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The Illinois P&C exams, in one paragraph
Illinois licenses Property and Casualty producers through four separate Pearson VUE exams — Property General, Property State, Casualty General, and Casualty State — and you need all four, because the license itself covers both lines. Each exam is scored separately at a passing score of 70, the four together carry 167 scored questions plus 20 pretest questions, and the pairings matter: pass a General exam and you have 90 days to pass its State exam before that General pass expires. Before you can test at all, you need 20 hours of pre-licensing education per line, delivered by a state-approved provider, and Pearson VUE administers all four exams for the Illinois Department of Insurance.
Who can take the Illinois P&C exams?
Illinois keeps the front door simple. The requirements are:
- Be at least 18 years old. You must be 18 or older to hold a producer license.
- Complete pre-licensing education first. You need 20 hours per line — 20 for Property, 20 for Casualty — from an approved provider, and at least 7.5 hours of each line must be classroom instruction (the rest may be self-study). A person with a recognized professional designation, such as AAI, ARM, CIC, or CPCU, is exempt from the education requirement.
- Hold a signed education completion certificate. You must have the certificate in hand when you take the exam, and bring it to the test center if you are a first-time candidate.
- Use the certificate within its window. Education is valid for 12 months from completion: you must pass both exams in a line within 12 months of finishing that line’s education, or complete the education again.
- Pass the exams. Each exam requires a scaled score of 70 or above, and the Department of Insurance will not issue the license until all four exams are passed (215 ILCS 5/500-25).
- Answer the background questions honestly. The license application asks about criminal history, prior license actions, and child-support or tax obligations. A “yes” answer does not automatically disqualify you, but you will need to submit supporting documentation through the NIPR Attachment Warehouse.
- Fingerprints are not required for producers. Illinois does not fingerprint insurance producers. Fingerprinting belongs to a different license: the Public Adjuster license requires fingerprints and a separate Public Adjuster exam.
Three situations that change the path:
- Professional designations. Holders of AAI, ARM, CIC, CPCU, and certain other designations are exempt from pre-licensing education, but not from the exams.
- New residents. If you are already licensed in another state, you may apply for an Illinois license without retaking exams, provided you apply within 90 days of moving and present a Letter of Clearance from your former home state.
- Surety bond. Resident producers must be covered by a surety bond of $2,500 or 5% of premiums handled, up to $50,000, under 215 ILCS 5/500-95. This is an appointment and licensing condition, not an exam requirement, but it is one of the reasons a new license can stall after passing.
The exams, piece by piece
Each exam is built from the Illinois Department of Insurance’s published content outlines (publication #121402, effective January 1, 2026). Every outline splits into a General section, which covers the subject matter itself, and a State section, which covers Illinois law and regulation. The four exams differ only in which lines they cover and in the details of their State sections. The full picture:
| Exam | Code | Scored | Pretest | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property General | GEN-Prop03 | 50 | 5 | 75 minutes |
| Property State | STATE-Prop03 | 30 | 5 | 50 minutes |
| Casualty General | GEN-Cas04 | 50 | 5 | 75 minutes |
| Casualty State | STATE-Cas04 | 37 | 5 | 55 minutes |
| Total | 167 | 20 | 255 minutes |
Property General — 50 scored questions
| Section | Questions |
|---|---|
| Types of Policies | 22 |
| Insurance Terms and Related Concepts | 15 |
| Policy Provisions and Contract Law | 13 |
Casualty General — 50 scored questions
| Section | Questions |
|---|---|
| Types of Policies, Bonds, and Related Terms | 23 |
| Insurance Terms and Related Concepts | 15 |
| Policy Provisions and Contract Law | 12 |
Property State — 30 scored questions
| Section | Questions |
|---|---|
| Illinois Statutes and Rules Common to Property and Casualty Insurance | 22 |
| Illinois Statutes and Rules Pertinent to Property and Casualty Insurance Only | 5 |
| Illinois Statutes and Rules Pertinent to Property Insurance Only | 3 |
Property Only topics include the Illinois FAIR Plan and mine subsidence insurance, both named in the outline. The Common section — which is shared word-for-word with the Casualty State exam — covers the Illinois Insurance Code, producer licensing, unfair trade practices, and the Guaranty Fund.
Casualty State — 37 scored questions
| Section | Questions |
|---|---|
| Illinois Statutes and Rules Common to Property and Casualty Insurance | 22 |
| Illinois Statutes and Rules Pertinent to Property and Casualty Insurance Only | 5 |
| Illinois Statutes and Rules Pertinent to Casualty Insurance Only | 10 |
Casualty Only topics include the Illinois Automobile Insurance Plan and the Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Pool, both named in the outline. The Common and P&C Only sections are identical to Property State’s — learn them once, and they count twice.
Four structural facts follow from those tables, and they shape how you should study:
- Illinois law is 40% of the whole license. The two State exams total 67 scored questions out of 167 — just over two-fifths of everything you will face.
- Common sections repeat. The 22-question Common section appears in both State exams, and the 5-question P&C Only section appears in both as well. That is 27 questions, counted twice, that you study once.
