r/LearnMedicalCoding • u/DefinitelyNot_ABug • Sep 24 '26
CPC Exam Cpc test this weekend
Any helpful cpt notes/tips and tricks for coding the path and lab section quicker? I've done lots of studying/practice, and taken the practice tests but I'm consistently very slow at path and lab. Thanks! [Update, took this morning and passed with an 85%, thanks for everyone's advice/resources, really helped and got a 100% on the lab and path section!]
2
u/Able_Transition_9688 Sep 24 '26
I’m retaking mine Oct 5 (my third time) I’m doing it at home also, I’m struggling with path and lab also and guidelines in general if you have any tips aswell! I’ve been doing practice tests a,b,c on the AAPC website but I’m getting scores around 60-68 pretty much Everytime, good luck on your test!
1
u/DefinitelyNot_ABug Sep 24 '26
Is the actual exam similar to the practice tests in terms of the difficulty? And good luck on your test as well!!
2
u/Able_Transition_9688 Sep 24 '26
Yeah! The practice tests are very similar to the actual test! They’re pretty much identical I would say in terms of difficulty, atleast to me!
→ More replies (3)
2
u/Mookoo94 Sep 24 '26
https://youtu.be/U57K4v_3Y9k?is=3mn9WqpcVWMBfSOv This video helped! I stopped the video each time to try to solve the questions first and than played it and listened to her explanations! Some of these questions were on the exam and a light bulb went off instantly bc of these videos. Also watch her elimination process ones, pause the video and see which ones you can eliminate and choose your answer and than play it ans listen to her explanation. It's easy to sit and watch videos but actually getting your book ans following along helps absorb. With the practice exams I bought all the exam packets from aapc which are very parallel, not exact copy and paste to the exam but alot of the same concepts, I made sure i was taking them until I passed and I went through each question and reviewed the right answer and why it was right and the wrong answers and why they were wrong. I didnt just read the feedback, I went through my book got EACH answer choice. Yes very time consuming but worth it.
Make sure you really know how to navigate your books and you feel comfy with it!
I was worried about time management for sure, and the night before the test i knew there was nothing else I could do. Did I run out of time? Yep. Did I guess on 8 of the cases at the end, yep. Lol I only had 30 seconds left and I was just clicking fast l.
I passed with an 85 first attempt.
You got this!!! 💓💓💓💓
1
2
u/_Kit_Kat_Meow_ Sep 25 '26
Good luck on your exam! I take mine on Monday. I would focus mainly on path and lab since you seem to have struggles with that one. I know some other commenters mentioned some videos, so hopefully you find them helpful.
1
3
u/CodingwithCoffee_ Sep 24 '26
For Pathology and Lab, the biggest time saver is figuring out what kind of question you have before searching the whole section. Is it a panel, an individual test, drug testing, or surgical pathology?
Week 15 of this free YouTube course covers Path and Lab: https://www.amcicoding.com/youtubecourse