I employed the following strategy and passed the CPC exam on my first try with an 84:
1. Skip any question that is a page long - there are only a couple of them, and they aren't
worth the time investment.
2. View the exam as a timed puzzle which you have 5 hours and 40 minutes to solve - it's
not all about the knowledge - you won't have time to look up the vast majority of the
codes anyway.
3. DON'T read the question first - go straight to the answer options. By the time you
determine what codes to look up and then find them, you will have forgotten what you
read anyway.
4. LOOK FOR PATTERNS!!! What you want to do is quickly eliminate 2 of the 4 options.
Look for codes that appear in identical form in more than one answer option.
5. If a code appears in identical format in all 4 options, ignore it, because it MUST be part
of the answer, and you don't have time to look up codes that will not help you determine
the correct of 4 choices. If a code appears in identical form in exactly 3 of the 4 answer
choices, it is likely part of the answer, so eliminate the option that it does NOT appear
in, and then ignore that code as well.
6. If a code appears in identical form in exactly 2 of the answer choices, look THAT CODE
up in your books (if you have a choice of ICD-9 vs. CPT, ICD-9 is easier - less to read).
THEN, read the question. If the code fits with the information, delete the 2 choices that it
does not appear in. If it doesn't fit, delete the 2 that it appears in and concentrate on the
remaining 2 choices. Remember, the name of the game is to quickly eliminate 2 choices,
so that you only have to deal with 2 possibilities.
7. Once you have narrowed your choices down to 2 possibilities, look for SIMILAR codes
between them - codes that differ from one another by only one numeral or decimal
point, etc. Again, ICD-9 is easier than CPT if you have that option. Pick 2 similar codes,
look those up, note the difference between them, and refer again to your information to
determine the correct fit. Mark your answer and MOVE ON TO THE NEXT QUESTION.
8. Remember, look up ONLY those codes that will help you narrow down your choices. You
don't have time to look up everything. You must use your time judiciously and only look
up those codes that are going to help you find the MOST LIKELY answer in
approximately 2 minutes, because you have only 340 minutes to answer 150 questions.
Best of luck to you. I passed my exam 15 months ago - still no job. Practically no one hires coders with no experience, so the trick is to find that "sidedoor" to slide in through - access registration specialist, HIS document imaging tech - these are two of the ones I'm shooting for. No luck yet, but I'm persistent. Everything is supposed to change in October 2013, so I'm trying to maintain hope.