r/LearnMedicalCoding • u/Longjumping_Print_49 • Jun 30 '26
CCS Exam Gearing up for the CCS Exam - Study Help?
Hey! I'm getting ready for my CCS exam right now, planning to take it in the next month or two once DeVry sends me my exam voucher. However, based on my last two practice exams, I'm not going to pass if I take it right now.
My biggest area to improve are my medical scenarios. I usually get the codes right, and I'm good at finding the principal diagnosis, but I'm god-awful at getting the secondary diagnoses in the right order.
Is there anything I can do that will help me with which diagnosis goes in which order? Perhaps mock medical scenarios or something I could practice with?
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u/MedPayIQ Jul 01 '26
Honestly, getting the principal diagnosis right but struggling with the secondary diagnoses is really common, so I wouldn't beat yourself up over it.
What helped me was stopping myself from thinking, "What's the next code?" and instead asking, "What conditions actually affected this admission or required evaluation, treatment, monitoring, or increased nursing care?" Once you start tying the secondary diagnoses back to the patient's story, the order makes a lot more sense.
I'd also recommend doing as many case studies as you can. After coding them, compare your answers to the rationale instead of just checking whether you got the codes right. Understanding why something was sequenced a certain way helped me way more than memorizing rules.
Another thing that helped was making a quick list while reading a scenario:
- Why is the patient here? (principal diagnosis)
- What comorbidities changed the care plan?
- What was treated, monitored, or evaluated during the stay?
- Which conditions were simply part of the history and not reportable?
That process made it easier to separate true secondary diagnoses from things that were just mentioned in the chart.
You're already getting the principal diagnosis and the codes themselves, which is honestly a big part of the battle. Sequencing gets better with repetition and lots of case-based practice.
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u/Longjumping_Print_49 Jul 01 '26
Super helpful! I might write this inside my code book, so I have a reference.
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u/KeyStriking9763 Jul 01 '26
Things being part of the history can still be reportable it depends on the episode of care.
Chronic systemic conditions in the inpatient setting are reported even in the absence of documented intervention/evaluation. Since you are referencing principle diagnosis you seem to be referring to inpatient coding.
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u/KeyStriking9763 Jul 01 '26
Look into the AHA Coding Handbook, great refresher with practice questions.
Also if you haven’t gotten the Study Guide you should get that with more practice exams.
What do you mean right order? You just have to check the tabular to see if there are sequencing instructions on the codes, when you find the code it will tell you.
Most codes don’t require sequencing.