Congratulations, Susan!
Yay!!
Congratulations Susan! I now know what it took to pass that thing. No easy feat at all. I know what you are going through....can you believe it yet? I still have to remind myself I passed it. Such a relief.
Congratulations, Susan!
Onward to the CCS! :)
Congratulations, Susan! I agree with Lana, you should be so proud of your accomplishment. That test is hard!
Thank you for the congratulations, everyone! Indeed, it is a huge relief to have this behind me. Lana, I think you were the one who said you didn't sip your water or eat a nut, just got down to business. That was me. I brought water, mints, lemon drops, earplugs, and laid it all out, but throughout the test never even touched any of it. I was fortunate in that the room we were in had enough tables that everyone got to sit at their own. It helped to be able to spread everything out. To prepare, I used the Blitz videos, the AAPC study guide, and the practice tests. Those practice tests really did simulate the exam itself. My problem in doing those practice tests was that I had a bad habit of going too fast. I was so afraid that I would run out of time when I did the actual exam that I pushed myself to go as fast as possible. This resulted in missing crucial "clues" within the text of the questions, so I had to learn to slow down. Our proctors were good in that they announced the halfway mark, one hour, 30 minutes, then a 5-minute warning. At the one hour mark, I calmed down because I knew I would be able to finish in the alotted time. I was able to go back and look up the handful of questions I had marked lightly in pencil on my test. At the 30 minute mark, I finally opened my bottle of water and took a sip, then looked over my test. I made sure everything was marked and then toyed with the idea of going back over the questions. At that point, I decided to let things be. There were some questions I just really did not know how to answer, and I figured I answered them to the best of my ability at the time. With 10 minutes to go, I turned in my test and left the testing center on wobbly legs. My husband was waiting in the parking lot and when I got in the car, I burst into tears, I think just from the relief of having gotten through the test. Afterwards, I started remembering some of the questions and thinking "oh no, why did I answer it like that?" I went through the next few days, teetering between confidence and uncertainty. Late Tuesday night, I decided to check one last time for that day. There it was, PASS!! I ran screaming through the house (my husband probably thought I finally went nuts). I do have some practical tips to offer, which I will share in the CPC exam discussion.
WOO HOO!!! Congrats Susan!