PassProfessor’s Connecticut program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The 10,335-question Connecticut practice bank is built and audited, and enrollment opens as the catalog expands. Join the notify list and we will email you when enrollment opens — then use this guide to plan your path to the exam.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The Connecticut P&C exam, in one paragraph
The Connecticut Property and Casualty Producer exam (Pearson VUE code 12-CT-04) is the licensing exam for Connecticut’s combined property and casualty producer authority, administered by Pearson VUE for the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID). You will see 145 multiple-choice questions in 2.5 hours (150 minutes): 130 are scored — 100 on general insurance knowledge and 30 on Connecticut statutes and rules — and 15 are unscored pretest questions you cannot identify. You pass with a score of 70%, a standard set by CID. Connecticut is a pre-licensing-education state: before you may test, you must complete 40 hours of approved pre-licensing training (20 hours property + 20 hours casualty) and bring your certificate to the test center. Pass, and you have one year to apply for the license through NIPR.
Who can take the Connecticut P&C exam?
Connecticut’s gate has more steps than a no-requirement state’s, and the order matters. Under the candidate handbook’s general requirements, an applicant must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Be financially responsible and of good moral character.
- Complete the pre-licensing education requirement (below) — or qualify for a waiver.
- Pass the required examination for the license sought — this one.
- Apply online (through NIPR, after passing — see the fees and registration section below).
The 40-hour pre-licensing requirement — the step that defines Connecticut
Connecticut requires approved pre-licensing training before the producer exam. For the combined Property & Casualty authority the requirement is 40 hours: 20 hours on the property line and 20 hours on the casualty line. Single-line candidates take 20 hours for the single line (Property alone or Casualty alone); the combined authority takes both blocks. Courses may be delivered in three ways:
- All classroom
- Self-study (correspondence)
- Online
A list of approved pre-licensing education providers is maintained on Pearson VUE’s Connecticut insurance page, and the handbook notes that an employer or insurer may also have its own approved course — check both before you buy one.
The requirement is enforced at the test-center door, not just on paper: first-time and retake candidates for the Property and Casualty Producer exam must present a pre-license education certificate or a pre-licensing waiver letter as part of their required exam-day materials. No certificate, no admission — and a missed admission forfeits the exam fee. Keep the certificate with your identification from the day you finish the course.
Waivers and exemptions
Connecticut rewards recognized professional designations twice — once on the coursework and once on the exam itself:
- Coursework waived. For Property, Casualty, and Personal Lines applicants, the pre-license course is waived for holders of the AAI, ARM, CIC, or CPCU designations who provide a current Letter of Designation. (The handbook directs applicants to email the letter — dated within 90 days — to CID at cid.licensing@ct.gov, referencing the application or NIPR transaction number.)
- Examination waived. For Property, Casualty, and Personal Lines, the examination requirement itself is waived for CPCU holders who provide a current Letter of Designation. If you hold the CPCU, you may not need this exam at all.
Most first-time Connecticut candidates hold neither designation, and for them the sequence is fixed: 40 hours, then the exam, then the application.
What Connecticut does not put in the published sequence
Two contrasts with other states are worth stating plainly, because candidates arriving from Texas- or Florida-style guides expect them. First, the handbook’s producer requirements and CID’s published exam sequence list no fingerprint step for this license — the gate is education, examination, and application. Second, there is no online testing option to plan around: Connecticut discontinued online exams on August 1, 2025 (see the fees and registration section below), so every plan in this guide assumes a physical Pearson VUE test center.
The exam, piece by piece
The combined exam is a single sitting built from two content parts in Pearson VUE’s Connecticut content outline (publication #120701, effective October 27, 2025): a 100-question general-knowledge part assembled from the Property Producer and Casualty Producer general outlines, and a 30-question Connecticut-specific part. Connecticut also offers the lines separately — Property Producer (12-CT-19) and Casualty Producer (12-CT-20), each $65 and 2 hours — but the combined 12-CT-04 sitting is the standard route to the combined authority, and it is the exam this guide covers.
