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The Virginia P&C exam, in one paragraph
The Virginia Property and Casualty Insurance Examination (Series 11-03) is the licensing exam for Virginia’s property and casualty agent license, administered by Prometric for the Virginia Bureau of Insurance — the insurance regulator inside the State Corporation Commission, not a standalone department of insurance. You will see 145 multiple-choice questions in 150 minutes: 135 are scored, and 10 are unscored pretest questions you cannot identify. You pass with a score of 70% — Virginia reports a true percentage score, not a scaled score. Virginia requires no pre-licensing education for this license, so the path is short but unforgiving: pass the exam, complete fingerprinting, and get your license issued within 183 calendar days of passing, or the grade expires and you test again.
Who can take the Virginia P&C exam?
Virginia’s requirements are stated in Title 38.2 of the Code of Virginia and administered by the Bureau of Insurance. For a resident Property and Casualty agent license:
- Be at least 18 years old, and satisfy the Commission that you are of good character and have a good reputation for honesty (Va. Code § 38.2-1820(A)).
- Be a Virginia resident applicant for the resident license. (Licensed producers moving to Virginia, and nonresidents, follow separate routes summarized at the end of this section.)
- Pass the Series 11-03 examination in the form and manner prescribed by the Commission (Va. Code § 38.2-1814(A)). A resident must pass the exam before applying; if a license later terminates for any reason, a resident must pass the examination again before reapplying.
- Complete no pre-licensing education. Virginia sets no classroom or course hours before this exam. The Bureau is explicit that neither it nor Prometric reviews or approves study materials or pre-licensing schools, and that you are free to use materials of your own choosing. The one exception in Virginia agent licensing is the Title license, which requires a 16-hour pre-licensing study course — a different license, with its own exam (Series 11-04). Do not let a course seller tell you Virginia requires their course for P&C; it does not.
- Be fingerprinted as part of the application. Every Virginia resident applying for a new license must be fingerprinted, with the prints forwarded through the Central Criminal Records Exchange to the FBI for a state and national criminal history check (Va. Code § 38.2-1819(B)). The mechanics are in §5.
- Understand the background rules. Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1033) bars individuals convicted of certain felonies involving dishonesty or breach of trust from the insurance business unless the Commission gives written consent; the Bureau determines during application review whether consent is needed. Applicants with misdemeanor or felony history should expect a longer review — the Bureau advises allowing at least 30 business days once documentation is submitted — and will need supporting court documents. One Virginia-specific protection: under § 19.2-392.15 of the Code of Virginia, you are not required to disclose a prior arrest, charge, or conviction that has been sealed, in an application to the Bureau. The Bureau cannot advise you on disclosure questions; it directs applicants who are unsure to consult an attorney or review their court records first.
Three special cases worth knowing:
- CPCU exemption. An individual awarded the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designation is exempt from the examination requirement for a property and casualty (or personal lines) license (Va. Code § 38.2-1817(C)). The application and its fee are still required.
- Personal lines is included. The Property and Casualty license includes the Personal Lines classes of insurance. The Bureau’s instruction is blunt: Property & Casualty includes Personal Lines, therefore do not apply for both. Candidates who want only personal lines take the separate Personal Lines exam (Series 11-07) instead.
- Temporary licenses are narrow in Virginia. A temporary Property and Casualty license exists, but only in specific statutory circumstances — for example, to a representative or family member after an agent’s death or incapacity, or to a person employed in an agent’s business after an agent’s sale. It is not a general “start selling while you study” license of the kind some states offer, and most first-time applicants will never touch one.
- Moving to Virginia. A producer previously licensed for the same lines in their former home state who applies within 90 calendar days of cancelling that resident license can generally obtain the Virginia lines without re-examination; miss the 90-day window and the full Virginia pre-licensing requirements, including the exam, apply.
