CPC Exam Review
I attended the CPC Exam Review on Friday to prepare myself to take AAPC CPC exam. The exam review was offered by the local AAPC chapter to prepare applicants to take the exam. There were about forty participants representing insurance, physician offices, hospitals, clinics, education and students. The majority of the participants were required to take the exam for employment purposes. The students need to take the exam to have better opportunities of landing their first coding job.
The instructor for the exam review is also the proctor for the CPC exam. I have been on the AAPC website to review the coding certification information but there is nothing like first hand knowledge of what to expect. The instructor gave practical test taking suggestions in addition to providing specifics about the exam.
The CPC exam is divided into three sections. Section One: Surgery and Modifiers; Section Two: Evaluation and Management, Anesthesia, Radiology, Lab & Pathology and Medicine; Section Three: Medical Terminology, Anatomy & Physiology, ICD-9-CM, HCPCS, and Practice Management. There are a total of 150 questions on the test. The AAPC allows 5 hours and 30 minutes to complete the test. The applicant must pass each section to pass the exam. Failure on one part of the exam will mean that you failed the entire exam. The applicant must score a seventy or higher on each section to pass. If you fail the test, you will be allowed to retake it within 12 months free of charge. After the second time, you must pay the application fee to take the test.
There were participants at the review who had taken the test before and had to retake it because they did not pass one section of the test. They did extremely well on the other sections of the test but failed one section by just a few points. I asked the instructor what the national passing rate was for the AAPC. She did not know the national average but did say that the local chapters results were not good. This did not make me feel better. It only increased my level of anxiety.
The instructor informed participants of how the questions might be asked on the exam. She asked us a couple of questions and our brain turned to mush. She was trying to illustrate the point that you must read every question carefully or you will be thrown off track. She informed us on what the AAPC will allow us to mark in our coding books. She cautioned against excessive highlighting in our coding books. She recommended reading the CPT guidelines in the front of each section in the code book. This way you will already know the guidelines and will not have to waste time looking up the guidelines in the book during the test. The same is true of ICD-9 guidelines.
Here are tips for preparing for the AAPC CPC exam:
- Study two to four hours a day
- Know the CPT, ICD-9 coding guidelines
- Read and review the CPC exam review guide
- Complete the Pre-test and Post-test on the CPC exam review guide
- Complete the Mock AAPC test in your CPC exam review guide
- Practice CPT, ICD-9, HCPCS coding
- Use flash cards to review medical terminology
- Use the CPC exam review to study anatomy/physiology
- Stop studying at least 3 to 4 days before your exam
- Only the AMA CPT code book will be allowed for the exam. (You must have the current year.) You will not be allowed to take the exam will an old code book.
- AMA Professional CPT book is recommended (because of the extensive diagrams, color coding, and tabs)
- The ICD-9 and HCPCS code books can be published by any source but must be the current year's text.
- Allow 2 minutes per question on the exam (medical terminology, anatomy/physiology, practice management) You will need more than 2 minutes on the actual coding questions
- Take your breaks as scheduled
- Bring several sharpened #2 pencils
- Bring plastics rulers to use as bookmarks
- Bring bottled water, snacks
- Read each question carefully
- Skip questions that you don't know and come back to them later
- Review the bubble test card to be sure that you marked all answers
- Relax it's finally over!
With any luck you might be successful taking the exam. The instructor pointed out that participants who use the CPC Exam review guide have a better success rate passing the exam. The author of the review guide developed the AAPC curriculum and develops test questions for the exam. I already have my CPC Exam review guide and have gone through it once. Let's hope that I am part of the successful group!