# CPC exam - Today I took my CPC exam



## Leighax24 (Dec 12, 2015)

Today I took my CPC exam based on icd 9. I ran out of time and had to fill in about 30 questions, so I have very little hope I passed. I know I get one free retake but being that icd 10 exams start January 1st, my proctor told me I will have to take my retake on icd 10. I really wish AAPC would've notified me of this because I have yet to learn icd 10. I rather be tested on icd 9 and take a profiecincy test on 10 once I pass. I don't want to pay almost 2 grand to take this class when I could just do the training after the I pass the exam. Does anyone have advice on what I should do??

Thanks


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## Miranda Nelson (Dec 12, 2015)

I would call AAPC and verify. My understanding is that you need to pass 9 first and then you have 3 months to pass 10.


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## eanglin68 (Dec 12, 2015)

I heard that as long as you retake before end of the year that the test will still be icd9.


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## esgue006 (Dec 12, 2015)

Hi Leigh,
 I took the COC exam in September and then spent the next 2 weeks afterwards studying for the ICD 10 proficiency exam. Because I had to re-study ICD 9 for the COC exam, I was able to compare ICD 9 guidelines with ICD 10 guidelines and I immediately realized that very little changed, I would say that about 90 percent of the chapter guidelines and coding rules in ICD 9 was carried over to ICD 10. I have taken 3 AAPC exams and all of them focus on chapter guidelines. My suggestion to you is to take the test in ICD 10, because most of the things you studied will carry over to ICD10, so you won't feel like your starting over again. ICD 10 not THAT different from ICD 9 as everyone was making it out to be.

George.


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## CodingKing (Dec 13, 2015)

If you pass in November or December you have until 2/29 to get the ICD-10 proficiency.

However Leighax24 is not referring to the ICD-10 proficiency, She is referring to needing to retake the entire exam again if not passed in 2015.

Its been well publicized that if you do not pass in 2015 that the test effective 1/1/16 would be in ICD-10 so i'm surprsied this was news to you.

As stated by esgue006, ICD-10 is not as bad as it was made out to be. Its was like the Y2K paranoia. The big to do about I-10 mainly involved those that needed to update the computer systems to handle the extra characters and physicians who need to learn to be more specific in their documentation. The ICD portion of the test give you everything you need to assign the code. You could get all the DX questions wrong and still pass the test.


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## nessa7980 (Dec 13, 2015)

*CPC Corse*

Does anyone know if AAPC will stop giving access to the course at 4 months?  I'm not done yet.


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## premiermedbillingtag@gmail.com (Dec 13, 2015)

Does anyone know if AAPC will stop giving access to the course at 4 months? I'm not done yet. 

They will extend 2 more months. After that you can pay an extension by month.


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## Leighax24 (Dec 13, 2015)

esgue006 said:


> Hi Leigh,
> I took the COC exam in September and then spent the next 2 weeks afterwards studying for the ICD 10 proficiency exam. Because I had to re-study ICD 9 for the COC exam, I was able to compare ICD 9 guidelines with ICD 10 guidelines and I immediately realized that very little changed, I would say that about 90 percent of the chapter guidelines and coding rules in ICD 9 was carried over to ICD 10. I have taken 3 AAPC exams and all of them focus on chapter guidelines. My suggestion to you is to take the test in ICD 10, because most of the things you studied will carry over to ICD10, so you won't feel like your starting over again. ICD 10 not THAT different from ICD 9 as everyone was making it out to be.
> 
> George.



Thank you, that makes me feel a little better. I just feel like I'm going to be wasting tons of money. I already put in almost $2300 just in the icd 9 class, books, study guides, practice exams, aapc membership and the exam itself....now I'm thinking i have to spend another $2000 to learn icd 10 and buy all new books. So I'm back at square one. I would've saved myself a lot of money if i just waited until January and never learned icd 9. I guess i have to look at it positively, if i do end up spending the extra money ill have the advantage of knowing 9. which will make things a lot easier, like you said


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## Leighax24 (Dec 13, 2015)

eanglin68 said:


> I heard that as long as you retake before end of the year that the test will still be icd9.



my results are not released until sometime later this week. i just checked and there are no more exams available the rest of this month, which is the problem!


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## ljsilkes@gmail.com (Dec 14, 2015)

There is no need to spend anymore money for icd-10, it's not going to cost you $2000+ more. Basically, I'm in a siimilar situation. I just took my exam on Saturday and surprised the heck out of myself by running out of time. I did awesome on the course, never ran out of time on the practice exams, etc but somehow, ended up getting behind during the actual exam and just didn't catch back up. I'm hoping for a pass but ... in any event, i'm starting my icd-10 training from AAPC today. If I have to re-take the exam, like you it will be the icd10 but nothing is wasted, what we learned in icd-9 is all still relevant. if I did pass (i hope), then I need to do my icd-10 proficiency anyhow, so that is what I will now work on... good luck to you!


