for the “most appropriate” answer, you might encounter multiple correct answer choices, so you have to know how to pick the answer with the MOST COMMON/IMPORTANT side effect or know the KEY counseling point.
I spent A LOT of time memorizing brand/generic. If you’re given a question that uses the brand name of a drug you don’t recognize, how can you answer it correctly? I listed down below the resource I used to study brand/generic.
If you’re given a question that provides a drug and DOSING information, you need to know if it’s appropriate for a specific indication. For drugs that are available as Rx and OTC, you should know those dosage differences.
My resources:
tl;dr pharmacy
This site provides a good overview of clinical and law content. I did put some more focus into the topics listed there, but the exam can really test on any topic. Other important clinical topics I would add to that list would be bacterial infections, fungal infections, chronic heart failure, thyroid disorder, HIV, psych, and pain.
RxPrep – NAPLEX book & online practice questions
I’ve been studying on and off with the 2021 version all throughout my last year as a student. The videos don’t cover all the clinical details, so I focused on using the book. For the online practice questions, I aimed for percentage scores above 85 for all topics. As it got closer to my exam date, I focused on re-doing the questions I got wrong.
RxPrep – CPJE book, videos, & online practice questions
This book prepared me well for the law content. I watched all the videos while going over the book, and I aimed for percentage scores in the 90s for the practice questions.
RxPrep – Guideline/Drug Updates & Errata
If you are using RxPrep, make sure to check this in case there are guideline/law updates or errors in your book.
CPJE Secrets
I have mixed feelings about this resource because I found so many mistakes. However, having to cross-check references to fix these errors helped me remember the information. If you find it to be overwhelming, just focus on the Top 400 Drugs list. I made sure to have this whole list memorized before the test.
CPJE Candidate Information Bulletin (linked at the top)
I took the 22 sample CPJE questions and went back to figure out why the “most appropriate” answer was the best answer. Study the format of these questions and see how it can be applied to other clinical topics and drugs.
The Script
This is the CA Board of Pharmacy Newsletter. I only skimmed through a couple of old newsletters, mainly focusing on any law updates. I like how the information is laid out in an easy-to-read format. If you’re studying any law book that’s not up to date, then you should look at their most recent newsletter.
Community Pharmacy & Outpatient Hospital Pharmacy Self-Assessment Forms
This can be a helpful tool for reviewing the law portion. Most of this information is in the RxPreP CPJE book, so I only briefly looked over the forms.
I hope this provides helpful information. Good luck with studying and I hope you pass!