CPC and medical billing exam prep

Medical Coding Practice Test: CPC Practice Exam, CPC Practice Questions and Medical Billing and Coding Practice Test From Your Own Study Guide

Upload the chapter you are working through, your program handouts, your instructor's slide deck or the guidelines pages you keep getting wrong, and the AI writes exam style multiple choice questions with the correct answer marked and a written explanation for each one. You drill your own course and your own code book edition instead of a recycled question bank you already finished.

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In short: to build a medical coding practice test from your own material, upload your CPC study guide chapter, class handouts or coding notes and the AI writes multiple choice questions with an answer key and an explanation for each item. The CPC exam itself is 100 multiple choice questions in 4 hours, and you pass with an overall score of 70 percent, meaning at least 70 correct. It is open book for three approved code books only: the AMA CPT Professional Edition, one ICD-10-CM book and one HCPCS Level II book. AAPC charges 425 dollars for one attempt or 499 dollars for two, and releases results in 7 to 10 business days.

Last updated August 2026

CPC exam length
100 questions, 4 hours
Passing score
70 of 100
Practice questions
From your own material

A medical coding practice test built from your own study material

There is no single national textbook for medical billing and coding. One candidate is working through a community college program, another is halfway through an employer paid course, a third is self studying with last year's code books and a stack of printed guidelines. The free medical coding practice test questions circulating online were written against none of that, and a fair share of them still reference code sets that changed in January.

This works from the other direction. You upload the material you actually have, and the AI reads it and writes multiple choice questions from what is in it. Each question comes back with the correct answer marked and an explanation between 40 and 100 words saying why it is correct, not just restating the answer. If your chapter spends eight pages on modifier 59 and NCCI edits, that is what your practice test asks about.

The reason that matters for the CPC specifically is the score report. AAPC breaks a failing score down by area of study and flags every area where you scored 65 percent or less. That is a study plan handed to you, and it is only useful if you can generate targeted drills for one area at a time. Uploading the anesthesia pages on Tuesday and the pathology and laboratory pages on Wednesday is a far better use of an evening than sitting another full length mock exam and rediscovering the same two weak spots.

What you can upload

CPT, ICD-10-CM and HCPCS Level II chapters saved or scanned as PDF, your program's handouts and slide decks, official guideline excerpts, anatomy and medical terminology lists, redacted operative reports and chart notes you use for practice, employer training modules, or your own typed notes. Photos of printed pages work as well. Most candidates get sharper questions by uploading one area of study at a time rather than an entire review book at once.

Good sources to upload

  • 1.CPT surgical section chapters, one series at a time
  • 2.ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting
  • 3.Modifier tables and parenthetical note summaries
  • 4.Medical terminology and anatomy word lists
  • 5.Compliance notes: NCCI edits, NCDs and LCDs, ABNs, RVUs
  • 6.Practice operative reports and chart documentation

CPC exam format at a glance

Every figure below comes from AAPC's own published exam pages rather than from a prep vendor's summary. The CPC is the exam that earns the Certified Professional Coder credential.

Item Detail
Questions100 multiple choice, including 10 coding cases
Time allowed4 hours, with a warning at 30 minutes remaining
PaceAbout 2 minutes 24 seconds per question
Passing score70 percent overall, at least 70 questions correct
Open bookYes, three approved code books only
Approved booksAMA CPT Professional Edition, your choice of ICD-10-CM, your choice of HCPCS Level II
DeliveryOnline with a live remote proctor, or at a testing center
Fee425 dollars for one attempt, 499 dollars for two attempts
Results7 to 10 business days, in the MyAAPC member area
Failing score reportLists every area of study scored at 65 percent or less
NavigationYou can flag, skip and move between questions and sections

Figures published by AAPC and current as of August 2026. Fees and outlines change, so confirm on aapc.com before you pay for anything.

What questions are on the CPC exam, and what to upload for each area

AAPC publishes the exact split of the 100 questions across its areas of study. The counts below add up to exactly 100. Use them to decide how many practice questions to generate from each part of your material, because there is no point drilling 40 anesthesia items when anesthesia is 4 questions on the real exam.

