I would say the best thing you can do it take a practice exam first. See how you do. If you ace it then you are fine. If you do just alright you need to to get the Blitz. One way or another I would suggest the Blitz because it is going to prepare you to save time. Even experienced coders use the Blitz. I would not take ANY coding certification exam without going through the Blitz for review.
One of the main key's of the Blitz is to help you know your manual better. Don't this before you take an exam in my opinion makes a huge difference.
The CPC exam is about guidelines. They know you can look up a code. Finding a code is almost as simple as finding a number in the phone book. Picking the best code and coding to the highest specificity is not easy. This takes knowledge of your manuals and experience. Nothing replaces this.
If you ask me a question on ICD-9-CM I would have no trouble helping you. I might even be able to pull the information right out of my little brain. On the other hand, CPT is not something I have had do work as much in. I am always double checking myself in CPT. Experience can't be replaced with book learning.
You can learn and train yourself enough to take the exam however. It will also give you and idea of what is out there and if you think you might want to specialize. I did just that. I love ICD-9 because it falls into my past experiences and allows me to keep learning about diseases and the disease process.
