AAPC Certified Professional Coder (CPC) — Study Guide
Free, topic-by-topic study notes for the AAPC Certified Professional Coder (CPC) exam. Read a chapter, then practice it.
Surgery & Anatomy (CPT 10000–60000)
The surgery section is the largest portion of the CPT code set and the heaviest-weighted region of the CPC exam. Success here depends less on memorizing individual codes and more on mastering the rules that surround them: the global surgical package, how procedures are sized and bundled, and the modifiers that tell a payer what really happened in the operating room. Because the exam is open-book, your job is to navigate the guidelines quickly and apply them accurately.
Evaluation & Management (E/M) Services
E/M codes describe the cognitive work of assessing and managing patients and are among the most frequently reported services in medicine. The 2021 revision of the office/outpatient guidelines fundamentally changed how these visits are leveled, and the CPC exam tests whether you understand the current rules — not the retired 1995/1997 bullet-counting approach.
Anesthesia Coding
Anesthesia is a small but distinctive section with its own payment logic. Rather than relative value units, anesthesia uses a formula built from base units, time units, and modifying units. Understanding that formula — and the physical status and qualifying-circumstance add-ons that feed it — is enough to answer most anesthesia questions on the exam.
Radiology
Radiology coding hinges on a few structural concepts that recur across x-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine. Chief among them are the professional/technical split, the CPT definition of contrast, and the difference between complete and limited studies. Get these right and most radiology questions become straightforward.
Pathology & Laboratory
The pathology and laboratory section covers panels, individual tests, surgical pathology, and molecular/microbiology studies. The exam tends to test the rules that govern how these codes combine — the all-or-nothing nature of panels, the professional/technical split in surgical pathology, and the modifiers used for repeat and serial testing.
Medicine
The Medicine section is a catch-all covering immunizations, injections and infusions, psychiatry, ophthalmology, cardiovascular services, physical medicine, and more. Because the services are so varied, the exam focuses on the reporting rules that tie them together — pairing products with administration, combining E/M with add-on services, and unbundling distinct procedures correctly.
Medical Terminology, ICD-10-CM, HCPCS & Compliance
This domain ties the code sets together: the anatomy and terminology that let you read an operative note, the ICD-10-CM diagnosis conventions that establish medical necessity, the HCPCS Level II system for supplies and drugs, and the compliance laws that keep coding honest. It is the connective tissue of the CPC exam.
Practice by topic
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