CPC Exam Score Calculator

Understanding the CPC Passing Score

150 questions. 17 content areas. The CPC covers CPT, ICD-10-CM, HCPCS Level II, medical terminology, anatomy, and compliance. It's broad by design — not because the rules are impossibly hard, but because medical coding touches every part of clinical documentation.

You need 105 correct answers to pass. That's 70% — and you can get 30 questions wrong and still pass. Keep that in mind. The exam runs 5 hours and 40 minutes, which gives you roughly 2 minutes per question. That's enough time if your code books are tabbed and you've practiced navigating them under pressure.

It's open-book, but that's not the same as easy. Coders who pass consistently report that drilling terminology, modifiers, and clinical scenarios beforehand is what makes the difference under time pressure. Knowing that a question involves a "subsequent encounter" or that a procedure is "bilateral" should trigger an immediate reflex. Not a search.

If you're hitting 60-69% on practice exams, you're close. Find your weak sections — usually surgery subsections, E/M leveling, or operative reports — and drill those. Re-reading everything is the slow path. Use this calculator after each practice run to see where the number actually moves.