PassProfessor’s Kentucky program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The 8,944-question Kentucky 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 Kentucky P&C exams, in one paragraph
Kentucky licenses property and casualty agents through two separate examinations administered by the Kentucky Department of Insurance itself — there is no Pearson VUE, PSI, or Prometric in this state, and there is no combined property and casualty exam. The Kentucky Property Insurance Examination and the Kentucky Casualty Insurance Examination each contain 50 scored questions drawn from the Department’s published study outlines, and you pass each one by answering 70% of its questions correctly — a straight percentage, not a scaled score. Kentucky also requires 40 hours of approved pre-licensing education for the two lines (20 hours per line) before you test, and it takes your license application, fees, certificate, and court background report before it lets you schedule either exam. Pass both exams inside your application’s 120-day window and the licensing file you already built is completed; print your certificate through eServices and get appointed.
Who can take the Kentucky P&C exams?
Kentucky’s requirements sit in KRS 304.9-105 and 806 KAR 9:025. Before the Department will approve a resident individual agent application, the commissioner must find that you:
- Are at least 18 years old.
- Meet Kentucky’s residence requirements for a resident license (nonresidents licensed in good standing in their home state apply through a separate, exam-free reciprocal route — see below).
- Have not committed an act that is a ground for denial, suspension, or revocation under KRS 304.9-440. The Department does not pre-screen anyone’s history: per its Licensing FAQ, it has no authority to review a criminal record before an application is submitted, and each record is reviewed case by case once the full application is filed.
- Have completed the required pre-licensing course of study — the education requirement in the next paragraph.
- Are competent to exercise the license.
The pre-licensing education requirement is real, and it comes first. An individual applying for an agent license must complete a pre-licensing course of study approved by the commissioner: 40 hours for property and casualty insurance, or 20 hours for each line of authority you are applying for. A candidate seeking only the property line takes 20 hours; a candidate seeking both lines — the normal property and casualty path — takes 40. Courses, providers, and instructors must be Department-approved before the course is offered, and the approved course must cover the subject matter in the Department’s current study outlines. Your provider reports your completion to the Department electronically, and you receive a signed, dated Certificate of Completion (Form CPL-01) — certificates are invalid without the signature and date. A pre-licensing course of study is valid for one year from the date of completion, so the clock between finishing your course and passing your exams is one year, whatever else happens.
The background step is a court report, not fingerprints. If you are designating Kentucky as your home state, your application file includes a criminal background report from the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). You order it online through the Kentucky Court of Justice (kycourts.gov) — the AOCFastCheck route lets you retrieve results online; a one-time request returns the report by mail. The AOC report is valid for 60 days, and a new application requires a new report, so timing matters: order it close to when you file. Results are housed on the Court of Justice website for both you and the Department to retrieve; they are not emailed. Kentucky does not fingerprint producer applicants, and there is no Kentucky State Police or FBI fingerprint channel in this process — if a website tells you to book a fingerprint appointment for a Kentucky producer license, it is describing another state’s process.
Two routes that skip some or all of this. Nonresidents who hold the same license class and lines of authority in their home state apply through NIPR as nonresident applicants and are not required to complete Kentucky pre-licensing education or take Kentucky’s examinations. And Kentucky has a temporary agent license (180 days, nonrenewable) that requires neither the examination nor the pre-licensing course — it is a narrow bridge used in specific circumstances, not the standard resident path, and it does not remove the exam requirement for the regular license.
The exams, piece by piece
The Department builds each exam from its own published study outline — a unit-by-unit table of contents for the Kentucky License Exam Manual, with the number of scored questions each unit contributes printed on the outline. The two exams share four foundation units, then split: the Property exam goes deep on property forms and commercial property, the Casualty exam on liability, auto, and workers’ compensation. Each exam ends with a Kentucky Law unit drawn from the Insurance Code.