The exam, piece by piece
The exam is a single combined sitting — one exam covering both property and casualty, built from Prometric’s Series 11-03 content outline (dated March 1, 2022). Unlike states that split general knowledge from state law into separate portions, Virginia blends them: there is a dedicated Insurance Regulation section, a Virginia-laws subsection inside the basics section, Virginia law at the head of the auto section, and Virginia institutions scattered through dwelling, workers’ compensation, and other coverages. There is one score for the whole exam, not a per-portion pass.
| Outline section | Share | Scored items | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 Insurance Regulation | 15% | 20 | Licensing (Title 38.2, Ch. 18), appointments, discipline; state regulation — unfair trade practices, commissions, fiduciary duties; federal regulation (Fair Credit Reporting Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1033-1034); the NAIC |
| 2.0 General Insurance | 9% | 12 | Risk concepts and handling, types of insurers, agency and authority, contract elements and legal interpretations |
| 3.0 Property and Casualty Insurance Basics | 13% | 18 | Insurable interest, underwriting, negligence and liability concepts, valuation, policy structure and common provisions — plus §3.4, Virginia laws, regulations and required provisions (below) |
| 4.0 Dwelling Policy | 5% | 7 | DP-1/DP-2/DP-3 forms, property coverages, conditions, the personal liability supplement, Virginia special provisions and endorsements |
| 5.0 Homeowners Policy | 13% | 18 | HO-3/HO-4/HO-5/HO-6 forms, Section I and II coverages, perils, additional coverages, exclusions, conditions, endorsements |
| 6.0 Auto Insurance | 16% | 21 | Virginia auto law first (financial responsibility and required limits, the Virginia Automobile Insurance Plan, UM/UIM), then the personal auto policy, then commercial auto |
| 7.0 Commercial Package Policy | 12% | 16 | CPP structure, commercial general liability, commercial property, crime, inland marine, equipment breakdown, farm coverage |
| 8.0 Businessowners Policy | 5% | 7 | BOP property and liability sections, common conditions, endorsements |
| 9.0 Workers Compensation Insurance | 7% | 9 | Employment covered under Virginia’s workers’ compensation law and the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan (assigned risk) |
| 10.0 Other Coverages and Options | 5% | 7 | Umbrella/excess, specialty liability, surplus lines, surety bonds, D&O/EPL, the National Flood Insurance Program — and the Virginia Property Insurance Association (FAIR Plan) |
| Total scored | 100% | 135 | Plus 10 unscored pretest questions = 145 on screen |
Three structural facts that shape how you should prepare:
- Auto is the single heaviest section (21 items, 16%), and it leads with Virginia law — the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law and required liability limits, the Virginia Automobile Insurance Plan for drivers who cannot get coverage voluntarily, and Virginia’s uninsured/underinsured motorist rules. A candidate who studies a generic personal auto policy and skips the Virginia statutes at the front of the section is skipping the section’s foundation.
- Virginia law is worth far more than one section. Count only what is explicitly Virginia: Regulation (20 items) is built on Title 38.2; §3.4 tests the Virginia Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, flood- and earthquake-exclusion notices, cancellation and nonrenewal rules for owner-occupied dwellings and fire policies, optional coverages, and binders; then the section’s laws subsection, the dwelling section’s Virginia special provisions and endorsements, the Virginia workers’ compensation plan, surplus-lines licensing, and the FAIR Plan in §10.8 are all state content. There is no separate state portion to cram the night before — Virginia material is distributed across at least six of the ten sections.
- The two policy-form sections for homes (Dwelling 7 + Homeowners 18 = 25 items) plus CPP (16) make policy forms the exam’s center of gravity — 41 of 135 scored questions turn on knowing what specific forms cover, exclude, and condition.
Pretest questions. The 10 pretest (experimental) items are tryout questions Prometric is evaluating for future exams. The bulletin is specific about them: they are distributed randomly throughout the test, they are not identified, they do not count for or against you — and, unusually, the bulletin states that time spent on them is not deducted from your test time. There is still no way to game them; the only correct strategy is to treat every question as scored.
Question formats. All questions are four-option multiple choice, in three formats: direct questions, incomplete sentences to complete, and “all of the following EXCEPT” items. The bulletin notes the questions test application of concepts, not just recall — expect scenarios, not only definitions.
The passing standard, explained
You pass with a score of 70%.
Virginia’s scoring is refreshingly literal compared with states that use scaled scores. Your total percentage score is computed by dividing the number of questions you answered correctly by the total number of questions in the examination, and the passing line is 70%. There is no conversion table to decode and no form-to-form adjustment to wonder about: 70% means 70%.
What your score report shows:
- Your result on screen, immediately. At the end of the exam your score is shown on the screen, and you receive an emailed score report showing your overall score and grade — the numerical percentage answered correctly, and whether you passed or failed.
- A percentage for each major outline section. These section scores are diagnostic guidance — for a retake plan if you did not pass, and, as the bulletin itself suggests, for focusing your early work even if you did.
