What is it ?
“Medical Coding Certification Review Blitz Videos” is an online and DVD video training and support program developed by Laureen Jandroep. Laureen Jandroep is an experienced teacher and coach to medical coders taking physician based certification board exams since 1999. Continue reading
Good news! Laureen Jandroep has updated her Medical Coding Certification Review Blitz videos for 2013. Continue reading
You’ll get immediate online access to over 12 hours of video, presented by Laureen Jandroep to personally coach you towards passing the CPC/CCS-P exam. The videos are divided into chapters of 20-35 minutes of videos each. The videos are listed below:
1. Introduction to the program
2. Medical Terminology CPC Exam Prep
3. HCPCS CPC Exam Prep
4. Modifiers CPC Exam Prep
5. ICD-9 CPC Exam Prep
6. E&M Section CPC Exam Prep
7. Aneshesia Section CPC Exam Prep
8. Radiology Section CPC Exam Prep
9. Path & Lab Section CPC Exam Prep
10. Medicine Section CPC Exam Prep
11. Integumentary System CPC Exam Prep
12. Musculoskeletal System CPC Exam Prep
13. Respiratory System CPC Exam Prep
14. Cardiovascular System CPC Exam Prep
15. Digestive System CPC Exam Prep
16. Urinary System CPC Exam Prep
17. Genital System CPC Exam Prep
18. Endocrin/Nervous System CPC Exam Prep
19. Eye/Ear System CPC Exam Prep
The videos cover all you need for the exam. You will learn Laureen’s proven study technique “bubble and highlighting” to help you organize your notes and manuals so come exam time, you’ll be looking up codes faster than those without this strategy. Exam tips, pitfalls, and time management strategies are also covered by Laureen to help you along. These are study and exam techniques that apply equally well to any other open-book exams.
In addition to the videos, you’ll receive support from Laureen herself personally in the form of a 60 minutes telephone call. Anything you’re not sure of have questions will be answered by Laureen herself.
If that is not enough, you get access to monthly webinars conducted by Laureen to interview and ask questions of medical coding success stories. And to ensure your continued success after passing the exam, you also get invited to her Yahoo! Groups community of medical coders. This is where you can introduce yourself and meet others in this field to share ideas, discuss issues, or to help each other out!
As a 2011 bonus package, you’ll get the entire program on a nicely-designed package containing 7 DVDs delivered straight to your home or office.
In this episode, we’ll be doing something different by talking about how you can FAIL the AAPC CPC exam, by breaking their rules. Just click play below!
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In this special podcast episode, we’ll be doing a review of a CPC practice exam package. This is designed to help you prepare for the CPC exam by letting you take a practice exam modeled after the real exam.
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In this new podcast episode post, let’s talk about the things that will derail your time management strategies in the AAPC CPC exam. You’ll want to avoid these at all costs.
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In another special podcast episode, we’ll be talking about Laureen Jandroep’s CPC exam blitz review videos. You’ll find out how good they are and what they can do for you (passing the CPC exam!).
If you don’t want to miss an episode, get all podcasts sent to you as soon as they’re released by clicking here to subscribe to all podcasts for free!
The Certified Professional Coder (CPC) exam by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) is the most sought after medical coding certification in the professional coding community. The majority of people who pass the exam and got certified move on to better career and salary opportunities. Certified medical coders are in high demand as employers look for certification with 2 years experience.
Importance of time management
Which is why the CPC exam is no pushover. You’re required to answer 150 multiple choice questions in a marathon 5 hours and 40 minutes. Without extra break time in between, you’re left with only a little over 2 minutes to answer each question. There are plenty of horror stories of people not being able to answer all the questions in time. You’re allowed to refer to your books and notes for answers so the issue is really about time. If you walk into the exam hall without a time managment plan in place then you’re only handicapping yourself.
Multiple passes strategy
The good news is that you can follow a tried and tested strategy to help you focus and pass the exam. Remember that each question are not equal. Some will be easier to answer than the rest. You can leverage on this little tip using a multiple passes strategy. Your goal would be to go through the exam 3 times. First pass you answer all the easy questions, then second pass the medium difficulty questions, then the last pass the truly difficult ones.
Because they’re all multiple choice answers, they actually carry the same weight eventhough the effort to answer them varies. A common mistake that students or exam takers make is to waste too much time on a difficult question at the beginning, thus depriving themselves of easier questions at the end.
Rate the questions according to difficulty
While you’re going through the questions in the CPC exam booklet on your first pass, keep track of the question’s difficulty with a simple mark. You can put for example, a dot next to questions that are of medium difficulty, and two dots next to really difficult questions. So on your second pass just focus on the single dot questions, and on your third pass the double dot questions. This will save you a lot of time on your second pass and third pass. There is no need to overthink it, just go by your gut feeling so you don’t end up spending too much time rating the questions.