The Property exam — 50 scored questions
| Unit | Scored questions |
|---|---|
| Unit 1 — Principles of Insurance | 3 |
| Unit 2 — The Insurance Contract | 3 |
| Unit 3 — Insurance Company Organization and Regulation | 1 |
| Unit 4 — The Insurance Transaction | 3 |
| Unit 5 — Introduction to Property Insurance | 4 |
| Dwelling Insurance | 2 |
| Homeowners Insurance | 5 |
| Personal Auto Insurance | 3 |
| Miscellaneous Personal Insurance (including flood and FAIR Plans) | 4 |
| The Commercial Package Policy | 3 |
| The Businessowners Policy | 3 |
| Commercial Property Insurance | 3 |
| Ocean and Inland Marine Insurance | 2 |
| Commercial Crime Insurance | 3 |
| Miscellaneous Commercial Insurance | 4 |
| Insurance Code — Kentucky Law | 4 |
| Total scored | 50 |
The Casualty exam — 50 scored questions
| Unit | Scored questions |
|---|---|
| Unit 1 — Principles of Insurance | 4 |
| Unit 2 — The Insurance Contract | 4 |
| Unit 3 — Insurance Company Organization and Regulation | 1 |
| Unit 4 — The Insurance Transaction | 4 |
| Unit 6 — Introduction to Liability Insurance | 4 |
| Homeowners Insurance | 2 |
| Personal Auto Insurance | 5 |
| Miscellaneous Personal Insurance | 2 |
| The Commercial Package Policy | 2 |
| The Businessowners Policy | 2 |
| Commercial General Liability Insurance | 4 |
| Commercial Auto Insurance | 2 |
| Commercial Crime Insurance | 1 |
| Workers’ Compensation | 5 |
| Miscellaneous Commercial Insurance | 3 |
| Insurance Code — Kentucky Law | 5 |
| Total scored | 50 |
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- The shared foundations are the largest block on both exams. Principles of Insurance, The Insurance Contract, Company Organization and Regulation, and The Insurance Transaction together are 10 of 50 questions on the Property exam and 13 of 50 on the Casualty exam. The same four units, studied once, pay off twice.
- Each exam has its own center of gravity. On the Property exam, homeowners (5) plus the property and commercial-property units dominate. On the Casualty exam, personal auto (5) and workers’ compensation (5) are the joint-heaviest units, with liability and commercial general liability behind them. A candidate who studies “property and casualty” as one undifferentiated subject will be over-prepared in the middle and under-prepared at both exams’ heavy ends.
- Kentucky law is on both exams — 4 questions on Property, 5 on Casualty, 9 of the 100 questions in total. The Kentucky Law units test the Insurance Code itself: its scope, general definitions and provisions (KRS 304.1), the definition of property insurance (KRS 304.5-050), and agent licensing under KRS 304.9 — including suspension and revocation (KRS 304.9-440) and the duty to report criminal or administrative actions (KRS 304.9-467). The Property outline also places FAIR Plans inside Miscellaneous Personal Insurance, and the law material covers the Kentucky Insurance Guaranty Association — the mechanism that protects policyholders when an insurer becomes insolvent. Nine questions is nearly a tenth of your combined result, drawn from the most concrete, most memorizable material either exam tests.
A note on what the Department does not publish. The study outlines specify the 50 scored questions per exam and describe every one of them as scorable; the Department publishes no pretest or unscored-item policy for these exams, and its outlines and examination schedule do not state a per-exam time limit. Your scheduling confirmation in eServices is the document to check for your appointment’s logistics. What is certain is the count, the units, and the 70% standard below.
The passing standard, explained
You pass each exam by answering correctly 70 percent of its questions — 806 KAR 9:025 states the rule in those terms, for every licensing examination Kentucky gives.
That plainness is worth understanding, because most states do something more complicated. Kentucky does not use a scaled score. There is no conversion table, no equating across exam forms, no “70 on a scale that isn’t a percentage.” Seventy percent of 50 questions is 35 correct answers, on the Property exam and on the Casualty exam alike. Two consequences follow:
- Your practice scores translate directly. A candidate consistently scoring in the high 70s and 80s on full, outline-weighted practice exams for a given line is practicing above the line Kentucky actually draws. There is no scaling gap to guess at.
- Each exam stands alone. The two results are never averaged. A 90% on Property does nothing for a 66% on Casualty; the casualty line is earned only by passing the Casualty exam. Prepare and measure yourself per exam, not in the aggregate — it is possible to be ready for one of these exams a full study cycle before you are ready for the other.
