New Jersey Property & Casualty Exam Overview

How the New Jersey P&C Exams Are Structured

Welcome to OpenExamPrep's FREE New Jersey Property & Casualty guide. The New Jersey Property & Casualty producer examinations are delivered by PSI Services under contract to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI). The single most important structural fact for New Jersey is that Property and Casualty are two separate lines of authority. You do not sit one combined "P&C" test — you register for, pay for, and pass two distinct exams, each scored on its own.

A common trap on prep materials is the claim of a single "210-minute" combined session. In practice each exam has its own 3.5-hour allotment; you may schedule them on the same day or weeks apart. Both can be taken in person at a PSI test center or by remote online proctoring. A small number of pretest (unscored) questions may be embedded — they are not identified, so answer every item. Because the two exams are independent, you can pass Property and fail Casualty (or vice versa) and only retake the failed line.

Content weighting you will see

Each line splits roughly between national/general insurance concepts (about two-thirds) and New Jersey statute and DOBI regulation (about one-third). The general portion tests contract principles — insurable interest, indemnity, utmost good faith, subrogation, the parts of an insuring agreement, and the major ISO forms (HO, BOP, CGL, commercial auto, workers' compensation). The state portion is where most candidates lose points: the verbal threshold, Basic vs. Standard auto, PIP, the FAIR Plan, unfair trade practices under Title 17, and producer licensing rules.

This guide front-loads the New Jersey material precisely because that is the differentiator on test day.

The Six-Step Licensing Process

Step 1 — Pre-licensing education. New Jersey requires 40 hours of DOBI-approved coursework for full P&C: 20 hours Property and 20 hours Casualty, with 3 hours of ethics embedded. The completion certificate is valid 12 months — you must pass within that window or repeat the course. Keep the original certificate; PSI may require proof.

Step 2 — Register with PSI. Create an account at psiexams.com, select the NJDOBI program, schedule each exam, and pay $38 per exam ($76 for both lines).

Step 3 — Pass both exams. Bring a valid government photo ID whose name matches your registration. Score 70%+ on each line. You receive a printed score report; a failed line shows a diagnostic by content area.

Step 4 — Fingerprinting. Schedule a livescan through IdentoGO using service code 2F16Y3 (about $66) for the criminal-history background check.

Step 5 — Apply through NIPR. Submit the resident producer application on the National Insurance Producer Registry (nipr.com) and pay the state licensing fee within 12 months of passing.

Step 6 — DOBI review and issuance. DOBI reviews the application and background results, then issues a license on a biennial term tied to your birth month.

Cost summary

Renewal and continuing education

Exam-day traps: the certificate validity (12 months, not 2 years), the two separate exams, and the per-exam $38 fee are all favorite distractor targets. Memorize them cold.

New Jersey Auto Insurance: Verbal Threshold, Basic vs. Standard, PIP

New Jersey is a no-fault auto state built around a verbal threshold (also called the limitation on lawsuit option). When a driver selects the Limitation on Lawsuit option, they pay lower premiums but may sue for non-economic damages (pain and suffering) only if their injury fits one of the statute's listed categories — death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury. Choosing No Limitation on Lawsuit costs more but preserves full lawsuit rights. This trade-off is heavily tested.

Drivers choose between a Basic Policy (bare-bones, mostly for low-asset drivers) and a Standard Policy (full options).

Standard Policy minimums — raised January 1, 2026

The new Standard minimum is therefore 35/70/25. Watch for stale prep materials still listing 25/50/25 or older 15/30 figures — those are outdated for 2026.

Basic Policy minimums

Worked example: A Standard Policy insured under the 35/70/25 limits injures two people in one at-fault crash, with judgments of $40,000 and $20,000. The per-person cap pays $35,000 toward the first claim (insured owes the $5,000 excess) and $20,000 toward the second; together $55,000 is within the $70,000 per-accident cap, so the per-accident limit is not breached. Distinguish the per-person limit from the per-accident limit — a classic exam distinction.

Other New Jersey programs

The New Jersey FAIR Plan (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) is the property insurer of last resort, providing basic property coverage to applicants the voluntary market has rejected. The New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association (PLIGA) pays covered claims when a licensed P&C insurer becomes insolvent, subject to statutory caps. Both appear on the Casualty/state portion.