This CCA cheat sheet distills the AHIMA Certified Coding Associate exam into a printable rundown of the facts scored most across all six competency areas. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free CCA toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CCA exam at a glance
- Questions: 105 multiple-choice (90 scored + 15 unscored pretest)
- Time: 2 hours
- Passing score: Scaled score of 300 or higher (scale 100-400)
- Cost: About $199 AHIMA members / $299 non-members (verify at AHIMA.org)
What’s on the CCA cheat sheet
- Clinical Classification Systems (30-34%) — the ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, CPT, and HCPCS code sets, plus the conventions that govern them — the largest area.
- Reimbursement Methodologies (21-25%) — prospective payment, MS-DRGs and IPPS, APCs and OPPS, relative weight, the case-mix index, and the chargemaster.
- Health Records & Data Content (13-17%) — the UHDDS and principal-diagnosis definition, the master patient index, record content, and data quality.
- Compliance (12-16%) — fraud vs abuse, upcoding and unbundling, the False Claims Act, NCCI edits, and the physician query.
- Information Technologies (6-10%) — the EHR, computer-assisted coding, and encoder and grouper software.
- Confidentiality & Privacy (6-10%) — the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, PHI, minimum necessary, and release of information.
How to use it in your final week
- Front-load Clinical Classification Systems (30-34% of the exam). It's the single largest area — if you master one section of the sheet, make it the code sets and ICD-10-CM conventions.
- Drill the high-value discriminators nightly: Excludes1 vs Excludes2, Excision vs Resection, MS-DRG (inpatient/IPPS) vs APC (outpatient/OPPS), and fraud vs abuse.
- Read the sheet the morning of the test for a final pass on the memory hooks — 7-character PCS codes maintained by CMS, the root operation is character 3, and the 300 scaled-score pass line.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed practice set (105 questions in 2 hours is about 68 seconds each) so your pacing and code-book navigation stay sharp.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CCA practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
CCA cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CCA cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It's part of Career Employer's free CCA toolkit alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
The sheet condenses the highest-yield AHIMA Certified Coding Associate facts into a fast reference: the ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, CPT, and HCPCS code sets, MS-DRG and APC reimbursement, UHDDS and record content, compliance rules, and HIPAA — organized by the six competency areas AHIMA weights the exam around.
It's built from AHIMA's current CCA exam content outline and the official ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS coding guidelines, and we review it against AHIMA's published materials regularly. Coding conventions and fees change, so verify current details at AHIMA.org.
No — the sheet is a review and last-week cram aid, not a replacement for working coding scenarios with your code books. You need a scaled score of 300 or higher (on a 100-400 scale) to pass, so use the sheet to lock in facts and the practice test to build readiness.
Click the download button (or the preview card) at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark this page so you can find it again in the final week before your Pearson VUE appointment.
References
- 1.American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). “Certified Coding Associate (CCA).” AHIMA.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). “Certified Coding Associate (CCA) Exam Content Outline.” AHIMA.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.CDC / National Center for Health Statistics. “ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting.” CDC.gov, 2026. ↑
- 4.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “ICD-10-PCS Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting.” CMS.gov, 2026. ↑
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