Texas Property & Casualty Insurance License Exam Overview
The Texas General Lines Property & Casualty Exam is administered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). Texas is the second-largest insurance market in the nation with unique challenges including hurricane exposure along the Gulf Coast.
Passing this exam qualifies you to sell property, casualty, and auto insurance in Texas—serving nearly 30 million residents in one of the fastest-growing states with massive demand for homeowners, auto, and commercial insurance.
Eligibility and the No-Prelicensing Nuance
Texas is one of the few states with no mandatory prelicensing course for a permanent General Lines P&C license. You can register for the exam directly with Pearson VUE, pass it, and then apply to TDI. There is no minimum age stated for the exam itself, but you must be able to complete the IdentoGO fingerprint background check and meet TDI's character/fitness standards.
The one place a 40-hour education rule appears is the 180-day temporary license: an insurer can sponsor you on a temporary license (a $150 combined fee) while you complete at least 40 hours of training within 30 days and pass the state exam during the 180-day window to convert to a permanent license. For most candidates, the simpler path is to study independently, pass the exam, and apply permanently—no prelicensing hours required. Prelicensing courses remain optional and are bought purely for exam preparation, not because the state demands them.
Exam Format at a Glance
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| Total Questions | 145 multiple-choice (130 scored + 15 unscored pretest) |
| Question Split | 100 general (national) + 30 Texas state-specific scored |
| Time Limit | 2.5 hours (150 minutes) |
| Passing Score | 70% of the 130 scored questions (91 correct) |
| Exam Fee | $49 (paid to Pearson VUE, non-refundable) |
| Pre-licensing Education | Not required for a permanent license |
| Score Validity | Apply within 1 year of passing or retake the exam |
| Testing Vendor | Pearson VUE (not Prometric or PSI) |
| License Term | 2 years |
The Texas P&C exam is the General Lines - Property and Casualty licensing exam (Pearson VUE content outline #124401). The 15 pretest questions are scattered invisibly among the 145, so you cannot tell which ones do not count toward your score. The practical takeaway: aim well above 91 correct. You can sit the exam at a Pearson VUE test center or, on your first attempt only, by remote OnVUE online proctoring; every retake must be taken in person at a test center.
Why Get P&C Licensed in Texas?
- Second-largest market — Nearly 30 million residents
- High growth state — Population boom creates demand
- Windstorm exposure — TWIA specialization opportunities
- No state income tax — Retain more of your earnings
- Diverse economy — Commercial insurance needs
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Key Topics Covered on the Exam
1. Property Insurance (30%)
Homeowners Insurance:
- HO-2, HO-3, HO-4, HO-5, HO-6, HO-8 forms
- Coverage A through F breakdown
- Texas-specific endorsements
- Replacement cost vs. actual cash value
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA):
- Covers coastal counties (first-tier)
- Wind and hail coverage only
- Eligibility requirements
- WPI-8 certification requirements
- Coverage limits and deductibles
Commercial Property:
- Building and personal property coverage
- Business interruption insurance
- Builder's risk coverage
- Inland marine
2. Liability Insurance (30%)
Personal Liability:
- Homeowners liability coverage
- Personal umbrella policies
- Medical payments coverage
Commercial Liability:
- Commercial General Liability (CGL)
- Professional liability (E&O)
- Products and completed operations
- Contractual liability
Workers' Compensation:
- Texas is non-compulsory (unique)
- Employer can choose to opt out
- Non-subscriber alternatives
- Texas Mutual Insurance Company
3. Auto Insurance (20%)
Texas Financial Responsibility Law:
| Coverage | Minimum Requirement |
|---|---|
| Bodily Injury (per person) | $30,000 |
| Bodily Injury (per accident) | $60,000 |
| Property Damage | $25,000 |
Additional Auto Topics:
- Personal Injury Protection (PIP) optional
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
- Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association
- Good driver discounts
- Texas auto assigned risk pool
4. Texas Insurance Code (15%)
TDI Regulations:
- Texas Department of Insurance authority
- Chapter 541 (unfair methods)
- Chapter 542 (claims practices)
- Rate regulation and filing requirements
Key Texas Laws:
- Prompt Payment of Claims Act (Chapter 542)
- Unfair Competition and Practices (Chapter 541)
- Insurance Code Title 5 (Property & Casualty)
- Consumer protection provisions
Prohibited Practices:
- Rebating and inducements
- Misrepresentation
- Twisting and churning
- Unfair discrimination
- Unfair claims practices
5. Ethics and General Insurance (5%)
Producer Responsibilities:
- Fiduciary duties
- Premium trust accounts
- Client disclosure requirements
- Record retention (5 years)
Continuing Education (to keep the license active):
- 24 hours every 2 years
- Includes 3 hours of ethics and consumer protection
- At least 12 of the 24 hours must be classroom or classroom-equivalent
- TDI-approved providers only; renewals fall on the last day of your birth month
Study Timeline for Success
| Week | Focus Area | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1-2 | Property insurance and TWIA | 12-15 |
| Week 2-3 | Liability and workers' comp | 12-15 |
| Week 3-4 | Auto insurance and TX minimums | 10-12 |
| Week 4-5 | Texas Insurance Code | 10-12 |
| Week 5 | Practice exams and review | 10-12 |
Total recommended study time: 55-65 hours (pre-licensing education is optional in Texas but recommended)
🎯 Free Practice Questions Available
Test your knowledge with free practice questions designed specifically for the Texas P&C exam, with full explanations and unlimited AI tutoring (10 free AI questions every day).
