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From PsychCentral, here's a list of 10 Highly Effective Study Habits (see article for details).  The list:

1. How you approach studying matters

Aim to think positively when you study.
Avoid catastrophic thinking.
Avoid absolute thinking.
Avoid comparing yourself with others.

2. Where you study is important

3. Bring everything you need, nothing you don't

4. Outline and rewrite your notes

5. Use memory games (mnemonic devices)

6. Practice by yourself or with friends

7. Make a schedule you can stick to

8. Take breaks (and rewards!)

9. Keep healthy and balanced

10. Know what the expectations are for the class [or test]

This applies only to the CA vignette exam. The thing about the vignette exam is that it's complicated.  Long vignettes, groups of long, similar answers.  Typical result while studying:  dizziness, confusion, frustration.  Solution:  Slow down. You can try just winging it; not recommended.  Better to be extremely deliberate with this one.  

First, adopt a rating system (0-2 if you're AATBSing, checks, plus/minus, or other symbols if you're not).   Then apply--run practice questions and exams online, rate each answer in each answer set. Then comes the part you may be tempted to skip:  Look at the rationales given by the test-prep course for how they got to the right answer.  How did they rate each answer part?  Are your zeros (or checks or plus/minuses or whatever) the same as what they came up with?  If not, why not?  Checking against the test-prep course this way is laborious and not a lot of fun.  But it works.

You're not learning content for the second CA exam.  You already know the content--that's how you got through the first exam.  You also know how to get yourself through a long exam--this one's only half of the first--a mere two hours.  What you're learning this time is how to best approach this very peculiar test.  It's probably unlike any you've ever taken.  But it's very doable.  You can pass.  There are people passing every day.

So:  Rate, check ratings, repeat.  Result:  Less dizziness, more licensure. Good luck!

You may have had this experience--some of my tutoring clients have reported it:  You read a vignette and you get sucked in.  The heartache, the pain, the misery.  It's all too much.  Your burnout meter goes into the red.  Or, harder still, elements of the vignette remind you of your own experience--family problems, relationship problems, life problems. Call it Vignette Countertransference.  Everyone's had a taste of it.  It's okay, it's normal, but it can sometimes get in the way of good test taking.

Stop and take a breath.

Your job as an examinee is to play the calm, careful clinician, operating not from emotion and instinct, but with deliberate, textbook-supported wisdom.  You are the perfect social worker (human, but not too human).  That's not to say your instincts should be completely discarded.  Some recommend pausing to picture the people in the vignette--What do you see?  What worries you?  You may find yourself thinking something like, "These kids need help asap."  Good, let that help guide you.  And then calmly, carefully choose perfect social worker's response to that situation and to the question in front of you.

Here's a multiple choice test rule of thumb that social work test preppers should keep in mind: Read the question, then, hit pause. Don't read the answers. Think about how you would answer. Okay, now read the answers. Do any of them match or even echo your thought? Great. That's your pick. Really works. Try it.