CCM exam

kat5289 · Jul 28, 2013

I am taking it in August also. I am starting to really worry. I have done Case Management in a hospital for 2 years, but do not feel that I know enough to take the exam. I have the CCM exam secrets but would love any advice on what to study. The old posts mention studying the info on the site, but I am not sure what they are talking about. I have the glossary- please share where to find other info. Thanks!

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2013

Have you downloaded the exam blueprint from the CCMC website? That should give you some clues. :)

Good books: The classic Weed and Berens Life Care Planning and Case Management Handbook, 3rd ed, covers almost everything once over lightly. Start there. Then:

Check out any books on things you're not good on or need to know more about, like Grisham's Pediatric LCP and CM, Blackwell's excellent Spinal Cord Injury Desk Reference, and Ashley's TBI: Rehabilitation, Treatment, and Case Management.

Good luck! :flwrhrts:

bsnrn2013 · Aug 4, 2013

There is a CD with all possible questions, super helpful for me. I only had hospital cm when I took it so it was hard when it gets to rehab/worker's comp stuff. My suggestion is focus on the ethical questions, if they haven't changed since 2010, those questions weigh more than the fact questions. I don't know how much they weight, but knows they weigh more.

My own question to illustrate--

1) Name one of the worker's comp guideline--

2) The pt was diagnosed with end stage disease, medical team recommended further treatment, family wants to pursure treatment, however pt did not..what is the best choice in this case??

Would focus my time studying more on #2 typed question cause that question weigh more compared to #1, eventhough both are multiple choices with one correct answer

mclennan, BSN, RN · Aug 4, 2013

I was kind of shocked at how easy the CCM was, most of it is common sense stuff. Seriously. You will be fine. I didn't study at all and passed on the first try.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2013

When I took it I found it easy, but I had been a nurse in critical care for 18 years and had two years of really excellent work comp nurse field case mgmt experience. There were people who had less, or who were social workers, who came out of the exam in tears because they were clueless about the comp thing and weak on the medical issues.

momswann · Aug 10, 2013

Just took the test and got a preliminary pass. Didn't think the test was difficult, but there were a few poorly worded questions that gave me some anxiety. All in all, I went back and reviewed 40 questions, changed 2 answers and was done with the test in one hour and 15.

Dome12 · Aug 16, 2013

Do u have any suggestion on CCM exam, taking second time again.

momswann · Aug 16, 2013

I approached the CCM a lot like I approached the NCLEX...there's no way you can know all of the answers, but often you can take an educated guess at the right answer. A lot of theory questions, which are mostly common sense, like who is the CM's primary responsibility, etc etc. Good luck on the exam!!

Dome12 · Aug 16, 2013

I approached the CCM a lot like I approached the NCLEX...there's no way you can know all of the answers, but often you can take an educated guess at the right answer. A lot of theory questions, which are mostly common sense, like who is the CM's primary responsibility, etc etc. Good luck on the exam!!

Which books and material did u use and helpful ?

momswann · Aug 17, 2013

I used A Case Managers Study Guide by Fattorusso. That's the only book i used. I also bought the CCMC test the week before the exam. I liked the book, some of the test questions from Fattorusso's book were worded poorly, but I still learned the material.

tabby99 · Aug 24, 2013

I just took it today and got a preliminary pass. I have to say that studying for This exam was pure torture. I think it was worse to study for than the nclex because at least with the nclex you had two years of school drilling the stuff into your head beforehand.

Here's the scoop: in my opinion, it was not too hard- There are different versions of the test however. Basically it is sort of like preparing for the nclex in that you are never going to know all the information and you're never really going to feel prepared but if you put in some decent time studying you will be fine.

I used CCM secrets book and Prime Essentials. I also got extra test Questions on Amazon - there are two sets of them -150 questions each and those were helpful because they had rationales. Only 9.99 each for kindle download. I thought the exam would be more detailed than it was. The questions were mostly pretty straightforward aside from a few poorly worded ones. Among the answer choices there are usually two that are just really dumb that you can eliminate right away.

FYI I am a June 2011 grad RN with a yr and a half work comp CM experience. I started studying for this exam in June and basically went through all of the prime essentials material twice and took the post test and study guide questions included and went through the CCM secrets material once and took the practice test at the end of that book . In addition , I bought two additional sets of questions as discussed on Amazon and do those the week before the exam.