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The Colorado P&C exams, in one paragraph
Colorado licenses property and casualty producers through two separate exams administered by Pearson VUE for the Colorado Division of Insurance: the Property exam (exam 03) — 75 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions, 2 hours — and the Casualty exam (exam 04) — 81 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions, 2 hours. There is no combined Colorado property and casualty examination, and each exam is passed or failed on its own scaled score, set by the Division. Colorado is also an education-first state: resident applicants must complete at least 50 hours of approved pre-licensing education for property or casualty insurance or both before sitting either exam, and must apply within one year of passing. You may take both exams in a single session for one $41 fee — but they remain two exams, with two scores.
Who can take the Colorado P&C exams?
Colorado issues a single Producer license that lists the lines of authority the producer has qualified for. Property and Casualty are two separate lines of authority on that license, each with its own education and examination requirement. To qualify as a resident producer for these lines, the candidate handbook requires that you:
- Be a Colorado resident and at least 18 years old.
- Be trustworthy, competent, financially responsible, and of good personal and business reputation, and disclose on the application all insurance licenses previously revoked, denied, or suspended.
- Complete the pre-licensing education requirement before testing (below) — the step that most distinguishes Colorado from no-requirement states, because it gates the exam itself, not just the license.
- Pass the Pearson VUE examination for each line — the Property exam for the Property authority, the Casualty exam for the Casualty authority.
- Apply for the license after passing, online, within one year, answering a series of screening questions and submitting supporting documentation for any “yes” answers.
The pre-licensing education requirement, in full
Colorado law — C.R.S. §10-2-201 — makes approved prelicensure education a condition of initial licensure and a condition of being allowed to take the examination at all. For property and casualty, the requirement is:
- At least 50 hours of an approved prelicensure course for certification in property or casualty insurance or both. Read that “or both” carefully: a candidate seeking both lines completes a combined property-and-casualty course of at least 50 hours — the statute does not stack 50 hours per line.
- At least 3 of those hours on insurance industry ethics (required by the statute itself), and under Division Regulation 1-2-5, 3 hours on Colorado insurance law of a general nature and 4 hours on Colorado law specific to the line.
The mechanics matter as much as the hours:
- Your provider must be Division-approved (list at sircon.com/colorado); neither the Division nor Pearson VUE sells the training itself. Your provider reports your completion to Pearson VUE, but you must give Pearson VUE the provider’s five-digit training school code when you reserve your exam.
- Your completion is valid for one year — pass within that year or retrain — and the requirement must be satisfied before your passing score counts: the handbook states that all pre-licensing requirements must be satisfied prior to passing the examination for the scores to be valid.
Exemptions from the training requirement. Three routes: (1) Recent licensees from another state — applicants who held a resident license in another state within the 90 days before applying are exempt from training for the lines they held (and, separately, from the examination for those lines); if Pearson VUE cannot verify the prior license through the National Producer Database, a Letter of Clearance from the prior state is required. (2) Professional designations — holders of current, valid AAI, ARM, CIC, or CPCU designations are exempt from training for Property and Casualty; they use school code 99999 when reserving and submit a copy of their membership card or Letter of Good Standing with the application. Note the limit: this waives training, not the examination. (3) Personal Lines via Property and Casualty — applicants already holding a Property and Casualty authority are exempt from training (and the exam) for Personal Lines.
A note on what this means for preparation: because Colorado mandates a course, providers commonly bundle the required hours with practice questions. The two do different jobs — the course delivers the mandated hours and a completion record; a practice bank drills the outlines until the material holds under exam conditions. PassProfessor is the second of those: preparation only, no education credit, no part of the 50-hour requirement.
Background review — and the fingerprint question, answered carefully
Colorado’s application process includes background review through the application itself: you answer screening questions when you apply, and submit supporting documentation for any “yes” answers. The handbook’s FAQ addresses criminal history directly — a conviction does not always result in denial; the Division reviews applications case by case and cannot tell you in advance whether a conviction will result in denial. Bankruptcy is reviewed the same way: not necessarily disqualifying, but documentation is required.
