CPC Test Overview

CPC Test Overview

The CPC test consists of a total of 150 Multiple Choice Questions which cover almost all of the areas that a medical coder has to be acquainted with. There are a total of sixteen different topics from where the questions come and the number of questions from each topic is fixed. The topic with the highest weightage is medical terminology which has 13 MCQs in the paper. As knowledge about medical terminology is the basic requirement of medical coding at any level, experienced candidates usually find this part very easy. However there have been instances where this overconfidence has caused candidates to overlook basic aspects of the topic which did come in the paper and thus they lost their marks.

Evaluation and management is the second most important topic as the CPC test contains 12 MCQs based on it. Students often find this part challenging as the questions based on the topic are often very twisted and often trick students into making mistakes. Thus several teachers training students for the CPC test often give special emphasis on this topic. After this topic come the 11 MCQs on ICD-9-CM. ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases and you will be allowed to use your subject manual during the test. This part is usually very easy to score in provided you have sufficient training and work experience in medical coding.

Next in the CPC® test come the questions on the different series present in medical coding. There are a total of 9 MCQs from the 10,000 series and 10 MCQs each from the 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 series. The 50,000 series is relatively more important as 11 questions come from it which is more than any other series. The 60,000 series also contains 10 MCQs. After these topics comes the Radiology 70,000 series which contains 9 questions. This is followed by the Pathology 80,000 series and Medicine 90,000 series which contain 10 MCQs each. Thus until now we have accounted for 125 out of the 150 questions.

Out of the remaining questions, Anatomy has 9 questions in the paper which are also usually quite tricky. After that come the 6 questions on Anesthesia which are not exactly tricky but do command you to have enough information about the procedure in order to code for specific problems. Coding concepts is the next topic and it has 5 MCQs in the paper. These MCQs do require you to have deep knowledge about the underlying requirements and importance of medical coding. Lastly come the 5 MCQs on Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) and these are also considered to be scoring by the candidates as HCPCS is commonly used by candidates during their practical experiences. Thus we have accounted for all of the 150 MCQs which appear in the CPC® test.