Tennessee licenses public adjusters under Title 56, Chapter 6, Part 9 of the Tennessee Code, through the Department of Commerce and Insurance. The Pearson VUE Tennessee Public Adjuster examination carries 50 scored questions in one hour, and its outline, effective October 15, 2025, gives Tennessee laws and regulations for public adjusters the largest single weight at 30%. Licensure also carries a $50,000 bond and $500,000 of errors and omissions coverage. PassProfessor’s Tennessee program is in the works.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
Tennessee’s public adjuster license is the most law-forward license in this family. Its examination outline, effective October 15, 2025, gives Tennessee laws and regulations a full 30% of a fifty-question sitting — fifteen questions on the candidate’s own state’s rules — and the license behind the examination carries the heaviest financial-responsibility filings in the batch: a $50,000 bond and a $500,000 errors and omissions policy. PassProfessor’s Tennessee Public Adjuster program is in the works as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, built on Pearson VUE’s handbook and outline and on Part 9 of the Tennessee Code, which is where this license lives.
Which license is this?
This page covers the Tennessee Public Adjuster license issued by TDCI under Title 56, Chapter 6, Part 9. It is not Tennessee’s insurer-side adjusting work and not a producer license: the public adjuster is retained by the insured, and Part 9 — not the producer parts of Chapter 6 — supplies the license’s definition, its examination, its fee caps, and its contract rules. The outline’s construction says the same thing from the examination side: a candidate is tested on Tennessee public adjuster law first among equals, because the license is a creature of that law in a way producer licenses are not.
What will the program cover?
Practice in the examination’s own shape. The Tennessee Public Adjuster examination is a computer-based, multiple-choice examination, and the program in the works practises in that shape throughout: timed sets at the examination’s pace, single-best-answer items, and section sets matched to the published outline’s weights. Candidates should arrive having already made their pacing mistakes in practice.
Written from the primary sources. The program is written from the outline Pearson VUE publishes and the adjuster law TDCI administers — the same documents the examination is built from. Where this state’s rules differ from the national pattern, and on the Tennessee laws and regulations section, at 30% the largest state-law block in this family they do, the program teaches this state’s rule and names the difference, rather than teaching a national average.
The whole candidate, not only the test-taker. Around the item practice, the program carries the licensing route as TDCI publishes it — eligibility, the examination, and the a $50,000 surety bond, $500,000 in errors and omissions coverage, and fingerprinting in the TDCI file that complete the application — because a licensing examination is a means to a license, and candidates plan better when the destination is mapped.
Preparation only, with the boundary kept clear. This is preparation for an examination administered by Pearson VUE for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI). PassProfessor is not affiliated with either body, no completion of this program is reported to TDCI, and nothing in the program substitutes for any step in the licensing process.
Four sections, and two of them are giants: General Property Product Knowledge and Property and Casualty Terms and Concepts at 32% each, with Tennessee law at 30% — together 94% of the examination, leaving Policy Provisions a three-question tail. The program is weighted with unusual literalness to that map. The Tennessee law block gets the deepest state-specific treatment in this batch, because at fifteen questions it outweighs the entire statutes sections of most other states’ examinations combined with room to spare.
What are the verified facts of the license?
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| License | Public Adjuster, required by Tenn. Code 56-6-903, under Title 56, Chapter 6, Part 9 |
| Regulator | Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) |
| Examination | Tennessee Public Adjuster examination, administered by Pearson VUE (candidate handbook 124300) |
| Format | 50 scored questions; 1 hour; computer-based |
| Examination fee | $50 per attempt (third-party fee, paid to Pearson VUE; fixed by rule 0780-01-91-.06) |
| Passing standard | 70 — the minimum passing score set by Tennessee rule 0780-01-91-.06, as cited in the guide’s scoring note |
| Content outline | Pearson VUE publication 124301, effective October 15, 2025: Tennessee Laws and Regulations Pertinent to Public Adjusters 30% (15 questions); General Property Insurance Product Knowledge 32% (16); Property and Casualty Terms and Concepts 32% (16); Policy Provisions 6% (3) |
| Pre-licensing course | None required; the path is examination-only |
| Financial responsibility | $50,000 surety bond and $500,000 errors and omissions policy; fingerprint-based background check through IdentoGO; application through NIPR with a $100 fee |
How does preparation map to the examination outline?
The published outline for this examination organises the sitting as follows. Preparation in the program in the works is organised on the same sections, in the same proportions.
| Outline section | Weight / character |
|---|---|
| I. Tennessee Laws and Regulations Pertinent to Public Adjusters | 30% — 15 questions |
| II. General Property Insurance Product Knowledge | 32% — 16 questions |
| III. Property and Casualty Terms and Related Concepts | 32% — 16 questions |
| IV. Policy Provisions | 6% — 3 questions |
I. Tennessee Laws and Regulations Pertinent to Public Adjusters (30% — 15 questions). The state-law block is the part of the examination that cannot be prepared from a national text: the licensing statute, the contract and fee rules that govern practice in this state, unfair claims settlement duties, and the regulator’s enforcement powers. Preparation for this section should be built from the outline’s own subtopics, worked at examination pace.
