Complete curriculum

CPC study guide

Start with exam strategy, progress through each coding domain, and finish with integrated cases and a four-hour review plan. Free-preview members can open Modules 5 and 10.

Module 0

Orientation & Exam Strategy

A logistics and strategy briefing for the CPC exam itself -- what AAPC membership requires and costs, how the exam is scored and timed, what CPC-A means if you pass without experience yet, and how to build a codebook and a clock strategy before you ever open a practice question.

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Module 1

Medical Terminology & Anatomy Foundations

The word-building system behind every medical term you'll code from, plus the body-systems map and positional vocabulary that later modules assume you already have -- these two domains are worth only 8 of the exam's 100 questions on their own, but nearly every other domain's chart notes depend on reading this vocabulary fluently and fast.

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Module 2

Coding Guidelines, Compliance & Modifiers

How to choose the right modifier under time pressure, when an NCCI-bundled code pair can legitimately be split apart versus when that's unbundling, what a global surgical period actually bundles, and the fraud/abuse/medical-necessity basics every coder is responsible for -- together worth 10 of the exam's 100 questions, and a set of skills that resurfaces inside nearly every later Surgery, E/M, and case-scenario question.

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Module 3

ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Coding

The rules that govern how a diagnosis gets translated into an ICD-10-CM code: how the code itself is structured from category through the seventh character, how Excludes1 and Excludes2 notes control which codes can appear together, how sequencing and combination codes determine claim order, when laterality matters and when 'unspecified' is actually justified, and when a Z code belongs as the primary reason for an encounter -- five of the exam's 100 questions, and a foundation nearly every later coding module assumes you already have.

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Module 4

HCPCS Level II Coding

HCPCS Level II is CMS's alphanumeric code set for the equipment, supplies, drugs, and non-physician services that CPT was never built to describe -- a small domain worth only 3 of the exam's 100 questions, but one that shows up constantly in real DMEPOS and drug-billing claims once you're working.

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Module 5

Evaluation & Management (E/M) Coding

E/M coding covers the office visits, hospital encounters, and consultations that make up the single most frequently billed service type in medicine, and it only accounts for 6 of the exam's 100 questions -- but its leveling logic (medical decision making versus total time) reappears as a sub-skill inside Surgery, Medicine, and case-scenario questions throughout the rest of the exam, so mastering it here pays off far beyond its own domain weight.

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Module 6

Anesthesia Coding & Payment Methodology

Anesthesia is the one CPT section priced by its own formula instead of a flat fee per code: base units plus time units plus modifying units, all converted into a dollar payment through a conversion factor. This module is intentionally compact -- Domain 17 accounts for only 4 of the exam's 100 questions, the smallest of the CPT-touching domains -- but the formula, the physical status and qualifying-circumstances add-ons, and the medical direction/concurrency rules it covers are tested with enough precision that a shaky grasp of any one piece can flip a calculation question.

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Module 7

Surgery -- Integumentary System

The Integumentary subsection opens the six-module CPT Surgery block and covers skin, hair, nails, and subcutaneous tissue -- only 6 of the exam's 100 questions on its own, but the judgment calls it teaches (measuring an excised lesion before versus after excision, classifying a wound repair by layer and technique rather than length alone, and deciding when a repair is bundled into another procedure) are the same judgment calls that reappear, in different clothing, throughout Musculoskeletal, Digestive, and the integrated case scenarios later in the course.

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Module 8

Surgery -- Musculoskeletal System

The musculoskeletal surgery domain covers fracture care, arthroscopic versus open joint procedures, casting and strapping, spinal fusion, and joint replacement -- only 6 of the exam's 100 questions on its own, but the closed-vs-open treatment logic and approach-vs-injury reasoning taught here recur across every other Surgery subsection in Modules 7 and 9 through 12, making this module's coding logic disproportionately valuable to master early in the Surgery block.

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Module 9

Surgery -- Respiratory & Cardiovascular Systems

This module covers the 30000-series surgical procedures on the airway and heart -- bronchoscopy, cardiac catheterization, pacemaker/ICD placement, and coronary artery bypass grafting -- and is one of the most procedurally complex subsections in the entire Surgery block, worth 6 of the exam's 100 questions on its own but part of a six-module Surgery block worth 36 total. Every code family here rewards the same underlying skill: reading a dense operative note closely enough to identify every distinct component actually performed, not just the headline procedure.

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Module 10

Surgery -- Digestive System Coding

The Digestive System surgery domain spans the alimentary canal from mouth to rectum plus the accessory organs -- liver, gallbladder, and pancreas -- and it is worth 6 of the exam's 100 questions on its own, but the decision logic taught here (scope extent, removal technique, and approach/conversion) is the same reasoning pattern the exam reuses across every other Surgery domain, making this module a template for the rest of the Surgery block.

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Module 11

Surgery -- Urinary, Genital & Endocrine Systems

This module covers the urinary, genital, and endocrine surgical coding logic tested on 6 of the exam's 100 questions: how a cystoscopy's base diagnostic code relates to the codes layered on when biopsy, stone work, stent placement, or fulguration happen in the same session; how stone size and location steer a urologist toward ESWL, ureteroscopy, or percutaneous nephrolithotomy; how partial versus total thyroidectomy and a concurrent neck dissection change code selection; how the transurethral-versus-open approach decision for prostate procedures mirrors the approach-driven logic that recurs across the whole Surgery section, extended here to the simple-versus-radical prostatectomy distinction and the exception robotic assistance carves out of that pattern; how hysterectomy layers approach (vaginal, abdominal, laparoscopic) and extent (total versus supracervical) on top of a same-session tubes-and-ovaries bundling rule that runs opposite to the thyroidectomy-and-neck-dissection pattern; and how adrenalectomy repeats the open-versus-laparoscopic and endocrine-classification logic already established for the thyroid, alongside the age-and-technique split that governs circumcision coding.

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Module 12

Surgery -- Nervous System, Eye & Ear

This module closes out the six-module Surgery block by covering the nervous system, eye, and ear -- a domain worth 6 of the exam's 100 questions on its own, but one where the eye and ear's paired anatomy makes correct right/left/bilateral identification the single most common way a coder loses an otherwise-correct answer, and where two of the highest real-world procedure volumes in the entire CPC exam (cataract surgery and ear tube placement) both live.

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Module 13

Radiology Services and Component Reporting

This module teaches a documentation-first method for radiology coding: identify the modality and body region, count documented views, determine whether contrast was used, and separate equipment-related work from physician interpretation when the record requires component reporting.

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Module 14

Pathology and Laboratory Services

This module teaches coders to distinguish collection from testing, panels from individual assays, clinical laboratory work from anatomic pathology, and ordered work from performed and documented work while applying current bundling and laboratory rules.

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Module 15

Medicine Services and Procedure Families

This module organizes the broad Medicine domain around service families and recurring documentation decisions: product versus administration, diagnostic tracing versus interpretation, timed therapy units, recurring treatment sessions, and bundled components.

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Module 16

Integrated Multi-System Case Scenarios

This module combines diagnosis, procedure, supply, modifier, and sequencing decisions in original chart-note scenarios. It teaches a repeatable evidence ledger so learners solve each layer independently before evaluating the final answer set.

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Module 17

Code-Book Navigation and Final Review

This final module converts the course into an exam-day operating system: maintain current permitted references, navigate index-to-tabular paths, manage four hours across 100 questions, and use mock-exam evidence to target the last review cycle.

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