CISR Commercial Casualty I: Official Topics, Format & Exam Rules
Key Takeaways
CISR Commercial Casualty I has three official topics: Essentials of Legal Liability, Commercial General Liability, and Additional Insureds and the CGL Policy (Risk & Insurance Education Alliance).
Each CISR course ends with a proctored, 1-hour, 50-question multiple-choice exam that requires a score of 70% or higher; the Alliance FAQ allows 65 minutes once the exam begins.
The Alliance does not publish topic weights; its August 31, 2026 webinar agenda devoted about 4¾ of 7 instruction hours to the CGL form.
Earning the CISR requires passing five of the nine CISR courses within three calendar years of passing the first CISR exam.
Candidates who passed the former Insuring Commercial Casualty Exposures course may count Commercial Casualty I or Commercial Casualty II toward the CISR, but not both.
CISR Commercial Casualty I: Official Topics, Format & Exam Rules
Quick Summary: Commercial Casualty I is one of nine one-day courses in the Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) program run by the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance (formerly The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research). The course has three official topics: Essentials of Legal Liability, Commercial General Liability, and Additional Insureds and the CGL Policy. About 7 hours of instruction are followed by a proctored, 1-hour, 50-question multiple-choice exam that requires 70% to pass. This section summarizes the official facts and shows how the rest of this independent guide maps to the course.
What the Course Covers
The Alliance describes the course as building confidence with commercial casualty exposures and coverages and teaching the CGL policy "inside and out." Its published course outline lists three topics:
| Official Topic | Alliance Description (summarized) | Where This Guide Teaches It |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials of Legal Liability | Legal principles that create tort obligations, contractual and statutory liability, and how damages are assessed | Chapter 1 |
| Commercial General Liability | Structure of the CGL coverage form, the insuring agreements, who is an insured, and how the exclusions work | Chapters 2–9 and Sections 11.1–11.2 |
| Additional Insureds and the CGL Policy | Contractual requirements that affect the CGL and the editions of commonly used additional insured endorsements | Chapter 10 and Section 11.3 |
The Alliance's online resources for the course add more detail. Its section videos cover sources of liability, negligence, and intentional torts; the structure of the CGL, indemnification agreements, insured contracts, the pollution, damage to property, and impaired property exclusions, the advertising idea offense, the knowledge-of-falsity exclusions, medical payments, damage to premises rented to you, and how limits apply to a claim; and vicarious liability, the importance of additional insureds, and the problems additional insured status creates.
The Alliance does not publish percentage weights for these topics. A useful proxy is the agenda for a live instructor-led webinar held on August 31, 2026: Essentials of Legal Liability ran about 1 hour, Commercial General Liability about 4¾ hours (split across the morning and early afternoon), and Additional Insureds about 1¼ hours, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A and review. Roughly two-thirds of instruction time goes to the CGL form itself, which is why most of this guide works through CG 00 01 section by section.
Course Formats
All CISR courses are offered in three formats:
- In-person classroom: One day of instruction (7 hours) with course notebooks, followed by the final exam.
- Instructor-led webinar: The same 7 hours of content delivered live online. The Alliance program page describes webinars delivered over two to four weeks, while some sessions run as a single day, so check the agenda for your session.
- Self-paced online: Available around the clock with a 60-day access period; the built-in self-quizzes must be passed.
Pricing varies by format and host organization, because state agent associations also sponsor CISR classes. For example, the Alliance listed its August 31, 2026 instructor-led webinar of Commercial Casualty I at $180.
The Final Exam
| Exam Feature | Official Rule |
|---|---|
| Format | 50 multiple-choice questions |
| Length | Described as a 1-hour exam; the Alliance FAQ allows 65 minutes once a CISR exam begins |
| Passing score | 70% or higher |
| Proctoring | Required. The proctor must be a disinterested third party; a co-worker, manager, supervisor, agency principal, friend, neighbor, or family member does not qualify. Options include the MonitorEDU virtual proctor service (listed fee $18), a testing center, or someone in a dedicated HR or training role at your organization |
| Exam window | Set for each session. For the August 31, 2026 webinar, the online exam window ran August 31 to September 11, 2026. Select your proctor before the window opens |
| Results | For 7-hour CISR courses, results are available immediately after you submit the exam |
| Retakes | Each course registration includes a specified number of exam attempts. After they are used, you must register for and retake the course (online subscription plans allow repeated attempts) |
Designation Rules That Involve This Course
- Earning the CISR: Complete five of the nine CISR courses and pass each course's exam within three calendar years of passing your first CISR exam.
- Keeping the CISR: Designees complete an annual update, such as another 7-hour CISR course or two approved 4-hour Alliance continuing education courses.
- Legacy course rule: If you passed the former Insuring Commercial Casualty Exposures course (which preceded Commercial Casualty I and II), you may count either Commercial Casualty I or Commercial Casualty II toward your five courses, but not both.
- CIC cross-credit: Passing both CISR Commercial Casualty I and II within the last 10 years can earn Commercial Casualty credit toward the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation.
- State CE: The Alliance reports that CISR courses are approved for continuing education credit in all states; hours and credit type vary by state.
How to Use This Guide
The Alliance says its courses use the latest forms for the policies they cover. This guide quotes the ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (occurrence), CG 00 02 04 13 (claims-made), and the 04 13 and 12 19 editions of the additional insured endorsements. Insurers may use other editions or their own proprietary forms, so always read the actual policy on a real account.
A practical study sequence:
- Learn the legal-liability vocabulary in Chapter 1 first; the CGL exclusions assume you know the difference between tort liability and contractual liability.
- Work through Coverages A, B, and C, the conditions, and the definitions (Chapters 2–8) with a copy of the policy form beside you.
- Master the claims-made trigger, the retroactive date, and extended reporting periods (Chapter 9).
- Finish with contractual risk transfer, additional insured endorsements, and certificate practice (Chapters 10–11).
Each section ends with scenario questions. If you can explain why each wrong answer is wrong, you understand the policy language rather than just the vocabulary.
According to the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance's course outline, which set of topics makes up CISR Commercial Casualty I?
Workers Compensation and Employers Liability, Introduction to Business Auto Coverage, and Excess Liability and Commercial Umbrella Policies
Fundamentals of Commercial Property Insurance, Causes of Loss Forms, and Basics of Time Element Insurance
Risk Identification, Risk Analysis, Risk Control, and Risk Financing
Essentials of Legal Liability, Commercial General Liability, and Additional Insureds and the CGL Policy
A candidate plans to ask a co-worker at the same agency to proctor the CISR Commercial Casualty I final exam. Under the Alliance's proctor rules, what is the problem?
There is no problem, because any licensed insurance professional may proctor a CISR exam
Only a state insurance department employee may proctor a CISR exam
A co-worker is not a disinterested third party, so the candidate must use an approved option such as the MonitorEDU virtual proctor, a testing center, or a staff member in a dedicated HR or training role
CISR exams are unproctored open-book exams, so no proctor is needed
A service representative passed the former Insuring Commercial Casualty Exposures course and now plans to take both Commercial Casualty I and Commercial Casualty II. How do the two new courses count toward the five courses needed for the CISR designation?
Both new courses count, giving the candidate three casualty course credits
Neither new course counts, because the old course already covered casualty topics
Only Commercial Casualty II counts, because Commercial Casualty I repeats the old course's CGL content
The candidate may count either Commercial Casualty I or Commercial Casualty II toward the five courses, but not both
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.