II. General Property Insurance Product Knowledge (32% — 16 questions). General property product knowledge is the survey block: the standard fire policy and its proof of loss, inventory and appraisal machinery, personal and commercial coverage forms, flood, and the additional coverages and exclusions that recur across forms. Candidates most often underrate this section because its items look familiar from practice; the examination tests the published version, not the remembered one.
III. Property and Casualty Terms and Related Concepts (32% — 16 questions). Terms and concepts items are definitional on the surface and applied underneath: actual cash value against replacement cost, coinsurance, proximate cause, negligence, liability, subrogation, and the standard conditions vocabulary. Study this section from the primary text first and from summaries second; its items are written closely to the source.
IV. Policy Provisions (6% — 3 questions). Policy provisions items test the contract machinery: declarations, insuring agreements, definitions, exclusions, conditions, endorsements, cancellation and nonrenewal, assignment, and the standard mortgagee clause. The efficient method here is worked examples: short scenarios, answered and reviewed, rather than rereading notes.
Who earns this license?
Tennessee candidates work a state of river cities, tornado corridors, and hail — Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and the counties between them — where public adjusting is a storm-season profession. The candidate pool draws from roofing and restoration, from insurer adjusting, and from the catastrophe circuit. The $500,000 errors and omissions requirement filters the pool in a way no other state in this batch does: Tennessee expects its public adjusters to carry professional liability cover like other fiduciary trades, and candidates should price that requirement into the decision to license, not discover it at application.
What is the route to the license?
TDCI’s route runs: pass the Pearson VUE examination, submit the fingerprint-based background check through IdentoGO with its signed acknowledgement form, file the bond and errors and omissions evidence, and apply through NIPR with the $100 application fee. No pre-licensing course precedes the examination. Applicants who held a Tennessee license within the last ninety days may be exempt from the examination, per the handbook. The examination fee is $50, paid to Pearson VUE. The companion guide walks the route and each outline section.
What makes this examination demanding?
Fifty questions, four sections, and no hiding places: with sections at 32%, 32%, and 30%, a weakness in any one of the three large blocks costs roughly a third of the sitting. The law block is the usual failure point for experienced adjusters, whose coverage knowledge carries the two product blocks while Tennessee’s fee tiers, rescission right, and Part 9 machinery go unstudied. The three-question provisions tail, by contrast, tempts candidates to skip provisions entirely — a mistake, since provisions vocabulary is assumed inside the product items themselves.
An honest note on format
PassProfessor practice works in the format this examination uses — computer-based, multiple-choice, timed at the examination’s pace. The vendor does not release its examination items, and no provider can offer them. Practice results are a study gauge, not a prediction of a licensing outcome, and the examination decision and the licensing decision both belong to bodies other than PassProfessor.
How should you use this page while the program is in the works?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the exam guide — it walks the licensing route, the outline section by section, the sitting itself, and a preparation plan in full.
- Confirm the license before the syllabus. Read the ‘Which license is this?’ section above twice if your background is insurer-side adjusting or producing; in Tennessee, the public adjuster credential is its own license with its own examination route.
- Start the application clock-watching early. The steps around the examination — in this state, a $50,000 surety bond, $500,000 in errors and omissions coverage, and fingerprinting in the TDCI file — have their own lead times, and candidates who start them during preparation do not lose a season to paperwork after a pass.
- Study from the primary documents alongside any preparation. The vendor’s handbook or bulletin and the state’s adjuster law are the examination’s sources, and both are published for candidates.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Tennessee Public Adjuster license? It is the license TDCI issues to the adjuster who represents the insured — the policyholder — in a claim, rather than the insurer. Public Adjuster, required by Tenn. Code 56-6-903, under Title 56, Chapter 6, Part 9. The holder is retained by the insured, for compensation, to document, evaluate, and negotiate the insured’s claim.
Who regulates public adjusters in Tennessee? the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI). The regulator writes or administers the licensing rules, receives the application, and issues the license; the examination vendor administers the test and nothing more.
What examination must Tennessee public adjuster candidates pass? The Tennessee Public Adjuster examination, administered by Pearson VUE. 50 scored questions; 1 hour; computer-based
What is the passing standard? 70 — the minimum passing score set by Tennessee rule 0780-01-91-.06, as cited in the guide’s scoring note
Is there a pre-licensing education requirement? None required; the path is examination-only
What else does licensure require besides the examination? Licensure sits alongside a $50,000 surety bond, $500,000 in errors and omissions coverage, and fingerprinting in the TDCI file. The examination is one input into the application; TDCI issues the license on the completed file, and no candidate may act as a Tennessee public adjuster before it issues.
How is a public adjuster different from an independent adjuster? By client. An independent adjuster adjusts claims on behalf of insurers; a public adjuster is retained by and represents the insured. The licenses, the duties, and in Tennessee the licensing treatment are distinct, and preparation for one does not substitute for preparation for the other.
Does passing the examination make me a licensed public adjuster? No. Passing satisfies the examination requirement; the license issues when TDCI approves the completed application. Acting as a public adjuster before the license issues is unlicensed practice, however the examination went.
When will the PassProfessor Tennessee program open? The program is in the works and enrollment is not open yet. Join the notify list on this page and you will be emailed when enrollment opens; the companion exam guide is available to read now for planning your preparation.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with TDCI or Pearson VUE? No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) or Pearson VUE. The regulator owns the license and the vendor administers the examination; this program is preparation only.