Passed NY MPJE and NJ MPJE
Some background, I have been licensed in New Jersey for 2 months, immediately applying through reciprocity to be licensed in New York as well. On my first attempt at my NJ MPJE (11/25), I didn't really have any great resources (crammed for ~12 hours overnighter right before straight from BOP website and DEA manual) and failed my first attempt although I did feel quite confident after the exam as many questions pertained to retail law which I had a lot of experience in. On my second go at NJ MPJE (1/29), I got a hold of the RxPrep MPJE book with state specific flashcards for free through my employer and crammed through an all nighter (another ~12 hours) felt HORRENDOUS (unlike first attempt, much more compounding which I was not strong with) and yet by some miracle found out that I had actually passed. Come time for NY MPJE (3/28), I had heard there was a strong emphasis on compounding and saw on this sub that the NY MPJE app was extremely useful for many so I used that and the compounding section of the RxPrep MPJE book to cram (same deal, night before all nighter ~12 hours) and found that soooo many questions were basically straight from the app and compounding section and passed on my first attempt.
I have always been a good test taker and a procrastinator, which I realize may not be the case for many on this sub, but I wanted to share my experience anyway for anyone who has a similar brilliant yet unreliable neurodivergent mind with no sense of urgency. I was working full-time 40 hour weeks, entertaining hobbies that I didn't get a chance to enjoy as much as I would have liked during pharmacy school, and going out with friends enjoying the post-grad life, so for anyone looking for the most efficient way to learn the information necessary to pass, this is what I would recommend:
-Do not even bother with official sources of information like BOP website, DEA manual, and USP. The way they present information is difficult to navigate and includes a lot of unnecessary fluff.
-Practice questions, practice questions, practice questions. These were great for active recall, and the RxPrep state specific flash cards and MPJE apps had great explanations that also included very important information for the exam. Don't just memorize the answers, have a firm understanding of the reasoning and general concept of the encompassing the question. Run through the practice exams until you score 90%+ (ideally 100% if you have the time) and this will be a recipe for success, giving you up to 30% of the exam in the bag.
-COMPOUNDING. The great equalizer, which I felt must have made up about 30-40% of my NJ second attempt and NY exams. Honestly, the RxPrep compounding section was not sufficient to cover all the questions from the exams, but it definitely did cover the important memorizey type questions (fridge temps, iso, training requirements). The rest I banked on common sense (handling/disposing/cleaning of hazardous drugs made up the most of what wasn't covered).
-If you are on a time crunch like me, I consider memorizing things like NIOSH list and controlled schedules to be a big waste of time, you are better off putting your energy into other information as really this will only get you 1 or 2 questions on the exam.
-Some information I saw consistently pop up on all my exams that did not show up in my study resources which would have been easy to look up before were: requirements to become a technician (age, level of education, etc) and CE requirements (how many, how often, and which specific subjects have more particular requirements like med safety and live sessions). This is like 5 questions I was basically guessing that I could have gotten in the bag.
That's pretty much everything that comes to mind, but open to any questions. For people that are struggling to pass, I understand that the questions can be challenging, but it's really important to stay calm, be confident, lean on your studies (not just for the exam but your entire time in pharm school and any related employment), and use these to reason through all the semantic word slop. At the end of the day, we are all doctors and nobody can take that away from us. You are more than what your exam results say you are. Good luck to everyone, happy testing!