- Each exam stands alone. You can take the four exams in any order, at any time, but the 90-day clock starts the moment you pass a General exam — pair it with its State exam promptly (§7).
- Small sections still matter. The 3-question Property Only and 10-question Casualty Only sections are narrow — FAIR Plan, mine subsidence, the Automobile Insurance Plan, the Assigned Risk Pool — but they are named in the outline and they are easy marks if you know them.
Pretest questions. Each exam mixes in 5 unscored pretest questions, for 20 in total. They are indistinguishable from scored questions, they do not affect your score, and you cannot tell which ones they are — treat every question as if it counts.
The passing standard, explained
You pass each Illinois exam with a score of 70. That is a scaled score, not a percentage: Pearson VUE converts your raw result onto a 0–100 scale, so a score of 70 does not mean you answered 70% of the questions correctly, and a score of 69 does not mean you missed by one question.
Illinois scores each exam the same way, with two practical consequences:
- Do not convert your score to a question count. Because the scale is standardized, two candidates who answer the same number of questions correctly can receive different scaled scores, depending on which questions they answered. The number that matters is the scaled score, and the line is 70.
- Your score report is immediate. You leave the test center with a score report in hand: a passing score means that exam is done, and a failing score means you know, on the spot, which exam to retake.
A note on pass rates: Illinois does not publish a first-time pass rate for these exams, and neither does Pearson VUE. Any number you see quoted elsewhere is either an estimate or belongs to another state. The useful benchmark is the structure itself: 167 scored questions, four separate 70-point hurdles, and 40% of the content drawn from Illinois law.
Fees and registration, step by step
Three payments stand between you and a license, and they go to three different places:
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exam fee | $92 per exam | Pearson VUE | At reservation |
| License fee | $215 every two years, prorated | Illinois Department of Insurance, via NIPR | After passing |
| Pre-licensing education | Provider-set | Your education provider | Before testing |
The exam fee, honestly totaled. The $92 exam fee is per exam, but Illinois lets you reserve a line’s General and State exams on the same order for a single $92 fee — the pair counts as one reservation. So the honest totals are: $184 for all four exams, reserved as two pairs, or $368 if you reserve each exam separately. Budget the paired figure, and treat the separate figure as what happens if you test one exam at a time.
The sequence, in order:
- Complete pre-licensing education. Finish 20 hours per line from an approved provider, with at least 7.5 classroom hours per line, and keep your signed completion certificate.
- Reserve your exams through Pearson VUE. Book through the Pearson VUE Illinois insurance page or by phone at (800) 274-0402, at least 24 hours in advance. Reserve each line’s General and State exams on the same order to pay one $92 fee per pair.
- Choose your sittings. You may take a pair back-to-back in one visit, or on separate days — but remember the 90-day clock: once you pass a General exam, you have 90 days to pass its State exam. Exams are also available in Spanish.
- Take the exams. Arrive 30 minutes early with two forms of ID and, if you are a first-time candidate, your education completion certificate.
- Wait five days. Illinois requires a five-day waiting period after passing before you can apply for the license.
- Apply through NIPR. Submit your license application and pay the $215 fee, prorated to your birth-month expiry, through the National Insurance Producer Registry.
- Get appointed. An insurer must appoint you within 30 days of your license issuing, or the appointment — and, in practice, the license’s usefulness — is cancelled. Line up your appointing carrier before you apply, not after.
Exam fees are non-refundable, and you may reschedule or cancel without penalty up to 48 hours before your appointment. Miss that window and the fee is forfeit.
After you pass
- Two clocks are running. The 12-month education window and the 90-day pairing window both start ticking before you ever sit for an exam. Plan your exam dates so that neither expires mid-sequence: finish education, then test promptly.
- Your license runs two years. It expires on the last day of your birth month, two years after issue, and renewal costs $215 plus continuing education. The first renewal is prorated to that birth-month cycle.
- Adding a line later is simple. If you license in one line first and add the other later, you complete that line’s education and pass its two exams. There is no state amendment fee for adding a line — only the exam fees and the education cost.
Retakes and score validity
- Retake only what you failed. Each exam is independent. Failing Property State does not touch your Property General pass, and vice versa.
- Wait 24 hours. You may retake a failed exam after a 24-hour waiting period, paying the exam fee again for each attempt. You do not need a new education certificate to retake, as long as the 12-month window is still open.
- No published attempt limit. Illinois does not publish a maximum number of attempts, but the 90-day pairing window and the 12-month education window limit retakes in practice. Fail a General exam repeatedly and the clock is not running; fail its State exam repeatedly and a passed General exam can expire.
- A passed exam is not retaken. Once you pass an exam, that pass stands until its window expires. You never retake a passed exam to improve a score.
Test day
- Arrive 30 minutes early. Late arrivals may be turned away and the fee forfeited.
- Bring two forms of ID. Both must show your name exactly as it appears on your reservation, and one must be a government-issued photo ID.
- First-time candidates bring the certificate. If this is your first time taking an Illinois insurance exam, bring your signed pre-licensing education completion certificate.