| Part / section | Scored questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| General knowledge — Property (50) | ||
| I. Types of Policies | 22 | Homeowners (HO-2 through HO-8), dwelling (DP-1/2/3), commercial package and commercial property, businessowners, builders risk, inland marine, flood, and other property forms |
| II. Insurance Terms and Related Concepts | 15 | Risk, hazards, perils, loss valuation, coinsurance, negligence and liability concepts, binders and endorsements |
| III. Policy Provisions and Contract Law | 13 | Declarations, insuring agreement, conditions, exclusions, duties after loss, mortgagee rights, appraisal, and contract principles |
| General knowledge — Casualty (50) | ||
| IV. Types of Policies, Bonds, and Related Terms | 23 | Commercial general liability, personal and commercial auto, workers’ compensation concepts, crime, bonds, professional liability, umbrella/excess |
| V. Insurance Terms and Related Concepts | 15 | Risk and hazards, indemnity, negligence, liability, damages, warranties, representations, and casualty vocabulary |
| VI. Policy Provisions | 12 | Casualty policy structure — declarations, conditions, exclusions, duties, cancellation and nonrenewal, subrogation, loss settlement |
| Connecticut-specific (30) | ||
| I. CT Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance | 18 | The Commissioner and CID, definitions, licensing, agent responsibilities, form filing, the Guaranty Association Act, marketing practices, the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act |
| II. State Statutes, Rules and Regulations Common to Property and Casualty Insurance Only | 3 | Premium financing, insurance contracts (renewal / nonrenewal / cancellation, binders), surplus lines |
| III. State Statutes, Rules and Regulations Pertinent to Property Insurance Only | 4 | The Insurance Placement Facility / FAIR Plan, the standard fire policy, flood, inland marine |
| IV. State Statutes, Rules and Regulations Pertinent to Casualty Insurance Only | 5 | Connecticut auto insurance (required coverages, limits, uninsured/underinsured motorist law, financial responsibility, the Assigned Risk Plan) and Connecticut workers’ compensation law |
| Total scored | 130 | Plus 15 unscored pretest questions (10 general + 5 Connecticut-specific) = 145 on screen |
Four structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- The two Types of Policies sections carry 45 of the 100 general questions. Policy forms — what each covers, excludes, and how it pays — are the exam’s center of gravity on both halves.
- Connecticut law is 30 of 130 scored questions — 23% of the exam — and 18 of those 30 come from a single section: the statutes common to all lines. That one section (the Commissioner, licensing, agent duties, marketing practices, the Guaranty Association) is the highest-yield block on the entire test, and it is pure Connecticut law that no national textbook teaches.
- There is one score, not two. The handbook states that all Connecticut exams, initial and retake, are now one-part exams scored as a whole. A weak Connecticut section can be offset by a strong general section — and the reverse is also true — but there is no separately-passed portion to bank.
- The general outline is shared with the single-line exams. The combined exam’s property half is the Property Producer general outline (50 scored + 5 pretest) and its casualty half is the Casualty Producer general outline (50 scored + 5 pretest); the combined Connecticut section (30 + 5) is larger than either single-line Connecticut section (25). Study materials built for the single-line exams cover the general material but underweight the combined exam’s state-law part.
Pretest questions. The 15 pretest items are tryout questions Pearson VUE is collecting statistics on for future exams. The handbook is direct about them: they are mixed in with the scored questions, they are not identified, and responses to them do not affect your score. There is no way to game them — the only correct strategy is to treat every question as scored. The handbook also notes there is no penalty for incorrect answers, so an educated guess always beats a blank.
The passing standard, explained
You pass with 70%. That threshold is set by the Connecticut Insurance Department, not by Pearson VUE, and it applies to the scored questions only. Passing candidates are reported simply as “pass” — no numeric score. Failing candidates receive a diagnostic report showing the score by section, which is the tool you use to plan a retake. There is no published Connecticut pass rate for this exam — none is stated in the current handbook or content outline, and any third-party figure you see is unaudited.
Fees and registration, step by step
| What you pay | Amount | Paid to / when |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-licensing course | Set by the provider | Approved provider, before the exam |
| Examination | $105 | Pearson VUE, at reservation |
| License application (individual) | $140 | NIPR, after passing |
NIPR applies its own transaction fee on top of the license fee. Renewal is $160, on a birth-month biennial cycle.
