Indiana Property & Casualty Exam Overview
Key Takeaways
- Indiana requires 40 hours of approved pre-licensing education — 20 hours Property and 20 hours Casualty — before you may sit for the combined exam.
- The combined P&C exam is 150 delivered questions in 180 minutes (3 hours): 100 general scored, 35 Indiana scored, and 15 unscored pretest questions; the standalone Property and Casualty exams are 80 questions / 80 minutes each.
- A scaled score of 70% is required to pass any IDOI insurance licensing exam, and Pearson VUE delivers an immediate pass/fail result at the test center or via online proctoring.
- You must apply for the license within 6 months of passing or the exam result expires and you must retest.
- Resident licenses renew every 2 years on the last day of your birth month, requiring 24 hours of continuing education; the separate 3-hour ethics block applies to life/health lines, not to a P&C-only producer.
- Indiana's minimum auto liability limits are 25/50/25, and uninsured motorist coverage must be offered with a signed written rejection required to decline it.
About the Indiana P&C Exam
The Indiana Property & Casualty (P&C) producer examination is administered by Pearson VUE under contract to the Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI). It blends two layers of knowledge: roughly 80–85% national P&C insurance fundamentals (policy structure, coverages, the insurance contract, underwriting, and claims) and 15–20% Indiana-specific law drawn from Title 27 of the Indiana Code and IDOI regulations. The state portion is where most candidates lose points, so this guide concentrates there.
Exam Structure At A Glance
| Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| Testing vendor | Pearson VUE |
| Regulator | Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI) |
| Passing score | 70% (scaled) on every IDOI exam |
| Format | Four-option multiple choice, computer-based |
| Combined P&C | 150 delivered questions / 180 minutes |
| Delivery | Test center or OnVUE online proctoring |
| Results | Immediate score report at checkout |
You may take the lines separately. Each standalone exam is the applicable single-line scored/pretest mix in the current Pearson VUE outline, and the combined exam is simply both halves stacked into one 160-question / 160-minute sitting. Most candidates take the combined exam to earn a full P&C line of authority in one trip.
Pace And Scoring Math
With 150 delivered questions in 180 minutes you have exactly 60 seconds per question. A 70% pass on 160 items means you must answer about 112 questions correctly — you can miss roughly 48 and still pass. Practical tactic: flag any question that takes more than 75 seconds, answer your best guess, and circle back. Pearson VUE shows a running clock and a flagged-question review screen.
Trap: Candidates fail by burning 4–5 minutes on a single tricky workers'-compensation or coinsurance calculation. Bank time on the easy definitional items so the math questions don't sink you.
Common Coverage Lines Tested
- Property: Homeowners (HO-2, HO-3, HO-5, HO-4, HO-6, HO-8), Dwelling (DP-1/DP-2/DP-3), commercial property, business owners policy (BOP), and inland marine
- Casualty: Personal Auto Policy (PAP), commercial auto, Commercial General Liability (CGL), workers' compensation, and umbrella/excess liability
- Shared concepts: Insurable interest, indemnity, subrogation, the coinsurance formula, and the parts of an insurance contract (Declarations, Insuring Agreement, Conditions, Exclusions)
Expect a handful of coinsurance items. Memorize the formula — (amount carried ÷ amount required) × loss − deductible — so a partial-loss scenario doesn't catch you off guard.
On the combined Indiana P&C exam, how much time do you have per question and how many must you answer correctly to pass?
Pre-Licensing Education And Designation Waivers
Unlike many states, Indiana mandates pre-licensing education before you can register for the exam. You must complete 40 hours total from an IDOI-approved provider — 20 hours Property and 20 hours Casualty — and obtain a Certificate of Pre-Licensing Education Completion. Pearson VUE verifies the certificate at registration, so without it you cannot schedule.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total hours | 40 (20 Property + 20 Casualty) |
| Provider | Must be IDOI-approved |
| Proof | Certificate of Completion required to register |
| Typical cost | $150–$400 depending on format |
Course Content
- Property (20 hrs): homeowners and dwelling forms, perils and exclusions, commercial property, inland marine, plus Indiana property statutes
- Casualty (20 hrs): personal and commercial auto, general liability, workers' compensation, and Indiana casualty statutes
Pre-Licensing Waivers
IDOI will waive the 40-hour requirement for applicants holding certain professional designations or a relevant degree, but the waiver is not automatic — you must request an approved waiver from the Commissioner and submit documentation before scheduling.
| Designation | Full name |
|---|---|
| CPCU | Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter |
| CIC | Certified Insurance Counselor |
| CLU | Chartered Life Underwriter |
| CFP | Certified Financial Planner |
Trap: The waiver removes the education requirement only — it does not waive the exam itself. Designation-holders still sit the 160-question test.
