CPC Exam Advice – Video

Laureen: Q-2: I have already taken the ICD-9 course (1-1/2) yrs ago. I had 22 questions that I had to just hurry up and guess on, I failed the exam. I don’t want to purchase anything more than I need, I have already bought the 3 practice tests, my biggest problem was time management, pls. advise and thanks in advance.

A: We have a formula for success and we’ve recently put it up on our discussion board and in our new support portal area.

Alicia: Because you’re not alone. This is something a lot of people struggle with.

Laureen: Now, anybody can come to this “Worketc” portal… If you come to the “Contact Us” it’s going to bring you here. This is basically where you can fill out support request if you have a question on the product or maybe you’re an existing student, or you can use good old’ email. We do have a phone number but we basically – because we’re all over the country and work different hours, we like to respond to email, and if we get a voicemail, we’ll call you back. But for the most part it’s best to send us an email.

We’re going to go under the Review Blitz Videos and here it is, CCO’s Formula for Success in Passing the CPC Exam. Basically, number one, you want to complete a comprehensive 80-hour medical coding course. It doesn’t have to be ours, but if you haven’t taken one yet, or you don’t have equivalent experience, we do have our CCO Physician-Based Medical Coding Course. Then, number two, you want to take a review course. You might go to a local chapter one, of course we recommend the Blitz; that’s a full two-day, 15-hour plus review. We have it all recorded on videotape. We do teach it live as well like this weekend; but for the most part, the recorded ones are really nice because you can do them in chunks and pause – me, if I’m going too fast.

CPC Exam Advice – Video

In the review videos, I go over test taking tips, time management tips. At the point of you doing review class, you really should know the information I’m presenting, but it’s going to be a true review for you. Although, I’m told many times that people learn things for the first time, even though they took an 80- hour medical coding course. So, it does fill in the blanks, if you’ve had a course that’s maybe it wasn’t as thorough as it should have been. From your question, I wasn’t quite sure if you did the Blitz; if not, I would spend the money on that. It definitely is worth, in my opinion, and what we’ve gotten feedback- wise from people.

The third piece to the success formula is TIMED Practice Exams. And they have TIMED in all caps because if you don’t do it timed, it’s just like homework. It doesn’t really count. When you start doing the TIMED Practice Exam you are actually practicing your time management techniques, you are practicing your process of elimination, and your speed. So, by doing that – and you do several of them – so start with the 50 question ones, the smaller ones, you set two hours aside, see how you scored. Then, read all the rationales that come with the practice exam, even the ones that you got right – read the rationale. Figure out how could you attack certain questions that took you a long time. If you struggle with any, and you don’t understand the rationale, put a question up on the discussion board or email our Help Desk. And keep doing it until you get an 85%. That’s the key. If you’re getting an 85% on practice exams, then you’re ready for the real exam. I can’t tell you how many people have taken the exam 2, 3, 4, times and I asked them what did they do for practice, and they’re like, nothing. So, really, what they did is they use real exams as practice exams, and since they were so far apart it was hard to really learn how they needed to improve things. So, that’s what I would do for question #2. It sounds you did a course, although you said ICD-9, the CPC exam is very heavy in CPT. So, if you did not have a course that really emphasized CPT coding, you might want to look at doing that. The best way if you’re on the fence, as far as you’re ready, get a practice exam, take it in a timed fashion and see how you scores. If you “bomb” it, like below a 40, then you need a full course. If you’re getting like a 60-plus, then I would say you could get away with just doing the review videos and practice, practice, practice until you get an 85%.

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