How hard is it to get a property and casualty insurance license?

Getting a property and casualty license is achievable with focused study, but the exam is a real hurdle: most states require a 70% passing score (California producer exams require 60%), and the Texas Department of Insurance reported a 53% pass rate for its P&C exam in February 2021. Prelicensing coursework ranges from 0 hours in states like Texas up to 200 hours for Florida's General Lines course. Exam prep providers commonly recommend about 40 hours of study before attempting the exam.

Connecticut requires 40 hours of pre-licensing education for the combined Property & Casualty producer license, plus a Pearson exam with 130 scored questions and a 70% passing score. There is no limit on exam attempts, though a 24-hour waiting period applies between schedulings. NAIC data cited in industry publications puts the average pass rate for combined property and casualty exams at about 54.9%, so focused study matters.

South Carolina requires no prelicensing education for a property and casualty license, so the main step is passing the state exam. The combined Property, Casualty, Surety and Marine exam has a general section and a South Carolina section, and the passing score is reported as 70 on a 0-100 scale. In NAIC calendar-year 2020 data reported by the South Carolina Department of Insurance, the first-time pass rate for that exam was 49.95%.

The main hurdle in Utah is the exam, because Utah requires no prelicensing education course. The combined property and casualty exam (code 17-04) has 150 multiple-choice questions over 2.5 hours, while the single-line Property (17-22) and Casualty (17-23) exams each have 100 questions over 2 hours. Since there is no required coursework, candidates prepare on their own or with commercial study materials, and many first-time candidates do not pass without focused study.