We know time is very important factor in your life. From our childhood our parents and elders tell us not to waste time and utilize it in a proper way. The more you respect time the more you succeed in life. For medical coders like us time is very important especially during your AAPC CPC certification exam. We know that AAP CPC exam has 4 hours time, but that time will go so fast during exam that you won’t even realize. Many of us prepare yourself to clear CPC exam and get certified to have successful career in medical coding. But, most of us specially those preparing for CPC exam without any training, don’t understand the importance of time during CPC test and fail to clear the exam. We all want to clear CPC exam in First attempt, so for that we should focus on all small things which can hinder in Clearing AAPC CPC test.
Below is the actual cost for CPC test for AAPC student/member and non-member.
Sitting for the CPC exam costs One attempt for $399 or $499 for two attempts. Additional expenses vary, depending on the coursework, books, and practice exams you select to successfully prep for the exam.
The CPC exam is a test of medical coding proficiency consisting of 100 multiple-choice questions that assess 17 areas of knowledge.
Most questions present a coding scenario to test proper application of CPT® procedure codes, HCPCS Level II supply codes, and ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes — all of which medical providers use to submit claims to payers. During the test, you will reference approved code books — the AMA’s CPT® Professional Edition, as well as your choice of ICD-10-CM and HCPCS Level II code books.
Whether you take the exam online or in-person, you must complete the CPC exam within four hours and answer 70% of the questions correctly to pass.
Solve Mock or Sample CPC Certification exam papers
To keep a good track of how much time you will take to clear a CPC test, it will be better to go through few sample CPC questions paper. CPC test paper consist of easy and difficult section. If you are 99% perfect in surgery coding, you can attempt the surgery section first. As we are now going to use ICD 10 codes, do avoid few common mistakes of ICD 1o codes. During solving sample CPC question paper, keep a time limit for solving each question. Do remember there are no negative marking for wrong answers in CPC test, so always try to attempt all questions during CPC test. These are super easy methods to clear CPC exam. Checkout this CPC sample quide which will help you in solving few sample question papers.
Save time during CPC coding Certification exam in Searching Codes
Original and updated CPT and ICD codebooks are allowed during CPC certification test. It is an open codebook exam. But, sometimes it is a disadvantage, let me tell you how?. Few questions in AAPC CPC test have answers in front of you in the options. If we filter those codes, we can easily get the correct answer. For example, those who are expert in coding CPT codes for guidance, have a question on vascular procedures with guidance codes ( 76937 and 77001) in options, they don’t have to check codebooks, they can check the options and easily get correct answer by ignoring non-vascular guidance CPT codes (76942,77002 &77003). So, if you are 100% confident avoid using codebooks which will save your lot of time and if you are having doubts, do use them.
Bookmark your Codebooks
Bookmark the pages which are not easy to find in codebooks. Use a highlighter to highlight important guidelines for CPT and ICD in codebooks. Using such tips will surely help in saving time during CPC exam and finding the correct answer. You can refer to some of the best books in market for medical coding certification exams, to know some the techniques for clearing these exam. Be updated with the new CPT code changes every year. Keeping all these things in mind will surely help in improving your skills in medical coding. My favorite chapters to bookmark are coding for sepsis, coding for pregnancy complication and use of Z codes.
Be confident during AAPC CPC certification exam
Finally, when we are prepared with everything, be calm and confident during AAPC CPC test. Do not lose confidence when you don’t get the correct answer and without wasting time move to another question. Plan in such a way that you attempt all the questions which you can solve with correct answers. Once, you done with them, go for the unanswered questions. In CPC test you only need to score more than 70% to pass the exam. There are 80% chances to clear this exam if you have attempted the whole paper. It is an open codebook exam, if you know them as your best friend, you can easily clear this exam.
Finally, hope these time-saving techniques for CPC test, will surely help you to become a Certified professional coder in future.
Hello Jitendra,
I am appearing for CPC exam on 28th dec 2019 in INDIA. Previously i thought our own CPT and rest of the books are allowed to take during the exam so i highlighted the book in useful manner but when i registered for exam i got an email from AAPC which strictly says Exam scheduled to be taken in INDIA outside books and materials will not be permitted.AAPC will provide the same. In this case how to prepare and pass the exam in first attempt.Please help me with your useful tips ASAP.
Thank you.
I think they only allow the original code books for AAPC exam, hence you need to get original code books and highlight your important section for the exam. If they do not allow the outside books and provide the same from their end on the exam day, i would recommend you just take a piece of paper and something which can at least cover the page numbers of the highlight section. You can make a small list with topic and their page numbers using a paper to help to find the important guidelines from the code book without wasting time during the exam.
I would still suggest you to again email the AAPC and ask about the code books and materials you can carry during the exam.