- Complete the 40 hours. Finish the approved pre-licensing course (or secure your waiver) and keep the certificate — you will need it at the door.
- Reserve the exam. Book through Pearson VUE’s Connecticut insurance page or by phone at (866) 407-2057, at least 24 hours before the appointment. There are no walk-ins, and the name on the reservation must match your identification exactly. The $105 exam fee is paid by card or voucher at reservation and is non-refundable.
- Change or cancel at least 48 hours ahead if your plans shift — inside that window, the fee is forfeited.
- Go to a test center. Connecticut exams are in-person only: online testing was discontinued on August 1, 2025. The Connecticut centers are Norwalk, Wallingford, and Wethersfield, and any Pearson VUE center nationally can administer the exam; military installations also offer it.
- Take the exam. You leave with your score report in hand.
- Apply for the license. Wait one to two days (allow up to three) for your pass to post, then apply at www.nipr.com and pay the $140 fee. If NIPR still rejects the application after three days, contact cid.licensing@ct.gov.
- Get appointed. Once licensed, an insurer must appoint you before you can act on its behalf.
The one-year clock runs from your pass date, not from the course or the application — miss it and the license window closes.
Retakes and score validity
- Retakes. A failed candidate waits 24 hours before retaking, and — unlike registration — a retake cannot be reserved at the test center; it must be booked through Pearson VUE. There is no overall limit on attempts, but each attempt costs $105 and the pre-licensing certificate (or waiver) is required again. Use the section diagnostics from the fail report to target the retake — most retakes are won in the Connecticut statutes sections, not in general knowledge.
- Score validity. A passing score is valid for one year. If you do not apply within that year, you must complete the pre-licensing course again and retake the exam.
- Exam security. Exam questions are copyrighted. Copying, reproducing, or distributing them — including from memory after the exam — is prohibited and can lead to scores being cancelled.
Test day
- Arrive 30 minutes early. You will be photographed at check-in.
- Bring two forms of signature identification, and make sure the name matches your reservation exactly. An expired ID has no grace period — a mismatch or expired ID means forfeiture of the exam fee.
- Bring your pre-license certificate. It is a required exam-day material for first-time and retake candidates.
- Sign the Candidate Rules Agreement and complete the on-screen tutorial — the tutorial does not reduce your 150 minutes.
- Personal items are stored outside the testing room. Nothing is allowed in — no bags, phones, notes, or study materials. No eating, drinking, chewing gum, or smoking in the center, and no studying inside the center.
- Breaks are on the clock. Raise your hand for a break; you may not leave the floor or the building during one.
- Pace for 145 questions, not 130. At roughly one minute per question, you have room to work carefully — and with no penalty for wrong answers, leave nothing blank.
- Results are immediate. You leave with an official score report in hand. Scores are not given by phone; a duplicate report is available through your Pearson VUE account login.
- Spanish is available. The exam can be taken in Spanish, with the option to switch to English during the test.
- Accommodations are arranged before reserving. ADA accommodations and extra time for English-as-a-second-language candidates must be approved in advance — do not wait until test day.
How to study for this exam
Connecticut’s exam rewards sequence discipline: the 40-hour course first, the exam second, the application third. Within that frame, study in the exam’s own proportions.
- Build your sequence around the 40-hour course. Treat the course as the first pass over the general outline — property forms, casualty forms, terms, and provisions — and use practice afterward to find the gaps, not to learn the material cold.
- Start the Connecticut sections early. Eighteen of the 30 state questions come from the common section, and it is dense: the Commissioner’s powers, licensing, fiduciary premium accountability, form filing, the Guaranty Association Act and the Brokered Transactions Guaranty Fund, marketing practices including rebating and twisting, and the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act. Do not leave it to the final week.
- Learn Connecticut-only institutions by name. The Insurance Placement Facility (FAIR Plan), the standard fire policy, the Auto Assigned Risk Plan, Connecticut auto requirements, premium financing, surplus lines, workers’ compensation and the Second Injury Fund — these are the questions candidates from other states miss.
