What Is on the CPC Exam? The 18 Sections, the Code Books, and the Code Year for 2027

The CPC exam is AAPC's test for the Certified Professional Coder credential: 100 multiple-choice questions, four hours, one sitting, with your code books open beside you. AAPC's Take the exam page says the questions assess 17 areas of knowledge, most of them as coding scenarios, and that the exam ends with 10 cases in which you code from a medical record. Counting the cases, that makes 18 sections, and AAPC publishes how many questions each one carries.

How AAPC splits the 100 CPC questions

These counts come from AAPC's "Breakdown of the 100-question CPC exam", as checked on October 29, 2026. The right-hand column is a short summary of what AAPC lists for each section, in our words.

Grouped, the picture is simpler:

• Procedure coding, 64 questions. The six surgery series (36), radiology, pathology and laboratory, medicine and E/M (6 each), and anesthesia (4) are all CPT® sections.
• Diagnosis coding, HCPCS and the rules around them, 26 questions. ICD-10-CM (5), coding guidelines (7), HCPCS Level II (3), terminology and anatomy (4 each), and compliance (3).
• Cases, the last 10 of the 100 questions. Each one asks you to code a record with CPT®, ICD-10-CM and HCPCS Level II, so cases draw on everything above.

Diagnosis coding reaches well past the CPC's 5 ICD-10-CM questions

The ICD-10-CM row looks small, but AAPC adds that diagnosis questions also appear in the CPT® sections, and the coding guidelines section covers the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines as well as CPT® guidelines. In practice, a surgery-series question can turn on the diagnosis code just as much as on the procedure, and the cases need both.

That changes how to read the breakdown. Five questions is not a reason to leave diagnosis coding for the last week. Conventions such as Excludes notes, 7th characters and the outpatient rule for uncertain diagnoses belong in your study from the start, next to the CPT® sections. You can see how full CPC prep planned for launch spreads its questions over the 18 sections, section by section.

The three code books AAPC allows on the CPC exam

The CPC is open book, but only with specific books. AAPC's approved code books page and the CPC exam page list three:

1. CPT®: the AMA's CPT® Professional Edition only. No other publisher's CPT® book is allowed.
2. ICD-10-CM: your choice of publisher.
3. HCPCS Level II: your choice of publisher.

The rules around them, as AAPC states them:

• Year. You may use books from the current year, the preceding year, or a mix of both, but only one copy of each book. Current-year books are strongly recommended because the code sets change every year.
• Print or eBook. You choose in your AAPC account after you redeem your exam voucher, and AAPC's exam-day page asks you to finalize the choice at least 48 hours before the exam. eBooks are provided inside the testing platform, with a search function, and only in current-year versions.
• Notes and tabs. Handwritten notes in print books are acceptable only if they relate to daily coding work. Long passages on blank pages are not allowed, and neither are questions copied from study guides, practice exams or the exam. Tabs are fine when they mark a page with words or numbers rather than add information.
• Prohibited references. AAPC's exam-day pages name study guides and several other code references, including the Procedural Coding Expert, CPT Plus!, CPT® Insider's View and ICD-10-CM Easy Coder.
• Calculator. The CPC exam page says an online calculator is provided in the testing platform and physical calculators are not permitted, and the exam-day pages list calculators among prohibited devices. A FAQ repeated on AAPC's code book product pages still says manual calculators are allowed (and, on one of those pages, that eBooks are not allowed), so follow the exam pages: plan on the on-screen calculator and confirm with AAPC if it matters to you.

One detail is easy to miss: the CPT® book must be the AMA's Professional Edition, while the other two can come from any publisher. Check the cover before you tab it.

Which code year a 2027 CPC exam uses

AAPC's Exam Agreement says U.S. exams are updated annually on January 1 to reflect the current year's codes and coding guidelines. AAPC's code book FAQ adds that the previous year's books may be used but may be inaccurate and lead to errors, and that the upcoming year's books are not allowed. It gives its own example: exams given in 2020 were based on 2020, not 2021, code sets.

