I like Dawn's advice here! You're absolutely right - the beginning-level portion at the beginning of Module II is more about understanding the layout of the manual and looking up more information as you need it to answer the exercise and exam questions. When you start working through more detailed information, like chart snippets and later on full-length patient reports, the guidelines start to play a larger role. They're often going to be telling you what needs to be coded together or what can't be coded together, or when to use certain modifiers. That's generally above the difficulty level in the first 12 sections of Module II, so to start, you should note where you're seeing them in the CPT book but not worry too much about what's in them.
-Glenda
-Glenda