This article contains the following sections:
- State Exam General Information
- State Exam Updates & Scheduling Information
- State Exam Fees
- Required Documents
- State Exam Details
- State Exam Retakes
State Exam General Information
Upon completing the Pre-License education, the Pre-License certificate of completion is valid for one year, and the candidate has unlimited attempts to pass the state exam. The state licensing exams are written and administered by Pearson Vue. Examinations are computer-based and are available in English or Spanish. Candidates who prefer to take exams in Spanish should request in advance. Reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance, and it is required students complete their Pre-License education before taking a licensing exam.
Exam outlines are available on the Department of Insurance (DOI) website, and versions of these outlines appear in Pearson Vue’s Candidate Handbook. The outline, testing locations, remote proctoring, and the Candidate Handbook are available here.
State Exam Updates & Scheduling Information
Effective August 3, 2021, Pearson Vue will be offering remote proctoring (OnVUE) for insurance licensing examinations. Along with the addition of providing online proctoring examinations, Pearson Vue has modified the number of exams each candidate must pass per line of authority. Before, each exam per line of authority contained a "General" section and a "State" section. A candidate needed 70% on each section, but General and State were still technically one combined exam. With the effective change, candidates will now be required to pass separate General and State examinations to apply for a license. That means passing two exams (General and State) for each line of authority. This change will also affect the examination fees, explained further in the State Exam Fees section below.
Candidates can not only order two examinations but also take up to two examinations at one session. This is referred to as "back-to-back" scheduling and can only be applied with Test Center bookings. Back-to-back scheduling is not supported with online proctoring. Therefore, if a candidate wants to take a General exam and a State exam for the same line of authority back to back, they must go to the Test Center as this cannot be done with online proctoring. Additionally, a two-exam limit remains for back-to-back scheduling, so a candidate cannot take all exams for two separate lines of authority on the same day, even at the Test Center.
Note: Any Spanish exam will need to be scheduled at a Test Center. Spanish exams are not currently available with online proctoring.
Note: When scheduling an exam with PearsonVue, if an exam has “OP” in front of its name, it means it is an online proctored exam. Without “OP,” the exam will be done at a test center.
State Exam Fees
There is a $92 fee for each examination, and candidates are now required to take two individual examinations, a General examination, and a State examination. A candidate will receive a discount of $92, providing that the two associated exams for the license are processed in the same order. If the General examination and State examination for a line of authority is ordered separately, the candidate will be charged $92 for each examination. The discount only applies to two examinations for the same line on the same order. This pricing applies no matter if the exams are ordered with the intent of taking them all on the same day, on different days, at a test center, or with an online proctor.
Example 1: The candidate needs to schedule a Property General, Property State, Casualty General, and Casualty State and place them in the same order. The fee for each of the 4 exams will be $92. However, the candidate ordered a General exam and a State exam for the same line of authority (Property and Casualty), so a $92 discount will be applied to each line of authority (2 exams for the price of 1). In this example, the candidate will be charged $184 altogether—$ 92 for Property General and Property State and $92 for Casualty General and Casualty State.
Example 2: Candidate needs to schedule a Property General and Casualty State exam in the same order for exam retakes. The fee for each exam will be $92, so the candidate will be charged $184 altogether.
Note there is no discount applied for this example as the discount only applies if a candidate ordered a General and State exam for the same line of authority. In this example, the candidate purchased one exam for different lines of authority.
Required Documents
Before beginning an exam, candidates must provide all the following documentation to Pearson Vue staff:
- Their Pre-License certificate of completion.
- A non-expired, government-issued photo ID with the person’s signature.
- One of the following items:
- Social Security card with a signature.
- Credit or debit card with a signature.
- Another non-expired, government-issued photo ID with signature.
If a candidate is retaking an exam, candidates are also encouraged to bring a copy of their Pearson Vue score report from their previous exam attempt(s).
Candidates who do not present the required items will be denied admission to the examination, be considered absent, and forfeit the examination fee.
State Exam Details
The exam for each major line (Life, Health, Property & Casualty) is divided into two parts:
- General – Basic insurance product knowledge
- Illinois – State insurance laws, regulations, and practices
A candidate must receive a score of 70% or higher on each examination. Details of the examinations for each major line of authority are below:
Life Examination
The total time allowed: 135 minutes; Approximately 100 questions.
Life General - 60 questions, of which 50 are scored. 85 minutes allowed.
Life State (Illinois) - 39 questions, of which 31 are scored. 50 minutes allowed.
Health Examination
The total time allowed: 135 minutes; Approximately 100 questions.
Health General - 60 questions, of which 50 are scored. 80 minutes allowed.
Health State (Illinois) - 47 questions, of which 39 are scored. 55 minutes allowed.
Property Examination
The total time allowed: 135 minutes; Approximately 100 questions.
Property General – 60 questions, of which 50 are scored. 85 minutes allowed.
Property State (Illinois) – 37 questions, of which 30 are scored. 50 minutes allowed.
Casualty Examination
The total time allowed: 135 minutes; Approximately 100 questions.
Casualty General – 60 questions, of which 50 are scored. 80 minutes allowed.
Casualty State (Illinois) – 44 questions, of which 37 are scored. 55 minutes allowed.
State Exam Retakes
If a candidate did not pass an exam, they would receive a score report marked as “failed” with a numeric score, indicating how close they were to pass it. If a candidate passes one examination but fails the other, they only need to retake the failed examination. A retake will require another testing fee. Candidates have unlimited attempts within one year to pass the licensing examination. To avoid retaking both examinations (General and State), the candidate must pass the failed examination within 90 days.