You will find websites — including some course providers — stating that Colorado producer applicants must submit fingerprints to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for a CBI/FBI background check. That step does not appear in the official record for insurance producers. The current candidate handbook contains no fingerprint requirement anywhere in its licensing requirements, application steps, or resident licensing matrix, and the Division’s own fingerprint page lists only appraisers, appraisal management company owners, real estate brokers, and mortgage loan originators. As of the July 2026 handbook, the background mechanism for producers is the application and its screening questions — follow the handbook for your license type, not a generic “Colorado licensing” page written for a different profession.
Two special cases
- Temporary license. The Division issues a temporary license for up to 180 days under C.R.S. §10-2-410(1) in defined circumstances — principally the death or disability of a licensed producer (for a surviving spouse, next of kin, executor, employee, or legal guardian), a producer entering active military service (for their designee), or other circumstances where the Commissioner finds the public interest is served. It is a continuity mechanism for an existing practice, not a shortcut for new entrants, and carries no fee.
- Reinstatement. Applicants reinstating a Colorado license inactive for less than one year are exempt from re-examination for the authorities previously held, and education/testing exemptions on reinstatement apply only to authorities previously held. Adding a new authority always requires the full training and testing for that authority.
The exams, piece by piece
Each exam has the same architecture: a general knowledge part (50 scored questions) and a Colorado-specific part (state statutes, rules, and regulations), plus unscored pretest questions mixed through both. The Colorado-specific part is proportionally much larger here than in most states, and it is layered: a block common to all four major lines, a block common to Property and Casualty only, and a small block pertinent to the single line being tested.
The Property exam (03) — 75 scored, 85 on screen, 2 hours
| Part / section | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| General knowledge | 50 | |
| I. Types of Policies | 22 | Homeowners (HO-2 through HO-8), dwelling (DP-1/2/3), commercial package and property, businessowners, builders risk, inland marine, flood, earthquake, mobile homes, watercraft, farm owners, windstorm |
| II. Insurance Terms and Related Concepts | 15 | Risk, hazards, perils, loss and valuation, proximate cause, coinsurance, negligence, binders, endorsements |
| III. Policy Provisions and Contract Law | 13 | Declarations, insuring agreement, conditions, exclusions, duties of insured and insurer, mortgagee rights, proof of loss, appraisal, subrogation, contract elements |
| Colorado-specific | 25 | |
| I. Colorado Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Sickness and Accident, Property (Fire), and Casualty Insurance | 19 | The Commissioner — powers, hearings, penalties, suspension and revocation; licensing and producers’ legal responsibility; unfair competition and deceptive practices, including the Colorado Fraud Statute |
| II. Colorado Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Common to Property and Casualty Insurance Only | 4 | Rate regulations, summary disclosure form, commercial policy requirements, use of credit information |
| III. Colorado Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Property Insurance Only | 2 | Fraudulent Claims and Arson Information Reporting Act; insurance and loans secured by real property; homeowners cancellation and nonrenewal; availability of fire insurance |
| Total scored | 75 | Plus 10 unscored pretest questions (5 general + 5 Colorado-specific) = 85 on screen |
The Casualty exam (04) — 81 scored, 91 on screen, 2 hours
| Part / section | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| General knowledge | 50 | |
| I. Types of Policies, Bonds, and Related Terms | 23 | Commercial general liability, personal and business auto, workers’ compensation concepts and employers liability, crime, surety and fidelity bonds, professional liability, umbrella/excess, businessowners |
| II. Insurance Terms and Related Concepts | 15 | Risk and hazards, indemnity, insurable interest, loss valuation, negligence, liability, occurrences, binders, damages |
| III. Policy Provisions | 12 | Declarations, insuring agreement, conditions, exclusions, duties after a loss, cancellation and nonrenewal, supplementary payments, proof of loss, subrogation, consent to settle, TRIA |
| Colorado-specific | 31 | |
| I. Colorado Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Sickness and Accident, Property (Fire), and Casualty Insurance | 19 | The same common block as the Property exam: the Commissioner, licensing and producer responsibility, unfair practices, the Fraud Statute |
| II. Colorado Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Common to Property and Casualty Insurance Only | 4 | Rate regulations, the summary disclosure form, commercial policy requirements, use of credit information |
| III. Colorado Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Casualty Insurance Only | 8 | Colorado workers’ compensation — who must be covered, sources of coverage, benefits, claims procedures; automobile insurance — cancellation/nonrenewal, excluded drivers, uninsured/underinsured motorists, financial responsibility and required coverages, medical payments, transportation network companies, claims; the Colorado Auto Insurance Plan; bail bonds |
| Total scored | 81 | Plus 10 unscored pretest questions (5 general + 5 Colorado-specific) = 91 on screen |
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- Colorado law is 33% of the Property exam and 38% of the Casualty exam — 56 of 156 scored questions if you take both. That is a heavier state-law load than the combined-exam states, and it is concrete, learnable material: what the Commissioner may do, what producers must and must not do, and the Colorado rules on cancellation, credit information, auto coverage, and workers’ compensation.
