From exam tips and tricks to best insurance license courses, this ultimate guide will help you pass your insurance license exams in your state.
This is the ultimate guide to passing your insurance exam on the first attempt. This article has helped over 12,000 people to study for and take their exam.
Preparation is the key to passing the insurance licensing exam. Find out why taking a pre-license education course is the best way to learn, prepare for, and pass the exam.
An insurance license exam is state-specific. Our best insurance licensing course guide will help you choose a pre-license education course that covers the material tested in your state.
Regardless of your state, you will need to pass an insurance license exam in each line that you want to get licensed in.
Even though all insurance license exams are made up of multiple-choice questions and entail both state and federal content, they are not all formatted, reported, priced, or even scored in the same way.
In this guide, we break down everything you need to know in order to take and pass your insurance exam on your first attempt.
Tip: Doing a pre-licensing education course dramatically increases your chance of passing your exam on your first attempt, which can end up saving you both time and money in the long run.
Kaplan Education Company
An insurance license exam is a proctored test that can be taken online or in person.
The price of your insurance exam can depend on the type of exam that you take, as well as on your state.
Generally speaking, the cost of each exam can be anywhere between $29 and $105.
You can check out the specific cost of each exam you are interested in by visiting your state’s testing service’s website (e.g., Prometric, PSI, Pearson VUE, etc.), or by visiting your state’s Department of Insurance.
If you choose to sit your exam in person, you will need to do it in one of your state’s testing service centers. Depending on your state, this can be:
When you navigate to your state’s administrative website, you will be able to find a candidate handbook that will run you through how to register for your exam.
Note: Alabama (University of Alabama) and Kentucky (Department of Insurance) are the only states that do not rely on Pearson VUE, Prometric, or PSI.
Insurance examinations are not all scored in the same way.
Depending on your state and examination licensing board, your score may be reported to you as a:
Some states have more than one potential way of reporting a score. For example, some states offer numerical scores to candidates that fail, whereas passing candidates receive a “pass” mark as well as information on how to apply for an insurance license.
The insurance license exam can be quite difficult depending on both: which exam you sit, and on how much time you give yourself to prepare.
All of the exams are fact-based multiple-choice questions, so make sure that you tailor your studying towards memorizing content, rather than diving into it analytically.
Completing a pre-license course can also go a long way in making the overall process easier for you, as it will ensure that you do not end up missing out on any content when you are revising. This may be a legal requirement depending on your state.
You can also have a look at our summarized content outlines — which are meant to be used as exam checklists — by selecting your state in the drop-down menu above.
For a more in-depth overview, we recommend having a look at our How Hard is the Insurance Exam article.
Passing your insurance license exam comes down to:
Completing a pre-license course can actually be a legal prerequisite to sitting your insurance license exam depending on your state, but this is not always the case.
Regardless of whether it is a requirement in your state or not, we highly recommend completing a pre-license course because we believe that it is the most efficient way of learning the large quantity of material that you will be expected to know during your exam.
Note: Some states will need to see an original Certificate of Completion from an approved course provider at the time of your exam.
Recommended
Doing a pre-licensing education course dramatically increases your chance of passing your exam on your first attempt, which can end up saving you both time and money in the long run. For pre-licensing education, StateRequirement recommends:
Kaplan Education Company
Remember, the questions in your insurance license exam are all going to be factual, multiple-choice questions.
Since there will therefore be no questions that can be answered through logic or “common sense,” you need to ensure that you tailor your studying towards memorizing content.
Generally, we recommend preparing for your exam for around one to two weeks. This should allow you to go through all of your material at least twice.
Of course, you should feel free to adjust this depending on how comfortable you are with learning large amounts of information and taking proctored exams.
Reducing your exam anxiety is definitely easier said than done.
Nonetheless, there are a few steps that you can take in order to get accustomed to your exam setting and make sure that you feel as comfortable as possible on your exam day:
For a more in-depth overview of how you can prepare for your insurance exam, we recommend reading our How to Pass the Insurance Exam article.
After you have taken — and hopefully passed — your insurance license exam, you will need to file a licensing application with your state’s Department of Insurance in order to get your license and become an insurance agent.
Depending on your state, you may be able to wait anywhere between 90 days and three years before needing to file your application. This means that you can actually go back and pass an additional insurance line examination before you apply for your license, if that is something that you are interested in.
Some states also require applicants to complete background and/or fingerprinting checks, although this is not always the case, and exceptions can apply.
After you have submitted your exam results and background checks — if applicable — you will need to wait for your application to be reviewed.
There are different approval and notification procedures for each state. We recommend having a look at our state-specific Insurance Producer Licensing overview for more information on your state’s licensing procedures.
How long your insurance exam will be will depend on what exam you are taking, as well as on what state you are taking your exam in. You can find this out by going to your state’s testing service’s website, or by clicking on your state in the drop-down menu above.
This will depend on your state. Some states require candidates to complete a pre-licensing course from an approved provider in order to sit an exam, but not all do. Having said that, completing a pre-licensing course is generally recommended because it is extremely helpful when it comes to helping you memorize the large amounts of information that you will need to know. For more information, we recommend reading our Kaplan Insurance Pre-License Course Review.
This will depend on the type of insurance exam that you take (e.g., Life and Health, Property and Casualty, Limited Lines, etc.), as well as on the state in question.
We recommend studying for around one to two weeks, as this should allow you to go over all of your content at least twice. Of course, you should feel free to adjust this depending on how comfortable you feel with taking proctored tests and how much time you can allocate each day to prepare for your insurance exam(s).