Your result is immediate. All Kentucky examinations are computerized and graded upon completion, and your result may be viewed at the testing site before you leave. Testing facilities are not equipped for printing; your exam results — and, once issued, your license certificate — are printed from your eServices account.
The Department does not publish a pass rate for these examinations, so any percentage you see quoted elsewhere for “the Kentucky insurance exam pass rate” is not an official figure. What the outline does tell you is that the exam is narrow and knowable: 50 questions, published unit weights, a fixed body of Kentucky law. Candidates who prepare against the outline are preparing against the actual test specification.
Fees and registration, step by step
Kentucky’s sequence runs in the opposite order from most states: you apply first, and the exam comes after your application is processed. Keep the three payments separate — they happen at different steps.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to / through | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| License application — resident individual agent | $40 for the license class, plus $40 per line of authority ($120 total for property + casualty) | The Department, via your NIPR application | Before scheduling (fees are submitted prior to scheduling an examination) |
| Examination fee | $50 per exam — or $50 combined for Property and Casualty when taken at the same time | The Department | With scheduling / per the Department’s fee schedule |
| Retake fee | $50 for each scheduled retake | The Department (Form 8304 / eServices) | Only if you need one |
| AOC criminal background report | The AOC’s online fee | Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, via kycourts.gov | With your application file |
The Department’s Fee Summary states the examination fee exactly: $50 per exam, for a retake, or for failure to appear at a scheduled exam — and, in the same item, that Property and Casualty is a combined examination fee of $50 when taken at the same time. Form 8304, the Department’s own retake form, says the same thing. If you intend to hold both lines, requesting the two examinations together halves your examination cost.
The sequence, in order:
- Complete your pre-licensing education. Finish the approved 40-hour property and casualty course (or 20 hours for a single line) and make sure your signed, dated Certificate of Completion is on file with the Department — providers report completions electronically, but the Department’s FAQ is explicit that ensuring the certificate is on file is your responsibility. You may fax, email, or upload it through eServices if required.
- Order your AOC criminal background report through kycourts.gov (AOCFastCheck), selecting the licensing category for the Department of Insurance. Remember its 60-day validity when you time this step: too early and it can expire before your file is complete; a new application requires a new report.
- Apply through NIPR. Submit the electronic application at nipr.com and pay the license fees ($40 for the class plus $40 per line). Fees are non-refundable once the transaction is submitted, so confirm you have selected the agent (producer) license and the correct lines before you pay.
- Wait for processing, then create your eServices account. Allow up to 5 business days for Department staff to review and process the application, background report, and pre-licensing certification. Do not create your eServices account until at least 24 hours after your NIPR submission — an account created before your application reaches the Department’s system will not be the proper type of account.
- Schedule your examinations through eServices. All scheduling, rescheduling, and retake scheduling runs through your secure eServices account. Testing is by appointment only — walk-ins are not accepted — at the Department’s Division of Licensing in the Mayo-Underwood Building in Frankfort and at community and technical college testing sites statewide (including Ashland, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Florence, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Lexington, London, Louisville, Madisonville, Maysville, Middlesboro, Owensboro, Paducah, and Somerset, on the days each site publishes). Exam seats are limited and fill quickly. There is no remote or online-proctored option: Kentucky testing is in person at these sites.
- Take the exams. Arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled time, with a valid driver’s license or other government-issued photo identification. Results are graded on completion and viewable at the site.
Appointments rules worth money: changes to an exam appointment should be made 24 business hours before the scheduled time; failing to report for a scheduled appointment without prior notice to Licensing may forfeit the $50 examination fee. If you are sick on exam day, call Licensing at 502-564-6004 to reschedule at no additional cost. Special accommodations must be approved by Licensing before you schedule — request them by email to DOI.LicensingMail@ky.gov.
After you pass
Because Kentucky front-loads the application, passing is close to the finish line rather than the starting gate:
- Your results post to your record, and exam results and license certificates may be printed from your eServices account — the testing site cannot print them for you.
- Once you have passed the examinations for the lines on your application, your license is issued on the file you already submitted: application, fees, certificate, and background report are already with the Department. Print your license certificate and pocket ID card from eServices.