- The 19-question common block is shared across both exams’ outlines. Study it once and it pays twice — it is the highest-leverage section for a candidate taking both exams.
- There is no averaging across exams. Each exam produces its own scaled score and its own pass/fail. Candidates who prepare “P&C” as one blended subject routinely discover their weaker line was being carried by their stronger one in practice — a discovery the real exams do not permit. Prepare, measure, and book each line on its own evidence.
Pretest questions. Each exam carries 10 pretest items (five per part) — tryout questions Pearson VUE is evaluating for future exams. They are not identified and do not affect your score; the only strategy is to treat every question as scored.
One session, two exams — what “combined” actually means in Colorado. The handbook’s fee rule allows a candidate to take up to two examinations during one exam session for a single fee of $41. That is the full extent of the “combination”: one session, one fee, two complete and separately scored examinations taken back-to-back — up to four hours and 176 questions on screen. Colorado publishes no combined Property & Casualty examination, score, or pass. Any page that describes a single “Colorado P&C exam” is describing an exam that does not exist.
The passing standard, explained
Each exam is passed at a scaled score set by the Colorado Division of Insurance, working with Pearson VUE, after a comprehensive standard-setting study for each examination. The handbook does not publish that passing value as a number you can aim at, and understanding why is part of understanding the exam:
- There are multiple forms of each exam. Forms mix different questions and vary slightly in difficulty. A statistical procedure called equating corrects for those differences, so the knowledge required to pass is the same on every form.
- Scaling then places your result on a common reporting scale of 0 to 100. The handbook’s warning is worth taking literally: the scaled score reported to you is neither the number of questions you answered correctly nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly. A score below passing indicates how close you came — it is not a raw percentage.
- Numeric scores are reported only to candidates who do not pass. If you pass, your score report records the pass; if you do not, the numeric score shows your distance from the line.
The practical consequences:
- Treat any published “passing percentage” for Colorado with suspicion. Third-party pages frequently state one. The official handbook publishes no percentage and explicitly disclaims the percentage reading of its scale — study plans built on “I need X% right” rest on a number the state does not use.
- Study to a margin, across all sections. Because you cannot convert a practice percentage into a predicted scaled score, the defensible target is consistent, comfortable performance on full simulations of each exam, with no section — especially the Colorado-specific part — left weak.
- No official pass rate exists to quote. The Division does not publish a Colorado pass rate in the sources for this guide, and Pearson VUE publishes no Colorado equivalent of its Texas pass-rate reports. This guide states no pass rate rather than borrow one from a third party.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the payments separate — they go to different places at different times, and two of them are per-authority.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-licensing education (50 hours) | Set by the approved provider you choose | Your provider | Before you may reserve the exam |
| Exam fee | $41 — covers up to two exams in one session | Pearson VUE | When you reserve |
| License application | $44 per line of authority (resident, new license) | The Division, via Sircon or NIPR | After you pass |
All fees in the handbook’s schedule are non-transferable and non-refundable. The $44-per-authority figure is from the Forms and Fees schedule effective April 1, 2026; applying for both Property and Casualty means two authorities and two application fees. There is no fingerprint fee in the producer process (see the background-review discussion above).