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## ljsilkes@gmail.com (Dec 14, 2015)

*CPC EXAM - I also looked about scheduling*

I also looked about scheduling a re-take but there is only 1 thing on the schedule at all, it's not until mid-feb, there is only 1 seat left AND it's really far from where I live, so I"m just going to wait it out


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## Leighax24 (Dec 14, 2015)

ljsilkes@gmail.com said:


> There is no need to spend anymore money for icd-10, it's not going to cost you $2000+ more. Basically, I'm in a siimilar situation. I just took my exam on Saturday and surprised the heck out of myself by running out of time. I did awesome on the course, never ran out of time on the practice exams, etc but somehow, ended up getting behind during the actual exam and just didn't catch back up. I'm hoping for a pass but ... in any event, i'm starting my icd-10 training from AAPC today. If I have to re-take the exam, like you it will be the icd10 but nothing is wasted, what we learned in icd-9 is all still relevant. if I did pass (i hope), then I need to do my icd-10 proficiency anyhow, so that is what I will now work on... good luck to you!



This was just based on what one of my proctors told me. But maybe I misunderstood? What online training are you referring too? I just thought you had to be certified in order to be trained. The $2000 one I'm talking about is the AAPC icd 10 class. I plan on giving them a call to figure it all out once I find out my results, ah so stressful! I was really confident walking into the exam, and I also knew all the material. My time was just way off, i wish I didn't have to guess on so many. but good luck to you as well!


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## CodingKing (Dec 15, 2015)

Leighax24 said:


> This was just based on what one of my proctors told me. But maybe I misunderstood? What online training are you referring too? I just thought you had to be certified in order to be trained. The $2000 one I'm talking about is the AAPC icd 10 class. I plan on giving them a call to figure it all out once I find out my results, ah so stressful! I was really confident walking into the exam, and I also knew all the material. My time was just way off, i wish I didn't have to guess on so many. but good luck to you as well!



Anyone can take the ICD-10 proficiency exam, you don't even need to be an AAPC member. Don't pay for the $2000 full ICD 10 training it's not necessary. ICD-10 proficiency exam is easier than the CPC exam. Everything you need to know is in the guidelines, its fairly similar to ICD-9 with a few extra new things. They give you more than enough time to complete it. You just need to learn the time management skills. 

Maybe take advantage of the free consultation with CCO.us to plan a strategy behind your 2016 attempt of the CPC. If you're going to have to take it in 2016there will be no need to do the ICD-10 proficiency exam unless you actually pass CPC this year

http://go.cco.us/cco-request-for-consultation


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## ljsilkes@gmail.com (Dec 15, 2015)

Leigh, where did you take your exam on Saturday? I took mine in Denver and feel like I could have written your post, for the most part. I know the material cold. Went in with killer grades from AAPC class, aced the practice exams, etc.. so was shocked to get behind in hour 3 and just not get caught back up again. I'm still hoping I passed... 

In any event, since you went through AAPC, you have the icd-10 prep manual and draft icd-10 codebook. Start going through that online. You need to know it anyhow. If you failed, you'll re-take the test but it will be icd-10 (but the same CPT book)... so you can start learning the new guidelines etc. If you passed (and I hope you did!), you'll need to be icd-10 proficient by Feb 29th. YOu can take the exam online (75 questions) OR do the online manual/class that was included in your package from AAPC. It's a bit of a snoozefest reading through the manual but you need to do it anyhow so I say just start on it!

It will NOT cost you another $2000!!! Not unless you re-register for the entire course, which would be silly!


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## CodingKing (Dec 15, 2015)

ljsilkes@gmail.com said:


> Leigh, where did you take your exam on Saturday? I took mine in Denver and feel like I could have written your post, for the most part. I know the material cold. Went in with killer grades from AAPC class, aced the practice exams, etc.. so was shocked to get behind in hour 3 and just not get caught back up again. I'm still hoping I passed...
> 
> In any event, since you went through AAPC, you have the icd-10 prep manual and draft icd-10 codebook. Start going through that online. You need to know it anyhow. If you failed, you'll re-take the test but it will be icd-10 (but the same CPT book)... so you can start learning the new guidelines etc. If you passed (and I hope you did!), you'll need to be icd-10 proficient by Feb 29th. YOu can take the exam online (75 questions) OR do the online manual/class that was included in your package from AAPC. It's a bit of a snoozefest reading through the manual but you need to do it anyhow so I say just start on it!
> 
> It will NOT cost you another $2000!!! Not unless you re-register for the entire course, which would be silly!



