Is the CBCS Exam Open Book? What Changed and How to Prepare

No, the NHA Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) exam is not open book. Since September 24, 2024, the CBCS has been a closed book exam: candidates no longer bring CPT, ICD-10-CM, or HCPCS code manuals into the testing room. This is a meaningful change from how the CBCS worked for years, and a fair amount of prep advice still circulating online has not caught up. Under the current format, whatever coding reference information a question requires is embedded directly in the question itself, rather than expecting you to look it up in an external manual during the exam. The practical effect is a shift in what the exam actually measures: reasoning through a coding or billing scenario using the information provided, rather than demonstrating speed and accuracy at flipping through code manuals under time pressure. If you learned to prepare for the CBCS around manual lookup speed, that skill is no longer what the exam is testing.

What Closed Book Actually Means Here

Closed book does not mean you are expected to have memorized every code in circulation. NHA’s current format embeds the coding reference information a question requires directly into that question, so you are working with the information the question gives you rather than cross-referencing an external manual. What it does mean is that you cannot bring physical CPT, ICD-10-CM, or HCPCS manuals into the testing room the way earlier CBCS candidates could.

Why Outdated Advice Is Still Common

The CBCS was open book for a long time before the September 24, 2024 change, and a lot of prep content, forum posts, study guides, and advice from people who tested years ago reflects that older format. If you come across guidance telling you to bring or rehearse with code manuals for exam day, treat it as outdated unless it is dated after September 2024.

How to Prepare for a Closed Book CBCS

The shift toward reasoning over lookup speed changes what is worth practicing:

• Practice working through billing and coding scenarios using only the information presented in the question, since that is how the current exam is built.
• Build genuine familiarity with coding logic and structure rather than relying on the ability to search a manual quickly.
• Time yourself on practice questions under closed book conditions, without a manual open next to you, so your practice matches actual test conditions.

What This Change Signals About the Exam Overall

The move to closed book is worth understanding as more than a logistics change about what you can bring into the testing room. When a question embeds the reference information a candidate needs directly in its text, the question can be written to test whether you understand what to do with that information, not whether you can locate it quickly in a manual. That is a different skill, and it is the skill the current CBCS is built to measure. Candidates who practice exclusively with old-format, open book style questions may find the reasoning demanded by the current exam feels unfamiliar even if the underlying billing and coding knowledge is solid.

Try our CBCS practice test, built for the current closed book format, to practice reasoning through scenarios the way the real exam requires.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the CBCS exam open book?

No. It has been closed book since September 24, 2024.

Can I bring a CPT or ICD-10-CM manual to the CBCS exam?

No. Candidates no longer bring coding manuals into the testing room under the current format.

If I can’t use a manual, how am I supposed to answer coding questions?

The coding reference information a question requires is built into the question itself, so you work from what is given rather than an external manual.

Why do some sources still say the CBCS is open book?

The exam was open book before September 24, 2024, and older prep content has not always been updated to reflect the change.

Sources

• nhanow.com, CBCS Test Plan

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For educational and exam preparation purposes only. Not a substitute for formal clinical training.