The sequence, in order:
- Complete your pre-licensing education with a Division-approved provider (list at sircon.com/colorado), unless you qualify for an exemption (see the eligibility section above). Note your provider’s five-digit school code (or 99999 if designation-exempt) — you will need it in the next step.
- Reserve the exam(s). Book on Pearson VUE’s Colorado insurance page (pearsonvue.com/us/en/co/insurance.html) or by phone — reservations at (800) 274-2616, licensing questions at (800) 275-8247. Book online at least 24 hours ahead (by phone, at least one business day); appointments may be made up to one calendar day prior, subject to availability, and walk-ins are not available. The name on your account must match your government-issued ID exactly. Spanish versions are available on request, and Spanish-version candidates may switch between Spanish and English during the exam. Extra time is available through the ESL request process, and ADA accommodations through Pearson VUE.
- Pay the $41 exam fee at reservation, by credit card, debit card, or voucher — fees are not accepted at the test center. If you plan to take both exams in one session, reserve them together so the single fee covers both.
- Take the exam(s) at the test center (see the test-day section below). You leave with an official score report in hand for each exam.
- Apply for the license — after passing. Submit the electronic application at sircon.com/colorado or nipr.com, with the $44-per-authority fee, answering the screening questions and uploading supporting documentation for any “yes” answers. The application must be received within one year of each passing score. Pearson VUE reviews applications for completeness; those requiring Division review are decided by the Division. An incomplete application gets a deficiency notice: you have 20 days from the letter to supply what is missing, and after 30 days an incomplete application is closed and the fee forfeited.
- Understand appointments in Colorado. The Division tracks appointments only for Casualty producers authorized to write bail bonds; for ordinary P&C business, insurers maintain their own appointment records — there is no separate state appointment filing for a new producer.
Changing or cancelling. Call Pearson VUE at (800) 274-2616 at least 48 hours before the examination to change or cancel with the fee protected (transfer or refund); without proper notice, the fee is forfeited. Documented emergencies — illness, death in the immediate family, disabling traffic accident, court appearance or jury duty, military duty, weather emergency — may be excused with written verification submitted within 14 days.
After you pass
- Your clock is one year. Passing scores are valid for one year from the examination date, and the license application must be received within that year. Miss the window and the examination must be retaken — the score does not revive.
- Your license is one license with listed authorities. Once issued, your Producer license shows each authority you qualified for; view or print it at sircon.com/colorado.
- Continuation runs on a two-year cycle, due on the last day of the producer’s birth month (the first expiration may fall 13 to 24 months after issue). Colorado has no grace period, and all requirements must be received by 10:00 p.m. Mountain Time on the expiration date.
- Continuing education starts with your second cycle. Producers are exempt during their first cycle (credits taken then do not carry forward). From the second cycle: 24 credits — 18 in the lines held, 3 in ethics, 3 in a category of choice — and Property or Personal Lines producers must include at least 3 hours in homeowners coverage.
- Keep your information current. Report name and address changes within 30 days, and keep a current email address on file — the Division communicates with producers largely by email.
Retakes and score validity
- Retaking is per exam. Fail Property and pass Casualty, and only Property is retaken. Each exam stands alone at every stage.
- How to reserve a retake. Follow the standard reservation procedures in the fees and registration section above. Reexamination reservations cannot be made at the test center, and you must wait 24 hours before making one. The $41 session fee applies to the new reservation.
- Attempt limits. The handbook states no maximum number of attempts and no waiting period beyond the 24-hour reservation rule.
- The education clock keeps running. You must pass within one year of completing your pre-licensing training, or retrain before your scores can be valid — a retake plan has to fit inside that window.
- Use the failing score report. Because numeric scaled scores are reported to candidates who do not pass, a failing report tells you your distance from the line. Combine it with section-level practice data to decide whether the retake needs a full rebuild or a targeted repair — most second attempts fail on the same section as the first when the preparation does not change.
Test day
- Arrive 30 minutes early to complete registration. Candidates who arrive late or without required items are not admitted, are considered absent, and forfeit the fee — Pearson VUE recognizes no grace periods, including on identification (an ID that expired yesterday is expired, whatever renewal grace your state allows).
