🧠 Full Mock Exam — Set 3

CPC Mock Exam 3

100 questions — timed at 4 hours — covering all AAPC CPC exam domains. Same format as the real exam.

100 Questions
4 hrs Time Limit
70% Pass Mark
Free Always
📋

Before You Begin

  • ⏱ You have 4 hours to complete all 100 questions
  • 📖 This is an open-book exam — use your CPT and ICD-10-CM manuals
  • 🖊 You can flag questions to review later
  • 🟦 Use the question palette to jump to any question
  • ⚠ The timer starts immediately when you click Begin
  • 🚫 No answer hints shown during the exam — results revealed after submission
  • 📊 You will receive a domain-wise score report at the end

Not affiliated with AAPC®. For educational purposes only.

Mock Exam 3 — Surgery-Heavy Practice

The surgery section of CPT is the largest single block of questions on the CPC exam. The 10000 through 60000 series together carry more weight than any other content area, and they are where most candidates lose the marks that decide a pass. Mock Exam 3 leans into that reality.

Why the Surgery Series Is Where Exams Are Won

Surgery questions punish shallow reading. The answer usually depends on a detail buried in the middle of an operative note: the approach, the depth, the closure, the size, the laterality, whether a second procedure was through the same incision. Candidates who scan for the procedure name and jump to the index get these wrong consistently.

SeriesBody areaWhere candidates lose marks
10000IntegumentaryLesion size measured before excision, margins included, simple vs intermediate vs complex repair
20000MusculoskeletalFracture care with vs without manipulation, arthroscopy converted to open, bundled hardware removal
30000Respiratory / cardiovascularBilateral procedures, catheter placement families, component coding
40000DigestiveEndoscopy base rules, multiple techniques in one session, hernia repair by type and age
50000Urinary / genital / maternityGlobal obstetric package, unilateral vs bilateral, approach
60000Nervous / eye / earLevels and segments in spine work, laterality on eye procedures

A Reading Method That Works on Operative Notes

Read every operative report in this order rather than top to bottom:

  1. Procedure performed line — the headline, but never the whole answer.
  2. Findings — this is what drives the diagnosis code.
  3. Body of the note — approach, depth, size, laterality, technique. Underline these four things every single time.
  4. Closure — decides repair coding and sometimes whether a separate code applies at all.
  5. Answer options — only now.

The headline procedure and the coded procedure disagree more often than beginners expect. Documentation, not the surgeon's title for the operation, decides the code.

The Four Questions to Ask Before Adding a Second Code

Answering these four before you write anything down prevents the two most common surgery errors: unbundling something that was already included, and missing a legitimately separate procedure.

Global Surgical Package Discipline

A large share of surgery questions test whether you know what is already paid for. The global package normally includes the operation itself, local anaesthesia, typical follow-up care and routine post-operative visits. It does not include treatment of an unrelated condition, a return to theatre for a complication, or staged procedures planned in advance. When a question mentions a follow-up visit or a second trip to theatre, the examiner is almost always testing the global package and the matching modifier.

After This Exam

Score each surgery series separately rather than as one block. A candidate weak only in 20000-series musculoskeletal work needs a very different revision week from one weak in 40000-series endoscopy. Take the two lowest series and work through ten additional scenarios in each before moving on to Mock Exam 4.