Track your time and progress and keep moving
There are 150 questions you need to answer in 5 hours and 40 minutes. Your CPC exam answer grid have 5 columns containing 30 questions each. Allow yourself one hour for each column, which leaves some time at the end for review. You can request the proctor to announce as each hour elapses to remind yourself of progress. Don’t be afraid to skip questions that may take a lot of time so that you can keep moving forward.
Don’t leave any CPC exam questions unanswered
When the CPC exam time is almost up, use the last few minutes to guess at an answer for the unanswered questions. There are only 4 choices, which gives you a 25% chance of getting it right. Make an educated guess and you can bump up your chances to 50/50. Usually there will be one obvious wrong answer, so make sure you use all the remaining time to make educated guesses.
Practice and prepare
The best way to do well with these strategies is to practice. The experience of taking the CPC exam is very different from doing it in your home or participating in online sample exams. The atmosphere is different and there could be distractions and discomfort. Make sure you have suitable clothing to stay comfortable, eat to get your energy levels up, and get plenty of rest the day before. You’ll want your mind to perform at its optimum throughout the whole duration of the CPC exam. With a proven strategy and prepared mind, there is nothing to stop you from passing the exam and get certified.
The advice and proven strategies you’ve just read are just a sampling from Laureen Jandroep’s Medical Coding Certification Review Blitz Videos. She has been teaching and coaching students on how to pass the CPC exam since 1999.
For this week’s podcast episode, we’re telling you about the top online forums for medical coders and billers. Using these resources you’ll be able to get your burning questions answered, find a job, and more!
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If you’re looking for help on how to study and pass the CPC exam to get certified as a medical coder, you have many options. There are a lot of programs out there designed to help you out in different areas, with also the same variability in price. The presentation and format of these self-help or CPC prep course also varies so you should select one that will help you to best absorb all the information. These are among some of the options you have.
Online or classroom CPC prep course
The AAPC recommends that you take a medical terminology and anatomy course, then enroll in a CPC prep course before taking the exam. This is to make sure you are fully prepared before going for the CPC exam. So you have a choice of preparing in an online or classroom setting. Depending on your work and schedule you may go for either one, as they’re both excellent ways to get started. Either way you need the official CPC certification study guide for the current year of the exam.
Training camp
There are training camps available to help you review the topics and exam techniques before you go for the CPC exam. These are usually intensive preparatory courses that feature an expert and may include other speakers that last a few days. Some are specialized but most are to help you cover everything such as principles of ICD-9 coding, HCPCS coding, CPT coding, medical terminology, and others. You’ll find that these training camps are scheduled quite regularly throughout the year and nationwide to facilitate you. While they are intensive and feature great experts, these training camp prep courses are expensive. And if they are not available in your local area, you’ll need to shell out more for lodging and travel expenses.
Personal coach
If you can’t make it to a training camp, you could have the expert instructor come directly to you instead. You can approach a training company such as those that organizes the training camp and get a quote for on-site training. This option is of course more expensive but if you could try to get a bunch of people together then the cost could be reasonable. Otherwise you can directly contact the expert instructor you’re interested in to arrange a one-to-one consultation. The great advantage of having a personal coach is that you have their full attention. The prep course can be customized to work on your problem areas.
Webinars
There are a lot of resources online for you attend an online webinar conducted by an expert instructor. Usually webinars are included as part of an online CPC exam prep course to give exam takers further support. Webinars are excellent as you can attend in the comfort of your own home but interact with the instructor to ask questions.
Practice exams
You can also find plenty of practice exams. They are usually online practice exams so you can check your score instantly. But for true authenticity, you could also get paper versions as well. These are designed to simulate the CPC exam, where you’re given 150 questions to answer in 5 hours and 40 minutes. The questions are meant to be as close to the actual exam questions as much as possible, and some may be modeled after past exam questions. The CPC exam is a test of your time management skill as well as your coding skill as a lot of exam takers simply can’t finish answering all questions within the time. By doing online practice exams, you’ll be able to learn how to manage your time during the exam, which can determine whether you pass or fail.
Local AAPC chapters
Don’t forget your local AAPC chapter. They routinely organize CPC review classes conducted by expert instructors. You should attend if given the chance as the instructors could be your future exam proctors in your area. Their tips and advice will be suitably localized for your area where you just can’t get from elsewhere. Here you also have a chance to meet and mingle with other exam-takers to exchange ideas and learn from one another. CPC review classes organized by your local AAPC chapter are usually very cheap and very convenient for you.
If you’re looking for an online CPC review course to supplement your studies, Laureen Jandroep’s Medical Coding Certification Review Blitz videos comes highly recommended. Click on the link now to learn more!