- Get appointed. A license gives you the authority; an insurer appointment is what lets you sell, solicit, or negotiate that insurer’s products. Appointments are arranged with each carrier you will represent, and resident individual appointment fees run $40 per insurer (with property and casualty treated as one appointment-fee group when processed at the same time, per the Fee Summary).
- Mind the clocks that keep running. Your license renews biennially, tied to your birth month, and resident agents complete 24 hours of continuing education per compliance period, including 3 hours in ethics — a requirement that begins with your first renewal cycle, not a concern for exam day, but worth knowing before you build a book of business on the license.
Retakes and score validity
- Retakes are unlimited — inside a fixed window. An applicant may test an unlimited number of times within a 120-day timeline. The expiration date appears in eServices and on your initial examination notice. Every attempt must land inside that window; when it closes, the application cycle ends and a new application (with a new AOC background report) is required.
- Each retake costs $50. To retake, submit Form 8304 (Examination Retake Form) with the applicable examination fee, or pay and reschedule through eServices. Applicants who do not pass may pay the retake fee and reschedule through eServices — but examinations cannot be rescheduled for the same day.
- You retake only what you failed. The exams are separate, so a pass is banked: pass Property, fail Casualty, and your retake plan is a Casualty plan. Use the unit-by-unit structure of your preparation to rebuild around the units that cost you — a second attempt with the same preparation usually produces the same result.
- The other clocks. Your pre-licensing course remains valid for one year from completion, and your AOC background report for 60 days. In practice the 120-day testing window is the binding constraint for most candidates; the one-year certificate validity is what punishes letting multiple application cycles lapse.
Test day
- Arrive 15 minutes early. If you fail to arrive by your scheduled test time, you may forfeit your placement at the testing site due to availability — and a no-show without prior notice to Licensing may forfeit your $50 fee.
- Bring government-issued photo identification — a valid driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID is required to take any exam. No visitors are allowed inside during testing.
- Leave everything else in your vehicle. The Department’s instruction is explicit: lock all personal belongings inside your vehicle — purse, laptop, study materials, cellphones, and smart watches included.
- Your exam is computerized and graded on completion. You will know your result at the site. Printing happens later, from eServices — plan to log in at home rather than asking the facility.
- Feeling sick? Call, don’t just stay home. The Department will reschedule a sick candidate at no additional cost if you call Licensing at 502-564-6004; a silent no-show risks the fee and the slot.
- Seat scarcity is real. The Department warns that exam seats are limited and fill up quickly; if your preferred date and time show unavailable, choose another location, date, or time rather than waiting for it to open.
How to study for these exams
The Department publishes the syllabus itself: the study outlines above are question counts, not suggestions, and a plan built on them looks like this.
- Sequence your studying with your required course. Kentucky’s 40 hours of pre-licensing education must cover the same study-outline subject matter — that is a condition of course approval. Use the course for first exposure, then test yourself unit by unit against the outline while the material is fresh. Our Kentucky practice bank is organized on these same units for exactly this pairing; note that practice is preparation only and earns none of the 40 hours.
- Study the shared foundations once, thoroughly. Principles of Insurance, The Insurance Contract, Company Organization and Regulation, and The Insurance Transaction are 23 of the 100 questions across the two exams. Risk, insurable interest, contract elements, binders, rating, and the transaction rules are the vocabulary everything else is written in.
- Then split your plan by exam. Property candidates: homeowners is your single heaviest unit (5), with property fundamentals, miscellaneous personal, and miscellaneous commercial behind it. Casualty candidates: personal auto and workers’ compensation (5 each) plus liability fundamentals and commercial general liability are where your exam is decided. Sitting per-exam practice tests — not only combined ones — shows you each line’s true position against its own 70% line.
- Give Kentucky law its own block. Nine questions across the two exams come from the Insurance Code unit, and the FAIR Plan and guaranty association material sits in the outlines alongside it. This is statute-and-definition material: licensing rules, discipline, producer duties, cancellation and reporting requirements. It rewards flashcards and repetition more than any other block, and it is the block national study materials — written for vendor exams in other states — cover worst. Our bank holds 1,450 Kentucky-law questions precisely so this block can be drilled to automatic.
