I never thought I would be one who liked those letters behind my name. Actually, I have very vivid memories of going to a coding class on ICD-10-CM. The instructor had so many letters behind her name, and I thought it was crazy.
Yet here I am. Last Friday, June 30th, I sat for my latest certification exam, and I am very happy to report I passed!!!!!
CPCO- Certified Compliance officer rounds out my alphabet soup with 27 letters… oh my goodness, that is wild!!!!
My exam experience
This exam I took remote in my office and let me tell you it was quite the experience!
First of all my proctor was very nice yet from India so there was a language barrier. The virtual exam environment is stricter than in person exams.
I could only have 1 monitor. My office has 2, so I had to literally unplug my second monitor and place it in the window sill. I had to empty all of my drawers… keep in mind this is where I work, so I had post-its pens and various things it all had to be removed. I had to set up my external webcam to where the proctor could see my face, my mouse, and my screen. Once I got my Webcam set up then she had me take my Webcam and pan the room showing her all 4 corners of the room, the floor, the ceiling, behind my screen, behind my computer, under my keyboard, mouse, chair, desk inside the drawers. Then she had me set the Webcam up, then read the exam rules. After the rules were read and agreed to, then she had me pan the room once again, and this time, I had to turn off my printer and show her the paper inside was blank.
This was a lot and kind of had me pretty flustered before I even started my exam. It was time to begin, I took a deep breath and pressed the start exam! Question #5 I heard the proctor say hello…. I said hello? She said I can’t see your mouse, I had to readjust my Webcam then got started again.
About half way mark, my screen went completely white said hello she said yes it is your proctor and I need to do a room check once again.
I panned the room once again for like the 5th or 6th time. Remember, I have not left my seat since I started, so I am thinking, wow!!!
I resumed my exam and finished with 2.5 hours left to take the exam!
After the exam I had to set my office back up and I was me tally exhausted I worked my shift and went home to take a nap, I checked the AAPC app like a crazy person for the results!
Friday evening, same day of exam I found out I passed the exam!!!!!
Virtual versus in person exams
Virtual cons
- No references were permitted
- Hard to understand the proctor
- A lot of extra stress getting exam set up (see my story above)
In person cons
- You have to travel to an exam location
- You are in a room with other people
- You can only take an exam when there is a proctor who schedules the exams typically on Saturdays
- You have to wait 7-10 days for results
Virtual pros
- Same day results
- You can take the exam whenever you want
- You can take the exam wherever you want
In person pros
- Proctor are easier to understand
- You are permitted to have references
- Check in process is stress free (usually)
Now onto the next one
Seriously, I thought I would be done 3 certs ago, so why stop now!
Happy coding