Texas-Specific Exam Tips
1. Master TWIA (Texas Windstorm Insurance Association)
TWIA is heavily tested. It is the residual market (insurer of last resort) for wind and hail in the catastrophe-exposed coast:
- Covers 14 first-tier coastal counties (Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Willacy) plus designated parts of Harris County on Galveston Bay
- Provides wind and hail coverage only (flood is separate, through the NFIP)
- Requires a WPI-8 certificate of compliance confirming the structure meets TDI windstorm building standards before coverage attaches
- Sold only when wind/hail coverage is unavailable in the standard market
- Know that TWIA applies a percentage windstorm/hail deductible, not a flat dollar amount
2. Know Texas Auto Minimums (30/60/25)
Texas requires specific minimum coverages:
- $30,000 per person bodily injury
- $60,000 per accident bodily injury
- $25,000 property damage
- Remember: PIP is optional in Texas
3. Understand Non-Compulsory Workers' Comp
Texas is unique for workers' compensation:
- Employers can opt out (non-subscriber)
- Non-subscribers face lawsuit exposure
- Texas Mutual is major carrier
- Know the implications of each choice
4. Key Numbers to Remember
| Topic | Texas Requirement |
|---|---|
| Passing score | 70% of 130 scored (91 correct) |
| Pre-licensing | Not required (optional) |
| License term | 2 years |
| CE requirement | 24 hours/2 years |
| Auto BI minimums | 30/60 |
| Auto PD minimum | $25,000 |
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ignoring TWIA details — Major exam topic
- Confusing TX workers' comp — Non-compulsory is unique
- Missing Texas Insurance Code — Chapter 541/542 tested
- Forgetting 30/60/25 — Different from other states
- Underestimating 145 questions — Longer than most states
- Not practicing enough — Use practice exams extensively
After Passing Your Exam
Work through these steps in order, and finish within one year of passing or your exam score expires:
- Start the application on TDI's online fingerprint portal and get your IdentoGO service code
- Complete fingerprinting through IdentoGO (about $40)
- Submit your license application to TDI and pay the $50 application fee
- Obtain an appointment from at least one insurance carrier so you can write business
- Maintain CE (24 hours every 2 years, including 3 hours of ethics, 12 hours classroom-equivalent)
- Renew on time on the last day of your birth month every two years
2026 Texas Updates
For 2026, be aware of:
- Updated windstorm building standards — TDI's Seacoast construction standards adopted the 2024 IRC/IBC effective April 1, 2026, which affects WPI-8 inspections in the coastal counties
- TWIA funding and rate activity — the legislature periodically adjusts TWIA's funding structure and maximum liability limits; verify current limits before quoting
- Pearson VUE remains the vendor — Texas insurance exams are delivered by Pearson VUE, with OnVUE remote proctoring allowed on the first attempt only
- CE and renewal rules unchanged — 24 hours every two years (3 ethics) renewing on your birth month
Start Your Texas P&C Career Today
The Texas Property & Casualty license opens doors to serving the second-largest insurance market in the nation. With TWIA specialization and a growing population, opportunities abound. With proper preparation, you can pass the exam on your first attempt.
Our free study materials include:
- ✅ Complete topic coverage
- ✅ Practice questions with explanations
- ✅ TDI regulation specifics
- ✅ TWIA coverage details
- ✅ AI-powered study assistance
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How to Verify the Rules Before You Schedule
Use this guide for exam strategy, then confirm the current licensing steps with official sources before you pay for an appointment. Property and casualty licensing is state-administered, and administrative details can change even when the insurance concepts stay the same. Check the Texas insurance department first, then the testing vendor candidate handbook, then the application path used after passing. The NAIC state insurance department directory is the safest way to find the current regulator site, and NIPR state requirements can help you confirm post-exam application steps where NIPR is used.
