Everyone has a best way for them, and it isn’t necessarily your best way. That said…
If you’re studying at work, I highly recommend the app called Upgrade U. I spent one of my two 6 hours off studying the “trivia” questions and left chart plots and Nav Problems for at home. Upgrade U doesn’t require an internet connection, and frankly the subject matter of the questions in Rules, Deck Safety, Deck Gen, Nav Gen don’t change much. The app tracks your progress and areas for improvement. And after you have seen all of the questions a few times, recall is easier.
You can keep taking practice tests with Upgrade and LAP-Ware, or work through the entire question banks until you’re passing every practice exam with flying colors. I didn’t have LAP-Ware until I tested for my CM/MA Oceans, but I found LAP-Ware was better for me at home purely because of the internet connection required.
I would recommend that you learn how to use bowditch AND your calculator. Memorize the pages (the old green bowditch was “505 will keep you alive”) where all of your nav problems formulas are. If you can learn what a secant and cosecant are, all of the formulas are written out for you and it’s just a matter of plugging it into the calculator. Writing all of your nav problems out step by step, the same way every time, just like in high school algebra will also help.
Mr. Plant’s Formulae For The Mariner book has the best page I have seen for fuel consumption formulas. That page alone is worth the price of the book. If you can memorize and brain dump those onto your scrap paper when the test starts, you’re golden. I transcribed the page dozens of times until I could brain dump it onto a blank piece of paper on demand, and it saved me from having to actually think about the problems in the test.
Either way, study hard, put the time in, and it will come to you eventually. Test when you’re ready. Good luck.