Area of study Questions Upload this to drill it
Coding guidelines7ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, CPT guidelines and parenthetical notes, modifier tables
CPT 10000 series, integumentary6Skin, subcutaneous, nails, repairs, destruction and breast chapters
CPT 20000 series, musculoskeletal6Head to toe musculoskeletal chapter, fracture care and arthroscopy notes
CPT 30000 series, respiratory and cardiovascular6Respiratory, cardiovascular, hemic and lymphatic, mediastinum and diaphragm
CPT 40000 series, digestive6Digestive system chapter from lips through peritoneum and omentum
CPT 50000 series, urinary and reproductive6Urinary, male and female reproductive, maternity and delivery, endocrine
CPT 60000 series, nervous system6Skull, meninges, brain, spine and spinal cord, peripheral and autonomic nerves
Radiology6Diagnostic and interventional radiology, ultrasound, mammography, radiation oncology, nuclear medicine
Pathology and laboratory6Organ and disease panels, drug testing, urinalysis, molecular pathology, microbiology, surgical pathology
Medicine6Immunizations, dialysis, hydration, chemotherapy administration, moderate sedation, specialty scenarios
Evaluation and management6Place and level of service notes, critical care, prolonged services, preventive medicine, care management
ICD-10-CM5Diagnosis coding across all chapters plus the official guidelines
Medical terminology4Root, prefix and suffix lists covering every body system
Anatomy4Anatomy handouts and diagrams for every body system
Anesthesia4Time reporting, qualifying circumstances, physical status modifiers
Compliance and regulatory3Medicare Parts A to D, fraud and abuse, NCCI edits, NCDs and LCDs, HIPAA, ABNs, RVUs
HCPCS Level II3Modifiers, supplies, medications and professional services for Medicare patients
Coding cases10Practice operative reports and chart notes, coded with CPT, ICD-10-CM and HCPCS Level II together

Breakdown published by AAPC. The 18 rows total exactly 100 questions.

Open book does not mean open notes, and that changes how you should practice

The CPC is open book with exactly three books: the AMA CPT Professional Edition, which has to be the AMA edition and not another publisher's, plus one ICD-10-CM book and one HCPCS Level II book of your choosing. An online proctor reviews the books on camera before the exam begins.

You may write in the margins if the notes relate to daily coding activities. You may tab pages by inserting, taping, pasting, gluing or stapling tabs in, as long as the tab earmarks a page rather than adding information. You may not attach extra pages, and you may not alter, white out, paint over or print over anything in the books.

The practical consequence is that memorizing codes is the wrong goal. What actually costs candidates the exam is navigation speed. Roughly two and a half minutes per question is generous if you know that the guideline you need lives four pages into the section, and brutal if you are reading the index for the first time. So practice should be about recall of where things live and what the guidelines say, which is exactly the kind of question the generator writes from a guidelines chapter.

Practice that matches an open book exam

  • •Upload the guidelines pages, not the code lists. Guidelines carry 7 questions, the largest single share.
  • •Generate from one CPT series at a time so the six questions you drill map to the six on the exam.
  • •Read the explanation on every item you get right by guessing, not just the ones you miss.
  • •Work with your books open, the way you will sit the real exam, and time yourself finding the answer.
  • •Use current year code books. Certification exams are built on the current calendar year code sets.

How to build your medical coding practice questions

1

Upload one area at a time

Drop in the chapter, handout or guidelines excerpt you are working on. You can combine up to 10 files in one upload, 20MB each, across 16 file types including PDF, Word, PowerPoint and images of printed pages.

2

Set the count and difficulty

Choose how many questions you want and pick entry, standard or advanced. If you want the wording pushed toward case style documentation questions, say so in the custom instruction box and it is added to the prompt.

3

Take it with your books open

Answer on screen, see your score, then retry only the questions you missed. Every item carries a written explanation of why the correct answer is correct, between 40 and 100 words.

4

Export or share it

Download the question sheet and the answer key as PDF, or as Word on a paid plan, or send the set to Anki as a tab separated file. Share a link with a study group if you are all sitting the same exam window.

Who uses this

CPC candidates on a retake

Your score report already told you which areas of study fell to 65 percent or less. Upload only those chapters and drill them until the recall is fast, instead of paying for another full length mock exam that retests what you already know.

Medical billing and coding students

Turn this week's module into a quiz on Thursday night. Because the questions come from the handout your instructor actually assigned, the practice lines up with the class test as well as the certification exam.

Coding instructors and program directors

Generate a fresh question set from each module and export the sheet with the answer key to PDF or Word. Editing an AI draft is quicker than writing 30 items from a blank page, and you keep control of every question.

Practice managers and billing teams

Build competency checks from your own payer policies, internal audit findings and NCCI edit notes. The questions come from your documents, which is the only way they can match the payers you actually bill.

Coders adding a credential

CIC, CRC, COC, CPMA and the other AAPC core exams share the 4 hour format and the same 425 or 499 dollar fee. The same workflow applies: upload the specialty material and drill it before you pay for an attempt.

Anyone studying from photocopies

Photograph or scan the pages and upload them. Optical character recognition reads printed pages, so a stack of handouts becomes a question set without you retyping anything.

What this does and does not do

Exam prep is a market with a lot of vague promises in it. Here is the honest version, so you can decide whether this belongs in your study plan before you spend anything.