- Bring two forms of identification. Both must be current and bear your signature, and the name must exactly match your registration. The primary ID must be government-issued and photo-bearing (driver’s license, state or national ID card, passport or passport card, military ID, or alien registration card); the secondary ID must carry a valid signature (a Social Security card or debit/credit card qualifies, as does any primary-list document). ID must be in English. You will be photographed for your score report.
- Almost nothing goes into the testing room. No phones or electronic devices, watches, wallets, purses, hats, bags, coats, books, notes, pens, or pencils. Personal items are stored in a secure area as the administrator directs, with electronic devices turned off; the test center is not responsible for lost or misplaced items. Studying is not allowed in the test center, and visitors and children are not permitted. Once seated, the administrator provides the note/calculation materials specified by the exam sponsor.
- Breaks run on the exam clock. Raise your hand to take one; the clock does not stop, you must leave the testing room, and you may not leave the floor or building. Access to stored items — for example, medication — requires the administrator’s permission; phones, notes, and study guides remain off-limits.
- The tutorial does not cost you time. The examination starts the moment you look at the first question and ends automatically when time expires.
- Language support. ESL candidates may use a single word-for-word translation dictionary, inspected and approved by test-center staff before the exam (dictionaries with definitions, explanations, or handwritten notes are not permitted), and may request additional time through the ESL process described in the fees and registration section.
- Results are in hand when you leave. At a Pearson VUE test site, your official score report is provided at the test center. Scores are never given over the phone; duplicate reports come from your Pearson VUE account. If you passed, start the application steps in the fees and registration section promptly — the one-year clock is already running.
How to study for these exams
The outlines in the exam-breakdown section above are the syllabus — Pearson VUE publishes exactly what each exam covers, with scored counts per section, and the weights there are question counts, not suggestions. A plan built on that structure:
- Sequence around the education requirement. Your approved 50-hour course comes first and starts a one-year clock to pass. Treat it as the foundation it is required to be, then shift to outline-driven practice — the course certifies hours; the exams test recall and judgment under time pressure.
- Master the shared Colorado block once, properly. The 19-question “common to all lines” section appears on both exams, and with the 4-question P&C-common block it accounts for 23 of the 25 Colorado questions on the Property exam and 23 of 31 on the Casualty exam — the Commissioner, licensing and producer responsibility, unfair practices, and the Fraud Statute are the highest-yield material in Colorado licensing.
- Then split by line. Property-only Colorado material is only 2 questions, while casualty-only material is 8 — the largest line-specific block on either exam, mixing workers’ compensation and auto rules, and the one candidates most often underprepare.
- Give the Types sections their weight. Types of Policies is 22 of 50 general questions on the Property exam; Types of Policies, Bonds, and Related Terms is 23 of 50 on the Casualty exam. Learn the forms comparatively — what each covers, excludes, and how each pays.
- Practice each exam at full length, against its own clock. 85 questions in 120 minutes (Property) and 91 in 120 minutes (Casualty) is roughly a minute and a half per question — forgiving only if you have rehearsed the full sitting, including flag-and-return discipline. If you plan to take both in one session, rehearse that too: 176 questions and up to four hours is an endurance format, and the second exam is where fatigue shows up.
- Read every explanation, especially for questions you got right. A right answer from a wrong reason is a wrong answer waiting for a differently-worded question — and on the Colorado sections, explanations are where the specific rule or institution gets fixed in memory.
- Book each exam when its own simulations say so — consistently comfortable full-length scores on that exam, with the Colorado-specific part no longer your weakest block. Never let readiness on one line borrow confidence for the other.
This program’s Colorado practice bank (10,054 questions, including 2,560 on Colorado statutes and rules) is built section-by-section on these same outlines, with generated practice exams for the Property exam, the Casualty exam, or both in one combined run. The Colorado Insurance Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table — and the notify list there will email you when enrollment opens.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a combined Colorado property and casualty exam?
