Ops Manual
Preparing For Your Cpc Exam: Roots Are Key To Successes
The root words hiding out in longer medical words give you clues to their meaning; In fact, these roots are very important if you want to do well on the AAPC’s medical coding certification exam.
When you are well-versed with your roots, you’ll be on top of the straight-up anatomy and medical terminology questions on the CPC exam. The plus point is, word roots help you decipher the exam’s op notes and coding scenarios more quickly. For instance, if you know that the root ‘salsingo’ (o) means ‘of or pertaining to the fallopian tubes, you can deduce the meaning of the longer word ‘salpingectomy’, a procedure to remove the fallopian tubes.
Study tip 1: You can refer to your coding manual at the exam hall, but you’ll waste your precious time if you have to look up every word. So you’ll certainly stand in good stead if you commit some medical word roots, suffixes and prefixes on Wikipedia, which provides you with both the meanings and example medical words that contain them.
Study tip 2: Secondly, you’ll benefit a lot if you get a pack of index cards, some flashcards and have a quick easy study tool you can take almost everywhere – when you’re hanging out in the carpool line, waiting to get your oil changed, or for that matter anywhere.
Jot down the root, suffix or prefix on the front side of the card. While on the back of the card, write the meaning, plus a medical word you already know contains the root, suffix or prefix. This solidifies the meaning in your mind and helps you make faster connections.
Let us take this sample CPC exam question about medical terminology:
Which of the following does the e word element “hidr/o” refers to?
A. water retention
B. renal tubules
C. tear production
D. sweat glands
Are you aware of the answer? The right answer is D, sweat glands. But don’t feel low if you didn’t know the answer, as this terminology question is trying really hard to trip you up.
One thing this question is trying to see is whether you know the difference between the root ‘hidr/o’ (sweat gland) and the root ‘Hydr/o’ which means ‘water’ as in ‘hydrocephalus’ or ‘water on the brain’ or ‘hydration.’ As such, the incorrect choices in the multiple choice questions are related to ‘watery’ things like kidneys and tears.
Open Book Exam Tip: So let’s imagine you face this question in the exam and, even though you have studied your roots, prefixes and suffixes really well, you’re just not sure. If this is the case, don’t forget you have a backup plan — the coding manuals which you are allowed to use as references during the exam. They can provide the clues you need to answer a terminology question that’s hard for you.
One thing you might do if this sweat gland question is confusing you? Look in the alphabetic index in the back of your CPT manual under ‘hidr’ to see if you can find clues.
About the Author
Erin Lang Masercola, PhD, CPC, has been writing about health care law, reimbursement, compliance and HIT for ten years. Most recently, she’s been collaborating with medical coders and software engineers to create an amazing new online coding reference tool called Supercoder.com. She is a certified professional medical coder through AAPC.
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