How to Study for the CPC Exam Recommendations – Formula for Success

Laureen: Q: (How to Study for the CPC Exam) – I am just starting to study for the CPC exam, so what material would you recommend I start with to prepare for the exam? I do want to move quickly.

A: Yeah, I have a formula. If you haven’t seen it, it’s on our discussion board, but feel free to contact the helpdesk at http://helpdesk.cco.us. Just say, “Can I have the CPC success formula?” But, basically what it is, is three main steps:

One, take a good coding course; hopefully ours but just a good medical coding course where you had to sit with your manuals, look up, and practice coding even if you feel you had a horrible instructor. Because I get that a lot, like, “Oh! I had a horrible instructor, so do I need to retake the course again?” I normally say no. I’d love to have you enroll in our course, but I really am a big believer in telling you what you absolutely need and not just doing what would benefit us, is what would benefit you. And by doing that, I think that’s why we become successful. And so, if you’ve had a course, you’re fine.

How to Study for the CPC Exam Recommendations – Formula for Success Video

The next step is to do the Blitz review; that will fill in any blanks that you didn’t get from your course. It will give you the true highlights of what you need for the board exam, and it will also teach you how to mark up your book with what we call the BHAT® method. It’s actually a simple technique but no one was teaching it. It’s our technique, we’ve actually trademarked it – BHAT™ – and all the corresponding that I’ve pulled out. They’re not cheater notes, they’re actually notes right from the guidelines in the manual, but written in a more convenient location for when you’re taking a multiple choice board exam and you’re looking up the codes. So, that’s step two, the Blitz with the BHAT®.

Step three is practice, practice, practice; timed practice exams. We recommend you start out with the shorter ones. We have 60-question and 50-question mock exams. The AAPC has 50-question practice exams. We recommend you do those first and then move on to the longer 150-question practice exam. Keep doing them until you get an 85%. Once you get an 85%, you’re ready for the real exam. So many people contact me after they failed one or two times and they get the Blitz and I tell them, “You have to do practice exams.” If they get that step, they normally don’t pass even though they’ve had all the content. They’ve done the Blitz, I said, “You just can’t pop in DVDs and expect to pass the exam from that, from listening to it. You need to practice.”

So, that is my recommendation. That’s our formula for success, 1, 2, 3 – a good course, Blitz review with BHAT® and practice exams.

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