License Application: The 6-Month Clock
After you pass, Indiana enforces a strict 6-month deadline to apply, or the exam score expires and you must retest. Follow this sequence:
- Complete 40-hour pre-licensing (or secure a waiver) and keep the certificate.
- Schedule and pass the Pearson VUE exam at 70%+.
- Apply within 6 months through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) or IDOI's portal — do not wait.
- Complete fingerprinting and a state/FBI background check via the IDOI-approved vendor.
- Pay the license fee and submit your certificate and exam result.
- IDOI reviews (typically a few business days to a few weeks) and issues the license.
| Cost Item | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Pre-licensing (40 hrs) | $150–$400 |
| Pearson VUE exam fee | $69 |
| Fingerprint / background | ~$40–$50 |
| License application fee | $40 + ~$5.60 transaction |
| Estimated total | ~$300–$560 |
Retake policy: A failed exam can be retaken after a short waiting period; you pay the full fee again, and there is no statutory cap on attempts. Your pre-licensing certificate stays valid — you do not repeat the 40 hours.
A candidate holds the CPCU designation and obtains an approved waiver from the Commissioner. What does the waiver actually exempt?
License Maintenance And Renewal
An Indiana resident producer license is on a biennial (2-year) cycle that ends on the last day of your birth month — not a flat anniversary date. Mark this on your calendar, because lapsing triggers reinstatement penalties.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| License term | 2 years, expiring last day of birth month |
| Continuing education | 24 hours per term |
| Ethics | 3-hour ethics block applies to life/health lines — not to a P&C-only producer |
| CE carry-over | Up to 12 excess hours may carry to the next term (ethics/LTC excess excludes) |
| Renewal | Through NIPR/Sircon before expiration |
| Late renewal | Reinstatement fee and possible CE penalty |
High-yield nuance: A producer holding only Property & Casualty authority completes the full 24 CE hours but is not required to take the dedicated 3-hour ethics course — that ethics block attaches to life and health lines. A producer who carries both P&C and life/health does owe the ethics hours. Many study aids state "3 hours ethics for everyone"; check the line of authority in the question.
Line-specific add-ons matter on the exam: before selling annuities you need a one-time 4-hour annuity training course, and before selling long-term care (LTC) you need an initial 8-hour LTC course plus ongoing LTC CE. These are separate from the core 24 hours.
Indiana Auto Insurance Requirements (High-Yield)
Auto rules appear repeatedly on the state portion. Indiana is a tort (at-fault) state with no mandatory no-fault Personal Injury Protection. Minimum liability limits are 25/50/25:
| Coverage | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Bodily injury per person | $25,000 |
| Bodily injury per accident | $50,000 |
| Property damage | $25,000 |
- Uninsured Motorist (UM) and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) must be offered at limits matching the liability the applicant buys; the insured can decline only by signed written rejection.
- PIP is not required in Indiana (tort state) — a frequent distractor.
- Comprehensive and collision are optional by law but required by lenders/lessors.
Worked Example
A homeowner carries dwelling coverage of $160,000 on a home that should be insured to $250,000 (80% coinsurance applies, so the required amount is $200,000). A kitchen fire causes $50,000 in damage with a $1,000 deductible. Using (carried ÷ required) × loss − deductible: ($160,000 ÷ $200,000) × $50,000 = 0.80 × $50,000 = $40,000, then − $1,000 = $39,000 paid. The $11,000 gap is the coinsurance penalty for underinsuring — a classic exam scenario.
Numbers To Memorize
| Topic | Number |
|---|---|
| Pre-licensing | 40 hrs (20 + 20) |
| Combined exam | 150 delivered Q / 180 min |
| Standalone line | 80 Q / 80 min |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Application deadline | 6 months |
| License term | 2 yrs (birth-month end) |
| CE per term | 24 hrs (no ethics block for P&C-only) |
| Auto liability | 25/50/25 |
Reminder: This Indiana guide layers state law on top of national fundamentals — master both. Next: Chapter 1, Indiana Insurance Regulation & Licensing.
When does a resident Indiana producer license expire, and how much continuing education is required each term?
Under Indiana law, how can a driver who is offered uninsured motorist coverage decline it?
What are Indiana's minimum auto liability insurance limits?