- Respect the 120-day window. From the day your application opens it, the clock runs whether you study or not. Build your study plan backward from a first-attempt date that leaves room for a retake inside the same window, and schedule while seats exist.
- Practice at full length. Fifty questions is a short exam, which means every miss is 2% of your score. Full simulated exams per line — scored against 70%, reviewed explanation by explanation — are the closest rehearsal for the arithmetic of a short test: there is no long tail of easy questions to recover in.
This program’s Kentucky practice bank (8,944 questions, including 1,450 on Kentucky law) is built unit-by-unit on these same outlines, with generated practice exams available for the Property exam, the Casualty exam, or both combined. The Kentucky Insurance Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table — and the notify list there will email you when enrollment opens.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Kentucky property and casualty exams?
Each exam has 50 scored questions: 50 on the Property exam and 50 on the separate Casualty exam, per the Department of Insurance’s published study outlines. There is no combined Kentucky P&C exam.
What is the passing score for the Kentucky insurance exams?
70% of the questions answered correctly on each exam — 35 of 50 — under 806 KAR 9:025. Kentucky uses a straight percentage, not a scaled score, and each exam must be passed on its own.
Does Kentucky require pre-licensing education?
Yes. A Department-approved course of 40 hours for property and casualty together, or 20 hours for each line of authority you apply for, completed before the examination (KRS 304.9-105; 806 KAR 9:025). The certificate of completion is valid for one year.
Does PassProfessor count toward the 40 hours?
No. This program is exam preparation only — it provides no education credit and does not satisfy Kentucky’s pre-licensing course requirement. Complete your approved course for the certificate; use practice to pass the exams.
How much do the Kentucky P&C exams cost?
$50 per exam — except that Property and Casualty carry a combined examination fee of $50 when taken at the same time, per the Department’s Fee Summary. Keep that separate from the license fees: $40 for the resident individual agent license class plus $40 per line of authority ($120 for both lines), paid with your NIPR application. Retakes are $50 each.
Who administers the Kentucky insurance exams?
The Kentucky Department of Insurance itself, at its Frankfort office and community and technical college testing sites statewide. Kentucky contracts with no national testing vendor.
How do I register for the Kentucky insurance exams?
In Kentucky’s order: complete your pre-licensing course, order your AOC background report, apply and pay through NIPR, allow up to 5 business days for processing, create your eServices account (at least 24 hours after the NIPR submission), and schedule through eServices. Walk-ins are not accepted.
Do I need fingerprints for a Kentucky insurance license?
No. Kentucky does not fingerprint producer applicants. Applicants designating Kentucky as their home state submit a criminal background report from the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, ordered through kycourts.gov; it is valid for 60 days.
Can I take the Kentucky insurance exam online?
No. Kentucky licensing examinations are taken in person, by appointment, at the Department’s published testing sites.
What happens after I pass?
Your application file is already with the Department — that is how Kentucky sequences it — so passing the exams for your applied lines completes the licensing requirements, and your license certificate can be printed from eServices. You then need an appointment with each insurer whose products you will sell.
If I fail, how soon can I retake?
You may test an unlimited number of times within your application’s 120-day timeline. Each retake costs $50 (Form 8304 or eServices), and an examination cannot be rescheduled for the same day you took it.
How long is my application good for?
The testing window is 120 days from your application cycle (the expiration date is shown in eServices and on your initial examination notice). Your pre-licensing certificate is valid for one year; your AOC background report for 60 days.
What Kentucky-specific topics do the exams cover?
The Kentucky Law unit of each exam (4 questions on Property, 5 on Casualty) tests the Kentucky Insurance Code — its scope and definitions, agent licensing and discipline under KRS 304.9, and reporting duties — and the outlines also test Kentucky institutions including the FAIR Plan and the Kentucky Insurance Guaranty Association.
Is there a temporary license in Kentucky?
Yes — a temporary agent license runs 180 days and is nonrenewable, and it requires neither the examination nor the pre-licensing course. It is a narrow bridge, not the standard path to the regular license, which always requires both exams.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Kentucky Department of Insurance or any state agency. This guide is general information about the Kentucky licensing exams, current as of October 2026; Kentucky Department of Insurance publications govern if anything here differs from them.