- One caution the bulletin itself gives: the section percentages will not average out to your total percentage, because sections carry different numbers of questions. A 60% in a 7-item section and a 75% in a 21-item section do not average to your score — the total is computed from questions, not from section percentages.
Pass rates. Neither Prometric’s current Virginia bulletin nor the Bureau’s licensing pages publish a pass rate for this exam, and this guide will not invent one. (Jurisdiction-reported figures compiled for calendar 2024 — data states and their vendors supply through national reporting — put first-time success on the Virginia P&C exam at roughly six in ten candidates; treat that as context from reported data, not as an official current figure, and see the verification log.) The practical reading is the same either way: this is a passable exam that a substantial minority of first-time candidates do not pass, and the difference is preparation against the outline.
Fees and registration, step by step
Keep the three payments separate in your mind — they go to three different places at three different times.
| Payment | Amount | Paid to | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exam fee | $35 | Prometric | When you register (nonrefundable) |
| Fingerprinting | $37.95 | Fieldprint | At your fingerprint appointment (resident applicants for a new license) |
| License application | $15 per qualification, non-refundable | Bureau of Insurance, via Sircon or NIPR | When you apply, after passing |
The sequence, in order:
- Register and schedule with Prometric. The easiest route is online through Prometric’s Virginia insurance page; you can also register by phone at 866-891-6396, or by fax or mail using the forms in the back of the bulletin. You may test at any Prometric test center in the United States, or remotely through the ProProctor application. Two scheduling rules matter: your registration remains valid for 90 calendar days — if you do not take the exam within 90 days of your registration being accepted, the fee is forfeited and the registration is withdrawn (Va. Code § 38.2-1817(E)) — so do not register months before you are ready; and you may reschedule or cancel at least 24 hours ahead at no charge within the same testing window, while an absence or a late arrival that keeps you from testing forfeits the fee.
- Take the exam. Arrive at least 30 minutes early with the identification described in §8. Your score appears on screen at the end, and the emailed report follows.
- Get fingerprinted (residents, new license). Create an account through Fieldprint’s Virginia site and book at one of Fieldprint’s locations — the Bureau’s page lists 93 — using the code for your license type: FPVABOIProducer for producer licenses. Bring your appointment number and two forms of valid ID. Fieldprint collects prints electronically (“live scan”) and transmits them to the Virginia State Police and the FBI for results to go to the Bureau. The cost is $37.95, including the State Police and FBI fees. Two timing rules: fingerprints must be no older than 90 days when used with an application, and once on file with the Bureau they remain valid for one year — fingerprinting is not required for every renewal, but if you submitted prints within the last 12 months, are currently licensed, and are applying for the same license type, using the wrong Fieldprint code means being fingerprinted again, so check the code before you book. The Bureau’s process allows the exam and fingerprinting steps to be completed around the application; what is not flexible is the 183-day issuance deadline in §6.
- Apply for the license — after passing. Apply online through Sircon or NIPR, attaching all related documents to the application, and pay the non-refundable $15-per-qualification application processing fee. Virginia law requires a residential street address as your address of record — a business address or P.O. Box will not do for the residence/mailing address. The Bureau processes applications in date order and advises allowing 15 business days; an application is closed after 30 days if all required documentation has not been received, and a new application with a new fee is then required.
- Get appointed before you sell. Passing and licensing are not the last step. The bulletin states the rule plainly: you cannot sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance until the Bureau issues your license, and you must be an appointed agent of an insurer at the time of sale for that insurer to pay you a commission. Appointment is arranged with each carrier you will represent.
After you pass — and the 183-day rule
Virginia’s post-pass deadline is the trap in this state’s process, and it is shorter than most states’.
- Exams remain valid for license applications for 183 calendar days. That is the bulletin’s phrasing. The statute is stricter in a way that matters: under Va. Code § 38.2-1819(C), no resident license requiring an examination shall be issued later than 183 calendar days from the date the applicant satisfies the exam requirements. The clock runs to issuance, not to the day you submit. An application that sits incomplete — remember, applications close after 30 days without full documentation — can burn the window. If the window closes, the examination grade is considered invalid, the exam fee and application processing fee are forfeited, and the applicant must reapply for the examination and satisfy the prelicensing requirements again (§ 38.2-1817(F)).
- Passing does not guarantee a license. The bulletin says so directly: issuance depends on review and approval of all application material, and if you test unnecessarily or are found unqualified, neither the exam fee nor the application fee is refunded.
