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There was a discussion about this in Module II.  Hope this helps.  

http://system.andrewsschool.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1353

Hi Stacy!

About a week before I took the CPC, I was really nervous about having enough time to finish the test.  One thing that I thought might help would be to use the tabs that came with the CPT, so I spent an afternoon tabbing the book.  I made sure that the tabs were easy to find for the sections I had most frequently used.  I tabbed categories II, III, and the appendices.  I even used the blank tabs for sections I thought I might have difficulty finding, like "Conscious Sedation" and "Otorhinolaryngologic Services."  (Yes, my anxiety made me a little bit crazy . . .)

As it turned out, I never even used the tabs.  I had practiced for so long without them that when I was actually taking the test, I looked up the codes the same way I always had.  And it didn't make any difference.  I finished the test in 2 hours and 55 minutes.  Which, I know, seems like I was cutting it close.  But when I finished the last question and looked at my watch, I wanted to jump up and down and shout "Whoo Hoo!"

The way you work during practice is the way you will work during the test.  Choose what works best for you.

Good luck to everyone studying for an exam!

- jennifer

There is a lot of online hype about the importance of tabbing books to enable you to pass the CPC exam. Along with that, there is hype about the need to circle code groups, highlight, and underline.

 Why is there a lot of hype on this? Because many programs that are only four months long provide bare-bones training which results in high failure rates on the CPC exam.  The tabbing and marking methods are recommended by the AAPC to improve the pass rates on their exams.  Even with that, they are still thought to be in the 70 to 80% range.  

Andrews students spend so much time working with their books over our course -- which is much more extensive -- that they do not need to do that.   Our pass rate is 97% without tabs and marking. We have had students take the exam with brand-new previously unopened books and pass.  

 You do not need tabs. You cannot use tabs on the CCS exam so it is not a good idea to get used to them for your CPC. 

Thank you - I'm not freaking about the tabs, etc, but I am nervous about my exam tomorrow!!! 

Oh, noooooo!  Now we all have to be nervous ALL WEEK waiting for your results!!!  

I agree with Instructor Peggy. I had several things underlined in pencil in my CPT but never did any highlighting, bubbling, etc. I can see where that might be helpful, but I just didn't have time. I also had some things tabbed in the CPT using the removable tabs that were included in the book. Before the CPC exam, I got nervous and tabbed everything. Honestly, all those extra tabs only got in my way when searching during testing.

Thank you everyone, I think I will just not worry about them and focus on studying instead.  I think this Module II might be the death of me, we aren't really "getting along" right now, but I am determined to stick with it and re-read everything if needed.  From some of the other posts, it doesn't sound like I am the only one who has been fighting with this module, and I see many have won the fight....so I'll keep my gloves on and carry on.  

Thank you for your support and good luck to everyone getting through this one!!

Stacy :)

Also, the color coded pages helped in both the ICD and CPC manuals to pick out sections I needed. You know like pink section in the front is E/M pick towards the back is Radiology.

Like Instructor Peggy said, tabbing might be an issue at the other exam, and you want to pick a method that you can use in case you can not use tabs. 

I did use no. 2 pencil to make very discrete notes. When I say that I mean, I did not write a paragraph or anything that would make people think I was trying to have an unfair advantage. I did L bracket not circle long sections of parent and child code that went across pages. I just did that so, I would recognize that the last code was apart of a group and know how far to look back to find the parent code.