For exam content, keep two buckets separate. The national bucket includes property policies, casualty policies, liability principles, negligence, risk management, policy structure, exclusions, conditions, endorsements, and claims concepts. The Texas bucket includes regulator authority, producer licensing, unfair practices, cancellation and nonrenewal rules, state auto requirements, residual market mechanisms, and local compliance duties. When a question includes a deadline, dollar limit, filing duty, required notice, or licensing step, ask whether it is a general insurance concept or a Texas rule.
What to Master for Property Questions
Property questions reward careful reading. Know the difference between named-peril and open-peril coverage, replacement cost and actual cash value, direct and indirect loss, vacancy and unoccupancy, and first-party property coverage versus third-party liability. Homeowners forms are a frequent source of points because the forms look similar but solve different problems. Practice identifying who is insured, what property is covered, which location qualifies as the residence premises, and whether the loss is excluded before an endorsement changes the answer.
Do not treat deductibles, limits, and valuation as afterthoughts. A question may describe a covered loss but test whether the settlement is reduced by deductible, limited by a sublimit, valued at actual cash value, or excluded because the cause of loss is not covered. Commercial property questions add business personal property, business income, extra expense, equipment breakdown, inland marine, and builder's risk concepts. For commercial forms, focus on why a business would need the coverage and what exposure remains if it does not have it.
What to Master for Casualty and Liability Questions
Casualty questions often turn on liability logic. Before choosing an answer, identify the claimant, the insured, the alleged injury or damage, and the legal theory. Negligence questions usually require duty, breach, causation, and damages. Liability policy questions ask whether the policy responds to bodily injury, property damage, personal and advertising injury, medical payments, or a specifically excluded exposure.
For auto, separate personal auto policy structure from state financial responsibility requirements. You need to know liability, medical payments or personal injury protection where relevant, uninsured and underinsured motorist concepts, damage to your auto, covered auto definitions, exclusions, and endorsements. For commercial auto, pay attention to covered auto symbols, hired and non-owned autos, business use, and garage exposures. For workers' compensation, separate statutory benefits from employer liability and remember that workers' compensation is not ordinary negligence coverage.
Final Two-Week Study Plan
In the first week, rotate by coverage family: homeowners and dwelling property, commercial property, personal auto, commercial auto, general liability, workers' compensation, and Texas law. After every practice set at /practice/tx-property-casualty, write down whether each miss was caused by vocabulary, form structure, state rule, or careless reading. Vocabulary misses need flashcards. Form structure misses need diagrams. State-rule misses need a one-page Texas checklist. Careless reading needs slower question markup.
In the second week, stop studying by chapter only. The actual exam mixes topics, so your practice should mix them too. Use timed sets and force yourself to decide quickly whether the question is asking about coverage trigger, excluded cause, valuation, limit, condition, producer conduct, or state filing rule. Review explanations immediately. The review is where your score improves; simply taking more questions without fixing the reason for misses mostly measures the same weakness again.
Common P&C Exam Traps
One trap is choosing the coverage that sounds familiar instead of the coverage that fits the loss. A flood loss, an employee injury, a professional advice claim, a business income interruption, and a personal auto collision may all involve money damages, but they do not belong in the same policy part. Another trap is ignoring who owns the property or who is legally liable. Property insurance usually protects the insured's financial interest in property; liability insurance responds to claims made by others against the insured.
Cancellation and nonrenewal questions also deserve attention. The exam may test required notice, permitted reasons, timing, or who has authority to act. If the question is state-specific, do not rely on a generic national rule. Unfair trade practice questions work the same way: rebating, twisting, misrepresentation, false advertising, unfair claims handling, and fiduciary misuse of premiums are tested because they show whether a producer can operate lawfully after the exam.
Exam-Day Workflow
Confirm your appointment, identification, remote-proctoring rules, allowed materials, and reschedule deadline before test day. At check-in, your legal name should match the exam registration. During the test, take the easy points first. If a scenario is long, identify the policy, the insured, the covered property or claimant, the cause of loss, and the question's command word. If two answers are legally true, choose the one that answers the exact fact pattern.
If you miss the passing score, use the report as a map. Rebuild the two weakest content areas, then retest with mixed questions. Candidates often improve fastest by mastering policy architecture: declarations, insuring agreement, conditions, exclusions, definitions, and endorsements. Once you can locate where a rule lives inside the policy, unfamiliar questions become easier to reason through.
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