No. Colorado publishes two separate examinations — Property (03) and Casualty (04) — each separately scored and separately passed. You may take up to two examinations in one session for a single $41 fee, which lets you sit both back-to-back, but there is no combined examination, score, or pass.
How many questions are on the Colorado Property and Casualty exams?
Property: 85 questions on screen in 2 hours — 75 scored (50 general knowledge, 25 Colorado-specific) plus 10 unscored pretest questions. Casualty: 91 on screen in 2 hours — 81 scored (50 general knowledge, 31 Colorado-specific) plus 10 pretest. The pretest questions are mixed in so candidates cannot identify them.
What score do I need to pass?
A scaled score at or above the passing level set by the Division for each exam. Raw scores are converted to a scale of 0 to 100; the handbook states the reported scaled score is neither the number nor the percentage of questions answered correctly, and it publishes no numeric passing value. Numeric scores are reported only to candidates who do not pass.
Does Colorado require pre-licensing education?
Yes. Resident applicants must complete the required training before taking the examination: under C.R.S. §10-2-201, at least 50 hours of an approved course for property or casualty insurance or both, including at least 3 hours of insurance industry ethics; Regulation 1-2-5 adds 3 hours of general Colorado law and 4 hours of line-specific Colorado law within those 50. A combined property-and-casualty course satisfies both lines at 50 hours total.
Does PassProfessor count toward the 50 hours?
No. This program is exam preparation only, provides no education credit, and is not a Division-approved pre-licensing provider. You must complete your hours with an approved provider (listed at sircon.com/colorado); this bank prepares you for the exams themselves.
How much do the Colorado P&C exams cost?
The exam fee is $41, paid to Pearson VUE at reservation, covering up to two examinations taken in one session. The license application after passing is $44 per line of authority through Sircon or NIPR — two authorities, so two application fees. Your pre-licensing course is priced by the provider you choose.
Do I need to be fingerprinted to get a Colorado insurance license?
The official licensing record for insurance producers contains no fingerprint step: the candidate handbook’s requirements, application process, and licensing matrix never mention fingerprinting, and the Division’s fingerprint-based background-check page covers appraisers, real estate brokers, and mortgage loan originators — not insurance producers. Producer background review runs through the application’s screening questions and any supporting documentation they require. Some third-party websites state otherwise; follow the handbook for your license type.
How do I register for the Colorado insurance exams?
Reserve on Pearson VUE’s Colorado insurance page or by phone at (800) 274-2616 — online at least 24 hours ahead, by phone at least one business day ahead; appointments can be made up to one calendar day prior, subject to availability, and walk-ins are not available. You will need your pre-licensing provider’s five-digit school code (99999 if designation-exempt).
What happens after I pass?
Apply online through Sircon (sircon.com/colorado) or NIPR, with the $44-per-authority fee and your answers to the screening questions (plus documentation for any “yes” answers). The application must be received within one year of passing each exam. Once issued, your single Producer license lists your Property and Casualty authorities.
How long are my passing scores valid?
One year from each examination date. After that, the examination must be retaken. Your pre-licensing training runs on the same one-year validity in the other direction: pass within one year of completing it, or retrain.
If I fail, how soon can I retake, and is there a limit?
Reserve a reexamination through the standard process — not at the test center — waiting 24 hours before making the reservation. The handbook states no maximum number of attempts and no additional waiting period. You retake only the exam you failed; a pass on the other exam stands, subject to its one-year validity.
What Colorado-specific topics do the exams cover?
On both exams: the Insurance Commissioner and the Division, producer licensing and legal responsibility, unfair competition and deceptive practices, and the Colorado Fraud Statute (19 questions), plus rate regulation, summary disclosure, commercial policy requirements, and use of credit information (4). Property adds fraudulent claims and arson reporting, homeowners cancellation and nonrenewal, and availability of fire insurance (2). Casualty adds Colorado workers’ compensation, automobile rules including uninsured motorists and financial responsibility, the Colorado Auto Insurance Plan, and bail bonds (8).
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Colorado Division of Insurance, Pearson VUE, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Colorado licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Colorado Division of Insurance and Pearson VUE publications govern if anything here differs from them.