Capability PDFQuiz
Questions written from your own uploaded materialYes, that is the whole product
Written explanation of the correct answerYes, 40 to 100 words per question
Real or retired AAPC exam questionsNo. We hold no exam items and have no affiliation with AAPC
Scored against AAPC's areas of studyNo. You get a score for the set you built, not sub scores by AAPC area
A single 4 hour clock over a whole 100 question mock examNo. Time limits are set per question in seconds, not per quiz
Built in CPT, ICD-10-CM or HCPCS code lookupNo. Questions come from your document, not from a code set we license
Retry only the questions you got wrongYes. One retry on the free plan, uncapped on paid plans
Shuffle the order of the answer optionsNo. Question order can be randomized, option order stays fixed
Export the question sheet and answer keyYes, PDF for everyone, Word on a paid plan, Anki as a tab separated file
Export scores to a spreadsheet or a gradebookNo score export exists, and there is no LMS connector
Spaced repetition schedulingNo. Send the deck to Anki and let Anki own the schedule

Medical coding practice test questions people ask

How many questions are on the CPC exam?
The CPC exam has 100 multiple choice questions and you get 4 hours to finish them. That works out to roughly 2 minutes 24 seconds per question, and 10 of those questions are full coding cases built on medical record documentation, which take longer than a straight recall item. AAPC notifies you when 30 minutes of test time remain.
What is a passing score on the CPC exam?
You need an overall score of 70 percent or higher, which means at least 70 of the 100 questions correct. There is no scaled score and no curve. If you do not pass, AAPC tells you which areas of study you scored 65 percent or less in, so your retake plan is written for you by the score report itself.
Is the CPC exam open book?
Yes, but only three books. You may bring the AMA CPT Professional Edition, which cannot be another publisher, plus your choice of an ICD-10-CM code book and a HCPCS Level II code book. Handwritten notes in the margins are allowed if they relate to daily coding activities. You cannot attach extra pages, white out, paint over or print over anything in the books.
How much does the CPC exam cost?
AAPC charges 425 dollars for one CPC exam attempt or 499 dollars for two attempts bought together. Core exams including CIC, CRC, COC, CPMA, CPCO, CPPM, CDEO, CDEI and CPB use the same pricing. That is before AAPC membership, code books and any course, which is the honest reason most candidates drill practice questions until recall is reliable rather than sitting the exam to find out where they stand.
What questions are on the CPC exam?
AAPC publishes the exact split of the 100 questions. The CPT surgical sections take 6 questions each from the 10000 through 60000 series, radiology, pathology and laboratory, medicine and evaluation and management take 6 each, coding guidelines take 7, ICD-10-CM takes 5, medical terminology and anatomy take 4 each, anesthesia takes 4, compliance and regulatory and HCPCS Level II take 3 each, and 10 coding cases take 1 question each.
How long should I study for the CPC exam?
Most candidates working full time give it three to six months, but the calendar matters less than what you drill. The score report is broken down by area of study, so the efficient plan is to work one area at a time until your recall inside the code book is fast, then move on. Generating a fresh question set from a different chapter each evening is a cheap way to find the areas where you are slow rather than wrong.
Is the CPC exam hard?
It is a speed and navigation test more than a memory test. Nothing on it is conceptually difficult for someone who has coded, but 100 questions in 4 hours with three code books open rewards people who can find a guideline in seconds. Candidates most often lose points on coding guidelines, which carries the single largest share at 7 questions, and on the 10 documentation cases at the end.
What do I bring to the CPC exam?
Your three approved code books, current year editions, plus government issued photo identification. Tabs may be inserted, taped, pasted, glued or stapled into the books as long as they earmark a page rather than add information. AAPC recommends current year code books because certification exams are built on the current calendar year code sets. An online proctor reviews your books on camera before the exam starts.
How long does it take to get CPC exam results?
Results are normally released within 7 to 10 business days of the exam and appear in the member area under MyAAPC, Exams, in the exam details. AAPC never gives results over the phone, and asks that you not call before the tenth business day. The areas of study breakdown appears in the same place as the score.
Are these real CPC exam questions?
No, and you should be skeptical of any site that claims otherwise. PDFQuiz is not affiliated with or endorsed by AAPC and holds no retired exam items. It writes practice questions from the study material you upload, which is the point: the questions follow your course, your code book edition and your weak areas rather than a recycled bank you have already worked through twice.
Can I make a medical billing and coding practice test from my course material?
Yes. Upload your program handouts, a CPT or ICD-10-CM chapter saved as PDF, your instructor slide deck or your own typed notes, and the AI writes exam style multiple choice questions from what is in the file, with the correct answer marked and a 40 to 100 word explanation of why it is correct. Scanned pages and photos of printed pages work too.
What is the difference between CPC and CCS?
CPC is AAPC's credential and is aimed at physician and outpatient professional fee coding. CCS is AHIMA's credential and leans toward hospital inpatient and facility coding. They test overlapping code sets but different documentation and reporting contexts, so pick the one your employer or target job actually asks for before you buy any prep. This tool works the same either way because it builds questions from the material you are studying.

Related study tools

If you are studying for more than one credential, or your material is not in PDF, these cover the same ground from a different angle. Build a full mock exam with the PDF to practice test generator, or start from any document with the practice test maker. Allied health candidates studying alongside a coding credential often use the PTCB practice test generator, the CNA practice test generator, the phlebotomy practice test generator or the NCLEX practice question generator. For terminology and anatomy recall, turn the same chapters into flashcards from a PDF or build a set with the anatomy quiz generator, and pull the whole module together with the study guide maker.

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