Reply- Narrowing Answers
Hey, Firstly Best of Luck for your exams.
The key lies in knowing your strengths while selecting answers. If you are proficient with tracking correct CPTs than ICDs, use that method but you should not follow that as a thumb rule. There may be some CPT topics where you may not be as proficient as others (Cardio as in my case !), so for those sections you can try first matching the Dx.
One more suggestions, AAPC uses almost similar opitions to confuse, like
A. B25.0, B25.1
B. B25.0, B25.11
C. B25.9, B25.3
D. B25.8, B25.2
Here the trick is to find the similar options which AAPC is trying to confuse you, 75% of chances are answer will be 1 of them, as in above example answer could be A or B as both options have B25.0 to confuse.
Finally undersand the question well before attempting any answer. I assure you that if you will correctly understand the question, you can easily find answer from books. (CPT, ICD, HCPCPS etc.)
Thanks and Best of Luck