- Weight Types of Policies comparatively. The two policy-form sections carry 45 of the 100 general questions. Know what each form covers, excludes, and how it pays — and how the forms differ from each other.
- Learn terms in context, not as vocabulary lists. Terms questions test application — negligence, indemnity, coinsurance, warranties — inside fact patterns, not definitions in isolation.
- Practice full-length against the clock. A 145-question sitting with pretest noise is a stamina event. Train at 150 minutes with breaks on the clock, so the real sitting feels shorter than practice.
- Read every explanation, including for questions you got right. The explanations are where the Connecticut distinctions live — the same fact pattern with a Connecticut rule changes the answer.
- Schedule when your simulations say so, not when your calendar does. Book the exam when full-length simulations are consistently above 70% with margin, not on the first date that feels convenient.
This program’s Connecticut practice bank (10,335 questions, including 2,841 on Connecticut statutes and rules) is built section-by-section on this same outline. The Connecticut Insurance Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table — and the notify list there will email you when enrollment opens. It is exam preparation only: it does not satisfy the 40-hour pre-licensing requirement, which must come from a state-approved provider.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Connecticut P&C exam?
145 on screen: 130 scored and 15 unscored pretest questions. The 130 scored break down as 100 general knowledge (50 property, 50 casualty) and 30 Connecticut-specific.
What score do I need to pass?
70% of the scored questions. Passing is reported simply as “pass” — no numeric score. Failing candidates receive section diagnostics to guide a retake.
Do I need pre-licensing education before I can test?
Yes. Connecticut requires 40 hours of approved pre-licensing training for the combined Property and Casualty Producer exam (20 hours property + 20 hours casualty), and you must bring your certificate to the test center. Designation holders (AAI, ARM, CIC, CPCU) may have the coursework waived with a current Letter of Designation.
How much does the whole process cost?
The exam is $105 (paid to Pearson VUE at reservation) and the license application is $140 (paid to NIPR after passing), plus a NIPR transaction fee. The pre-licensing course is priced separately by the provider. Renewal is $160 on a birth-month biennial cycle.
How do I register for the exam?
Through Pearson VUE’s Connecticut insurance page or by phone at (866) 407-2057, at least 24 hours before the appointment. There are no walk-ins, and the name on the reservation must match your identification exactly.
Can I take the exam online?
No. Connecticut discontinued online exams on August 1, 2025. Testing is in person at Pearson VUE centers — Norwalk, Wallingford, and Wethersfield in Connecticut, or any Pearson VUE center nationally, plus military installations.
What happens after I pass?
Wait one to two days (allow up to three) for your pass to post, then apply for the license at www.nipr.com and pay the $140 fee. You have one year from your pass date to apply; after that, you must redo the course and retake the exam. Once licensed, an insurer must appoint you before you can act on its behalf.
How long is my passing score valid?
One year from the pass date.
What if I fail?
You wait 24 hours, then retake — booked through Pearson VUE, not at the test center. There is no overall limit on attempts, but each attempt costs $105 and the pre-licensing certificate (or waiver) is required again. Use the section diagnostics from your fail report to target the retake.
Is there a published pass rate for this exam?
No. Neither the Connecticut Insurance Department nor Pearson VUE publishes a pass rate for this exam, and any third-party figure you see is unaudited.
Am I exempt from the exam if I hold a professional designation?
CPCU holders may have the examination requirement itself waived with a current Letter of Designation. AAI, ARM, and CIC holders receive the coursework waiver but must still pass the exam.
What Connecticut-specific topics should I focus on?
The common section (18 of the 30 state questions): the Commissioner and CID, licensing, agent responsibilities, form filing, the Guaranty Association Act and the Brokered Transactions Guaranty Fund, marketing practices, and the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act — plus the property-only and casualty-only sections: the FAIR Plan, the standard fire policy, Connecticut auto requirements, premium financing, surplus lines, and workers’ compensation.
Is the exam available in Spanish?
Yes. The exam can be taken in Spanish, with the option to switch to English during the test.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Connecticut Insurance Department, Pearson VUE, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Connecticut licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Connecticut Insurance Department and Pearson VUE publications govern if anything here differs from them.