Wiki About Coding...

[tereanna]

Hi ladies & gents.!
I am a recent grad (July 2016), and I am getting studied up for my upcoming CPC exam November 19. I am super excited, but kind of nervous.
Any pointers or advice for me???
Thank you dearly!
-Tere'Anna M-R.

 

[danskangel313]

Hi ladies & gents.!
I am a recent grad (July 2016), and I am getting studied up for my upcoming CPC exam November 19. I am super excited, but kind of nervous.
Any pointers or advice for me???
Thank you dearly!
-Tere'Anna M-R.

These are the things that helped me...

Ahead of time:
- Mark your book!
- Make notes in the margins
- Use extra post-it tabs so you're not digging through an entire chapter
- Highlight and underline key parts of definitions; anatomical sites, with versus without, each additional "unit" versus each additional "10 units" (for example), be careful with applying units on these
- Know your modifiers
- Know your guidelines
- Know your medical terminology and anatomy

For the exam:
- First, skim through the entire booklet and get familiar with the layout; look for easy questions you can answer right away
- Skip the questions with long narratives, save those for last
- You can write in the booklet, so take advantage of that - if you come across a question and you can't figure out the answer, make note of it in the booklet and move on (I jotted the question numbers in the front of the booklet for easy reference)
- SKIP THE INDEX (some people say otherwise, but I'm a firm believer in this)
- MARK OFF THE ANSWERS YOU KNOW ARE WRONG and see what's left
- DON'T SECOND GUESS YOURSELF!! Your first instinct is usually right
- Work on groups of questions from the same chapter; your book is already open and right there, so it's a big time saver

My own personal pieces of advice -
- Questions are only as hard as you make them out to be. If you go into the exam thinking the whole thing is going to be hard, it will be. Have an "I got this!" attitude
- Don't make the mistake of continuously checking the time left; it will only send you into panic mode. I learned this the hard way
- Remember, the answer is right in front of you; be thankful it's not a fill-in-the-blank exam!
- Manipulate the time limit factor to work in your favor. If you can answer a series of "short" questions in a handful of minutes, that outweighs answering only one of the difficult questions in the same amount of time, hands down. I was positive that I failed, but this little tidbit helped me more than anything.

 

[tereanna]

Wow!

Thanks a LOT! That advice was organized and for sure helpful! I am studying and studying. The most difficult part for me is the guideline part, and mostly because there are so many guidelines... I mean Geesh! I am excited and I know that I have what it takes to pass it. I graduated from a Medical Office & Billing Specialist Diploma program, but I just received my certificate from completing 50 hours training series on ICD-10. I have a few questions for you:

1). What exam did you take?
2). Did you pass it?
3). What is your current job title in the medical field?

Thanks!

 

[danskangel313]

Thanks a LOT! That advice was organized and for sure helpful! I am studying and studying. The most difficult part for me is the guideline part, and mostly because there are so many guidelines... I mean Geesh! I am excited and I know that I have what it takes to pass it. I graduated from a Medical Office & Billing Specialist Diploma program, but I just received my certificate from completing 50 hours training series on ICD-10. I have a few questions for you:

1). What exam did you take?
2). Did you pass it?
3). What is your current job title in the medical field?

Thanks!

It sounds like you're pretty well prepared, so don't sweat it!

1. I've taken the CPC, CPB, and CPMA.
2. Yes, I passed.
3. I'm a "Senior Associate Director" in the "Office of Medicine and Finance" of a large university/teaching facility. We're a "self-funded state agency" which I'm not a big fan of.
However, I only work part-time at the hospital. I'm actually an attorney and I'll never give that up. The law is my passion; the work I do at the hospital is kind of a hobby. I'm one of THOSE overachievers that everybody hates.

Out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing, did you get your diploma from an online school? If so, which one? I'm sort of, um, trying to help someone who's stuck in one of those programs and she absolutely hates it. Not to mention the fact they're making her learn outdated and completely useless information.