The switch also leaves a gap in the calendar. AAPC's blackout period FAQ says no exams are given from December 30 each year while the next year's exam updates are put in place, and that exams resume on the second Monday of the new year. Applied to your test date:

The ICD-10-CM side has a wrinkle. The ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting FY 2027 apply to encounters from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, so real-world diagnosis coding switched to the new code set on October 1. AAPC's rule follows the exam year instead, and AAPC says CPT® and HCPCS Level II codes are implemented each year on January 1. If you test in late 2026, study and bring 2026 books; if you test in 2027, plan to buy the 2027 set. AAPC's exam pages, as checked on October 29, 2026, announce no change to the 100-question format or the section breakdown for 2027.

How the four hours of the CPC exam work

AAPC's numbers for exam day:

• Pacing. Four hours for 100 questions is about 2.4 minutes per question, by AAPC's own math, and that time includes looking codes up. The 10 cases come at the end, so leave time for them.
• Passing. You need an overall score of 70% or higher, which means at least 70 correct answers; more than 30 wrong answers is a fail. AAPC advises answering every question, since a guess is better than a blank.
• Results. They arrive in your AAPC account dashboard, under My Exams, within 7 to 10 business days. If you don't pass, AAPC lists the areas where your sub-score was 65% or less.
• Format. You test online at home with a live remote proctor, or on a computer at a Meazure Learning testing center. AAPC's format page limits the at-home option to the U.S., U.S. territories, the Bahamas and Jamaica, and requires an external webcam and a passed Test It Out system check.
• ID. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license, passport or state ID card, with a first and last name that exactly match your exam confirmation.

Because the clock includes lookups, speed in the books matters as much as knowing the rules. To rehearse that, the timed 100-question mock exam planned for CPC prep runs on the same four-hour clock. If an attempt doesn't go your way, the free CPC retake planner turns the areas AAPC flags into a study schedule.

Turning the CPC breakdown into a study plan

The breakdown tells you where the questions are. A practical approach, not an AAPC rule, is to let it set the order and the share of your time:

1. Start with the foundations. Terminology and anatomy are only 8 questions, but every operative note and case depends on them. Review them first if you are new to coding.
2. Learn ICD-10-CM conventions early. They show up in the coding guidelines section, the ICD-10-CM section, the CPT® sections and the cases.
3. Rotate the 11 procedure sections. At 64 questions, they should take most of your weekly time. Work one surgery series at a time with the CPT® book open, reading its guidelines before you practice its codes.
4. Add compliance and HCPCS Level II in short, regular blocks. NCCI bundling, ABNs and modifiers recur across the exam even though their own sections are small.
5. Finish with timed mixed sets and cases. Practice coding a whole record within the time you will have.

The free CPC study plan builds a dated outline from your exam date, daily study time and weakest section, weighted by AAPC's question counts. To try the question style first, the 20 free CPC practice questions cover all 18 sections, from Excludes notes to anesthesia time units, with an explanation for every option.

When you are ready to go deeper in one area, planned CPC prep lets you practice a single section before mixing them, which suits a rotation like the one above.

Costs, the CPC-A and keeping the credential

A few facts that shape your plan around the exam, as checked on October 29, 2026:

• Exam price. AAPC lists $425 for one attempt or $499 for two attempts. The Exam Agreement says exam fees are nonrefundable and must be used within one year of purchase.
• Booking. AAPC's CPC FAQ says you must register three weeks before your exam date. At-home exams can be scheduled 24/7, and testing center exams during center hours.
• Membership. An active AAPC membership is required for your results to be released, according to AAPC's Help Center, and to keep the credential afterward.
• Apprentice status. If you pass without proof of two years of coding experience, your credential is CPC-A. AAPC's apprentice removal page lists the ways to remove the "A": two years of coding employment, one year of employment plus Practicode or an 80-hour coding course, Practicode plus an 80-hour course, or AAPC's Job-Ready Program.
• Maintenance. You keep the CPC by maintaining your annual AAPC membership and earning 36 continuing education units every two years.

Your next step toward the CPC exam

Pick your likely test month first, because it decides which year's code books to buy: before AAPC's December 30 blackout or after exams resume in 2027. Then try the free CPC practice questions to see which sections need the most work, and when you know how long you will study, compare the 30-, 90- and 180-day access periods planned for CPC prep.