- Your license term runs on Virginia’s birth-month cycle: licenses expire at the end of your birth month in odd- or even-numbered years matching your birth year, with continuing education due at renewal — a maintenance matter the Bureau details on its renewal pages, beyond the scope of this guide.
Retakes and score validity
- First and second failures: wait 24 hours before making a reservation for re-examination, then register and pay the $35 fee again. The bulletin sets no other waiting period for the first retakes.
- After the third failure: Virginia law requires a 30-calendar-day waiting period before retaking (Va. Code § 38.2-1817(B); the bulletin states the same rule). This is the retake fact Virginia candidates most often miss — a third failure is not just another $35, it is a month of delay, which is one more reason to arrive over-prepared rather than to treat a first attempt as a practice run.
- Use the diagnostics. Your score report’s section percentages identify where the attempt was lost; rebuild around the weakest sections rather than re-reading everything.
- Score validity is the 183-day rule in §6 — it applies to a pass, and it is absolute.
- Appeals. If something goes wrong with content, registration, scheduling, or test administration, Prometric runs an appeals process (submit through its website’s “Request an Appeal”); it responds by email within 20 days.
Test day
- Arrive 30 minutes early to sign in and complete security checks. If you miss your appointment, or arrive late and are not allowed to test, you forfeit the exam fee.
- Bring two valid forms of identification. The primary ID must be government-issued, unexpired, and bear both a current photo and your signature, and the name must exactly match the name you registered under — including designations such as “Jr.” or “III.” The secondary ID must bear your signature and be unexpired; identification must be in English. Failure to provide appropriate ID is treated as missed appointment and costs you a full new exam fee. Remote candidates launch through ProProctor no earlier than 15 minutes before and no later than 15 minutes after the appointment time, after completing the system check and application install in advance.
- Expect real security. Sessions are monitored by video and audio recording. You will empty and turn out your pockets, raise your sleeves above your wrists, and have eyeglasses inspected. Outerwear, hats, food, drinks, bags, notebooks, watches, phones, and other electronic or wearable devices may not be accessible while testing; eating, drinking, smoking, and chewing gum are prohibited; only soft earplugs without wires and center-supplied tissues are permitted in the test room. All materials the test center issues must be returned at the end.
- Exam content is confidential and copyrighted. Prometric’s regulations prohibit communicating, publishing, reproducing, or transmitting any part of the exam in any form — which is also why legitimate prep programs, this one included, write their own questions to the outline instead of trafficking in “real exam questions.”
- Pace for 145, not 135. You have 150 minutes for everything on screen. That is roughly a minute per question. Flag-and-return discipline matters: a hard question costs the same minute whether you answer it now or after the ones you know.
- Accommodations. ADA accommodations require a Testing Accommodation Request Form with professional documentation, with 30 days’ advance notice, at no additional charge. Candidates whose primary language is not English may request an ESL authorization (a personal letter plus a letter from an English instructor or sponsoring company); if approved, the time limit may be extended to time-and-a-half. Do not schedule until the ESL confirmation arrives — an exam scheduled before approval will not include the extra time.
- Results are immediate. Your score shows on screen when you finish and the full report is emailed. If you pass, start §5’s steps promptly — the 183-day clock is already running.
How to study for this exam
The outline is the syllabus — Prometric publishes exactly what the exam covers, section by section, and the weights above are question counts, not suggestions. A plan built on that structure:
- Start with Regulation and the Virginia material. Insurance Regulation is 20 questions on its own, and Virginia law threads through basics (§3.4), auto, dwelling, workers’ compensation, and the FAIR Plan. This material is concrete — the Guaranty Association, cancellation and nonrenewal rules, binder rules, exclusion-disclosure requirements — and it rewards direct study. It is also the material national textbooks cover thinnest, because it exists only for Virginia.
- Give auto its full weight. At 21 items it is the largest single section, and its first subsection is Virginia statute: financial responsibility and required limits, the Automobile Insurance Plan, UM/UIM. Learn the Virginia rules first, then the personal auto policy’s parts, then commercial auto forms.
- Learn the home forms comparatively. Dwelling (DP-1/2/3) and homeowners (HO-3/4/5/6) together are 25 questions. The exam tests the differences — perils, coverages A–F, what the dwelling policy’s liability supplement does that the homeowners Section II does not natively — so study them side by side, conditions and exclusions included.