- Personal items stay outside. Phones, bags, and study materials are stored outside the testing room. Erasable notebooks are provided. No dictionaries, and breaks stop the clock — there is no pause button.
- Use the tutorial. The on-screen tutorial before the exam does not count against your time. Take it, even if you have tested before, and leave with your score report in hand.
How to study for these exams
The structure of the Illinois exams suggests the study order. Work in this sequence and the 167 scored questions break into manageable pieces:
- Sequence around the certificate. Your 12-month clock starts when you finish education, not when you book an exam. Do not finish education months before you are ready to test.
- Learn the shared sections once. The Common section (22 questions) and the P&C Only section (5 questions) appear in both State exams. Master them and you have covered 27 questions in each State exam — 54 scored questions in total — for the price of one study pass.
- Give Illinois law its 40% weight. State exams are 67 of 167 scored questions. If your study time is split evenly between General and State material, you are underweighting the law that decides two-fifths of the license.
- Drill the small named sections. The FAIR Plan, mine subsidence, the Illinois Automobile Insurance Plan, and the Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Pool are small — 3 and 10 questions — but they are named in the outlines and they are the easiest marks on the State exams.
- Practice in the two untimed mirror forms. General exams run 75 minutes for 55 questions seen (50 scored + 5 pretest); State exams run 50 minutes for 35 seen (Property) and 55 minutes for 42 seen (Casualty). Pace yourself against those real sittings if you wish — the practice forms impose no clock.
- Read every explanation. The outlines are public and the topics are stable. The difference between a pass and a retake is rarely a new topic — it is a familiar topic answered carelessly.
This program’s Illinois practice bank is built to that structure: every question is tagged to its exam and section, so you can drill the Common section once and watch it count in both State exams. The Illinois Insurance Exam Prep program page shows the full breakdown.
Verified questions
Every question in this program is original — written for PassProfessor from the official exam blueprint, never copied from a test bank or another provider’s materials. Before enrollment opened, each answer key was independently verified: reviewers re-answered sampled questions blind, disagreements were settled against the primary sources, and every numeric answer was recomputed from first principles. Questions whose facts could not be confirmed were removed, and the bank passed a text-overlap screen. Practice exams draw a fresh, blueprint-weighted set from the full bank on every attempt, so no two practice exams are the same.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Illinois P&C exams?
167 scored questions across four exams, plus 20 pretest questions: Property General 50 scored, Property State 30, Casualty General 50, Casualty State 37. You will see 187 questions in total.
Is there a combined Property & Casualty exam?
No. Illinois splits the license into four separate exams, and you must pass all four. There is no single combined exam, and a pass in one line does not cover the other.
What is the passing score?
70 on each exam, on Pearson VUE’s 0–100 scaled score. It is not a percentage of questions answered correctly.
Does Illinois require pre-licensing education?
Yes — 20 hours per line, with at least 7.5 classroom hours per line, from an approved provider. Holders of professional designations such as AAI, ARM, CIC, or CPCU are exempt from the education requirement, but not from the exams.
How much does it cost to get licensed?
Exam fees total $184 if you reserve each line’s General and State exams as a pair ($92 per pair), or $368 if you reserve each exam separately. Add the $215 license fee, prorated to your birth-month expiry, plus your education provider’s fee.
How do I register for the exams?
Through Pearson VUE’s Illinois insurance page, or by phone at (800) 274-0402, at least 24 hours in advance. You must have completed pre-licensing education first and hold your signed certificate.
Can I take the exams online?
The candidate handbook lists test-center delivery, and Pearson VUE’s Illinois page is the authority on current delivery options. Earlier Illinois materials described an online option; do not assume it is still available — confirm delivery when you book.
What happens after I pass?
Wait five days, then apply through NIPR and pay the $215 license fee, prorated to your birth-month expiry. Line up an appointing insurer before you apply: the appointment must be in place within 30 days of the license issuing, or it is cancelled.
How long are my passes valid?
A General exam pass is valid for 90 days, within which you must pass its State exam. Education is valid for 12 months, within which you must pass both exams in the line. Both windows matter; the shorter one usually decides your schedule.
If I fail an exam, how soon can I retake it?
After 24 hours, paying the exam fee again. You retake only the exam you failed, and you do not need a new education certificate as long as the 12-month window is still open.
Are producers fingerprinted in Illinois?
No. Illinois does not fingerprint insurance producers. Fingerprinting is required for the Public Adjuster license, which is a separate license with its own exam.
What Illinois-specific topics appear on the State exams?
The Common section covers the Illinois Insurance Code, producer licensing, unfair trade practices, and the Guaranty Fund. Property Only adds the Illinois FAIR Plan and mine subsidence insurance; Casualty Only adds the Illinois Automobile Insurance Plan and the Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Pool.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Illinois Department of Insurance, Pearson VUE, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Illinois licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Illinois Department of Insurance and Pearson VUE publications govern if anything here differs from them.
Exam change alert: Illinois outline and law changes January 1, 2027
Pearson VUE’s Illinois supplement carries a separate outline set for exams on or after January 1, 2027, when FAIR Plan and cancellation amendments also take effect. Read the Illinois insurance exam changes page