Well same CPT book but the latest edition. cant test in 2016 with a 2015 CPT book, ICD-10 you can use the 2015 book, probably even 2014 as well.

Time management is the biggest factor for not passing and not the lack of knowledge. Look up the answers first before you read the scenario. If you want to pass you will likely need to skip the tougher questions and come back later if you have time. 

I do the 1 hour per column trick and wear a good old wristwatch. If I have time left in the first column before the hour is up, I try the questions I skipped. Move on to the next column even if you are not done and repeat the same every hour. 

When you get to the 5th column, which moves the fastest, You should be able to complete that column in probably 30 minutes leaving you over an hour at the end to go over the toughest questions. Each question is worth the same number of points whether its one sentence medical terminology or 1.5 page narrative. Its also OK to guess as it doesn't hurt you any more than leaving questions blank. At least you have 25% chance if you guess and even better odds if you narrow it down to 2 answers.

Using this method I had 3-4 stumpers left and spent an hour on those 3, gave up, guessed and walked out with 30 min left.


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## Leighax24 (Dec 15, 2015)

ljsilkes@gmail.com said:


> Leigh, where did you take your exam on Saturday? I took mine in Denver and feel like I could have written your post, for the most part. I know the material cold. Went in with killer grades from AAPC class, aced the practice exams, etc.. so was shocked to get behind in hour 3 and just not get caught back up again. I'm still hoping I passed...
> 
> In any event, since you went through AAPC, you have the icd-10 prep manual and draft icd-10 codebook. Start going through that online. You need to know it anyhow. If you failed, you'll re-take the test but it will be icd-10 (but the same CPT book)... so you can start learning the new guidelines etc. If you passed (and I hope you did!), you'll need to be icd-10 proficient by Feb 29th. YOu can take the exam online (75 questions) OR do the online manual/class that was included in your package from AAPC. It's a bit of a snoozefest reading through the manual but you need to do it anyhow so I say just start on it!
> 
> It will NOT cost you another $2000!!! Not unless you re-register for the entire course, which would be silly!




I took my exam in Michigan. But if so, at least we know what to expect for next time right! And actually I took my icd 9 class in the beginning of the year, not through AAPC but through a program at a community college here. That is why I'm sort of confused on where to go from here and how I can just sign up for the icd 10 training with AAPC with no previous records. The only thing I have bought through AAPC are icd 9 books, the exam and the practice exams. I do not no anything about icd 10, it was barely brought up in my class!


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## ljsilkes@gmail.com (Dec 16, 2015)

Log on and check - my score was posted unexpectedly and I PASSED!


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## Leighax24 (Dec 16, 2015)

ljsilkes@gmail.com said:


> Log on and check - my score was posted unexpectedly and I PASSED!



CONGRATS!!!! Good for you! Now you don't even have to worry about any of this lol!! Such a relief I bet. Mine still says in transit


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## divakemp (Dec 16, 2015)

Congratulations .  .  .  I took mine on Saturday as well in Florida.  This afternoon it went from in transit status to received.  I check WAY too many times a day.  Our proctor said not to expect anything until Friday.  Same experience though had no problem with timing on practice exams but ran out and just picked a "bubble" for the last question (before the easy ones at the back).


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## robynreynon (Dec 17, 2015)

ljsilkes@gmail.com said:


> Log on and check - my score was posted unexpectedly and I PASSED!



Congratulations! So happy for you! Mine is still in transit.. does anyone know how often the website is updated? Like will they update when they receive them or is it a once a day thing? This is the most nerve wracking thing I think I've ever encountered.


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## steels816 (Dec 17, 2015)

ljsilkes@gmail.com said:


> Log on and check - my score was posted unexpectedly and I PASSED!



Congrats


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## steels816 (Dec 17, 2015)

robynreynon said:


> Congratulations! So happy for you! Mine is still in transit.. does anyone know how often the website is updated? Like will they update when they receive them or is it a once a day thing? This is the most nerve wracking thing I think I've ever encountered.



I did not know how often it is updated and I know all too way it being nerve racking waiting.  Hang in there and hopefully you will hear soon like by tomorrow.  If not it will be next week and hoping b4 Christmas.


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## ljsilkes@gmail.com (Dec 21, 2015)

Leighax24, hope you have received or will receive good news!! Thinking of you!


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