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Terrified to take the RHIT exam - MamaBear

Posted: Feb 07, 2012

I got a degree in health information technology in 2007 by an AHIMA certified program. I did it after I got laid off from a transcription job and getting fed up, realizing I would be more marketable with the degree. I continued to work in QA at home and never took my RHIT because I was worried I'd fail and not get my money back for it. I feel like more doors would open up for jobs if I could get it. I wasn't very good with my coding classes and the statistics stuff plain old terrifies me. Does anyone have any advice on how to get my knowledge up again and whether you'd go for it or not? If I get it, I can go back and get my RHIA and get a really great job. Plus I could work in coding, which is what I want to do. I'm tired of QA and transcription and the jobs are vaporizing!

Advice?

Advice that works - RHIA

[ In Reply To ..]
1. You do not need to have the RHIT to enter an RHIA program. The RHIA supplants the RHIT anyway - once you get the higher you drop the lower. Many people who intend to go the whole way never bother with it. I know someone who flunked the RHIT exam about 3 times, did the rest of the 4 year degree, and passed the RHIA on the first attempt.

2. Avoiding it is not logical. So what if you fail. You are not losing the money. Think of it as a practice run. Do you want to be sure of what to study? Take the darn test and find out. Don't say that it is too expensive. A review course would cost more.

3. Get the AHIMA review book. Lay out a schedule. Review. You might consider using Abdelhak or the AHIMA HIM text instead of the one you used in school. Both are better written
and easier to understand, IMO. I think a lot of people do poorly with the other because it is boring and awful. Abdelhak is actually pleasant to read. You might like it.

3. Fear will cause you to fail. You really have to decide that the test is fun or at least not critical to your wallet or self esteem. Take the test as a trial run. Something that works for a lot of people is to pretend you are taking it to find out what is on it in order to write the perfect review book. Pretend "cheating" in other words. You do not actually cheat or do anything unethical, of course, but pretending it can help you change your focus from fear to a devious kind of delight. It really helps. A great review and study technique, in fact, is to create cheat sheets. You never cheat with them, but if you can get all of a chapter onto a note card or half a sheet of paper, you know the material.

How does that sound so far?

Definitely get the study guide/review book through AHIMA. Good luck! - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

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