- Do not starve the small sections. Dwelling, businessowners, and other coverages are 7 items each; workers’ compensation is 9. Together that is 30 questions — more than Regulation — and they are the sections candidates skip because each looks small. The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan and the Virginia Property Insurance Association are exactly the kind of named, testable institutions these sections hide.
- Practice at full length, against the clock, and aim above the line. Virginia’s percentage scoring makes this easy to calibrate honestly: practice until full 135-question simulations sit comfortably above 70%, with no section collapsing — remembering that the real report is computed the same way, and that a third failure costs you 30 days, not just $35.
- Read every explanation, especially for questions you got right. A right answer from a wrong reason is a wrong answer waiting for a different question. Explanations are where scenario knowledge actually forms.
This program’s Virginia practice bank (9,131 questions, including 1,637 in the sections that carry Virginia law and Virginia-specific content) is built section-by-section on this same outline. The Virginia Insurance Exam Prep program page shows the full coverage table — and enrollment is open there.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the Virginia P&C exam?
145 questions appear on screen in 150 minutes. 135 are scored, and 10 are unscored pretest (experimental) questions distributed randomly and not identified.
What is the passing score for the Virginia insurance exam?
70%. Virginia computes a percentage score — questions answered correctly divided by total questions — and reports your overall percentage plus a percentage for each major outline section on your score report.
Does Virginia require pre-licensing education for a P&C license?
No. Virginia requires no pre-licensing education for a Property and Casualty license. The only Virginia agent license with a pre-licensing study course is Title (16 hours). Neither the Bureau nor Prometric approves study materials or pre-licensing schools for this exam; you choose your own preparation.
How much does the Virginia P&C exam cost?
The exam fee is $35, paid to Prometric when you register, and it is nonrefundable. Kept separate: the license application processing fee is $15 per qualification (via Sircon or NIPR, after you pass), and resident fingerprinting through Fieldprint costs $37.95.
How do I register for the Virginia insurance exam?
Register online through Prometric’s Virginia insurance page, by phone at 866-891-6396, or by fax or mail with the bulletin’s forms. Your registration is valid for 90 calendar days — if you do not test within that window, the fee is forfeited. You can test at any Prometric center in the U.S. or remotely via ProProctor.
Can I take the Virginia insurance exam online?
Yes. Prometric offers Virginia insurance exams by remote proctoring through ProProctor as well as at test centers. Complete the system check and install the application before test day, and launch within 15 minutes of your appointment time.
What happens after I pass the Virginia P&C exam?
Get fingerprinted through Fieldprint if you are a resident applying for a new license (producer code FPVABOIProducer; prints no older than 90 days), then apply through Sircon or NIPR with the $15-per-qualification fee and all required documents attached. Your license must be issued within 183 calendar days of passing, and you must be appointed by an insurer before you can sell its products and be paid commission.
How long is my Virginia exam score valid?
183 calendar days, running to license issuance. After that the grade is invalid, the fees are forfeited, and you must test again.
If I fail, how soon can I retake the Virginia exam?
You must wait 24 hours before reserving a re-examination, and the $35 fee applies to each attempt. After a third failure, Virginia law requires a 30-calendar-day wait before you may retake.
Do I need both a Property and Casualty license and a Personal Lines license?
No. Property and Casualty includes Personal Lines; the Bureau instructs candidates not to apply for both. Personal Lines has its own separate exam (Series 11-07) for candidates who want only that authority.
Who is exempt from the Virginia P&C exam?
Holders of the CPCU designation are exempt from the examination requirement for a property and casualty license under Virginia law, and producers who were licensed for the same lines in a prior home state and apply within 90 days of cancelling that license are generally not required to re-test. Most first-time Virginia residents must test.
What Virginia-specific topics does the exam cover?
Insurance Regulation under Title 38.2 (licensing, appointments, unfair trade practices); the Virginia laws subsection (the Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, exclusion notices, cancellation/nonrenewal, binders); Virginia auto law (financial responsibility and required limits, the Automobile Insurance Plan, UM/UIM); the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plan; and the Virginia Property Insurance Association — the FAIR Plan — among others.
Does this program count as pre-licensing education?
Virginia requires no pre-licensing education for this license, and this program is exam preparation only — it provides no education credit in any state and is not a substitute for any state-required course.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider and is not affiliated with the Virginia Bureau of Insurance, the State Corporation Commission, Prometric, or any state agency or exam vendor. This guide is general information about the Virginia licensing exam, current as of October 2026; Bureau of Insurance and Prometric publications govern if anything here differs from them.