Taking the CPHIMS Exam: The Moment Of Truth

This is the third and last blog of a three part series about my experience on tackling the CPHIMS certification exam. The first blog talked about why I selected CPHIMS over the others. The second blog detailed my preparation efforts. This blog will tell you about my exam day. Good luck on yours!

Lessons Learned

I learned the following lessons from taking the actual exam,

1. Register with Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc. (AMP) as early as you can. It takes about two weeks to get it done!
2. Arrive at least half an hour early at the exam site. This will help your nerves to cool down.
3. Carry a basic calculator. You do not need any other high tech gadget.
4. Do not take any break during the exam. You will need every second you got.
5. Prepare to be surprised at your final score, pleasantly or otherwise. Accept it and move on.

Registering for the exam

I did not give a lot of thought to the registration process.

You should.

AMP conducts the CPHIMS exam. Contact them at least two weeks ahead of your anticipated exam date. This is for two reasons.

First, the registration is a manual process. This means you need to download an application form, fill it out and fax it to AMP. AMP will send you an email confirmation. They will also mail you a confirmation card. I did not get email confirmation as they messed up my email address. But I did get the card. AMP emailed me a confirmation when I called and corrected my email address. So if you are planning on taking the CPHIMS exam before March 2013 register now while you prepare!

Second, you may not get the exam date you want. CPHIMS exam is generally not conducted every day at the center you will pick. So you need to have two or three backup dates in mind.

Think and plan before you schedule your exam date. The first scheduling is free. If you miss this date, then you have to pay $75 to reschedule it. You have three months to take the exam once you register for it. Otherwise, you forfeit your application fee and must reapply.

I selected Wednesday, October 10, 2012 as my exam date. I picked an HR Block office in Lakeland, FL as my exam site.

Moments of doubt

I started having serious doubts about my ability as the exam date approached.

– “What happens if everything I have done so far is completely wrong?”
– “What happens if I cannot answer a single question in the actual exam?”
– “What happens if I fail?”

Tormenting questions for sure! Then the answers started to surface – in form of questions.

+ “Did I try my best to get ready?”
+ “Was there anything else I could have done significantly better?”

Once I dug deep for answers the fear and uncertainty started to fade. I found telling myself,

* “Yes. I gave my best shot at it.”
* “I came up with what I thought was the right strategy.”
* “I executed my strategy faithfully.”
* “I tried to use every bit of time that I could find between my work and family life.”
* “I could not have done anything significantly better.”
* “I can certainly fail, but I will try my best to answer every question to the best of my ability”.

Now I could not wait to take the exam!

October 10, 2012

The H&R Block location is about 40 minute drive from where I live. But I did not want to take any chance. I started about one and half hour before the exam time. It turned out to be a good idea. The traffic on the road was heavy. I could not find the address once I got within a block of it (as per my GPS). I drove past the location a couple of times. And then of course it was right there! How could I miss it? Well, poor Sandip says, “The last block is the most challenging part in getting anywhere”. But I lost about fifteen to twenty minutes in the process. When I showed up, with a stupid grin on my face, I had about fifteen minutes left for the exam to start.

The H&R Block office was clean and quiet. The lady at the desk was friendly, calm and helpful. I felt slightly relaxed. I showed her my drivers license to verify my identity. She signed me in to the system for the test. The computer generated an identification number for me. I was given a green scratch sheet to take inside the exam room. I had to write my identification number on the sheet and sign it. “Only basic calculators are allowed in the room and nothing else”, the lady said firmly. Now didn’t the CPHIMS guide say I could take a financial calculator in the room? But pointing that out would only waste my time in senseless argument. It will not help me in focusing for the exam. I actually anticipated something like this could happen. So I was carrying a big basic calculator.

There were two other examinees. One young bearded guy with glasses and a woman dressed like a healthcare worker. I also saw one guy in business casuals at a table near us. He was deep in thought leafing through a thick manual of some kind. I later found out that he was taking an accountancy exam.

The front desk lady took three of us into the exam room. It was really small. The room had three open cubicles right next to each other against one of the walls. Each cubicle had a computer and a noise reducing headphone with ear plugs. I sat in the middle cubicle flanked by the young guy on my left and the woman on my right. We were given instructions on how to take the test. The computer took my mug shot as part of the sign-in process. This photo became part of my exam record. We were then asked to take a simulated test on the computer to get comfortable with the exam software. Once done, the lady motioned us to start our exams. I put on my headphones and tried to focus on the screen in front of me.

The moment of truth

I could not focus at all. I was freaking. I kept reminding myself that I have promised to answer each question as best as I could. But my mind was not listening to me very well. So I started reading the first question aloud to force myself into thinking mode. It took me less than 5 seconds to answer the question. “Wait”, I said, “that was too easy! Are they trying to trick me with a honey pot answer?” I reread the question and the possible answers. I picked the same answer as before. So I moved onto the next one. And I kept moving.

Once my brain got busy I started calming down. But very soon my knowledge came to a dead stop before a handful of Healthcare Environment questions. I had anticipated this. So it did not upset me that much. The computer exam allowed me to answer or correct any question at a later time. So I decided I would come back to answer these later. I estimated there were about five such questions whose answers I had to guess. But to my surprise, I could answer several of the questions really quickly. Suddenly, the exam did not seem as hard as I thought.

Then the quantitative questions hit me. For such a question, you need to combine different variables in a certain way to compute a numeric answer. These questions were more extensive than the ones I had practiced in my CPHIMS self-assessment exam. I spent most of my time answering these questions. I am still confident to date that I got all of these right. However, it did take a toll on my time. I barely had enough time to answer the remaining questions. There were questions on Operations Research that I never anticipated. But I knew the answers because of my background in mathematics.

I struggled to answer a few questions in the Leadership category. The best answer for such a question was either none or more than one of the possible options! So I had to guess again. I made about five such guesses. Once I completed answering the last question, I went back to the first one that I had skipped.

I did manage to answer every question. I had about 40 seconds left to revise my answers. So I started from the first. I ran out of time before I reached the tenth.

There’s nothing else I could do at that point but to wait for the verdict.

I immediately started asking myself, “So how much would I get”? I quickly estimated that at most 10 of my answers were wrong. I started feeling really good thinking I would get a 90 out of 100!

I walked out of the room to meet the front desk lady. The young guy has passed his exam. He was hugging the lady in joy. I felt tired. I just wanted to get over it. I timidly waited for the emotions to subside. “So how do you think you did?”, asked the lady after retrieving my score report from the printer. I shrugged, “I guessed I made it”. “You are right. You did!”, the lady announced heartily. She then handed me the report sheet. I quickly looked at my score.

I only got 79 out of 100! What happened? I thought hard of possible reasons but could not find any.

“Data does not lie. It does not matter what I think”, I tried to reason in my rueful moment.

“But I passed! At the end that’s what matters”, I consoled myself.

I called my manager at work and told him the news. He was cheerful and congratulatory as usual. Great guy who has trusted and supported me heavily.

I tried to feel a sense of relief that was still remote.

“Inertia of preparation”, I told myself.

I slowly crawled into my car and started driving towards home.

Conclusion

I received my official CPHIMS certificate in the mail several weeks later. Now there’s work to be done to maintain my certification. I have three years for it but why wait? I have started working on it already. I like the way HIMSS has setup the CPHIMS re-certification program. It really forces you to learn about Healthcare.

CPHIMS has certainly helped me to learn a lot about the industry. But then I have miles to go.

I wish you every success in the exam!

Give it your best shot!

And let your karma do the rest!