Passing your Massachusetts insurance license exam is a pivotal part of becoming a licensed insurance agent in the state of Massachusetts.

In this guide, we’ll break down the general information that you need to know in order to pass your exam, outline the differences between each examination line, and offer tips on both: how to prepare for your Massachusetts insurance licensing exam, and on what to do after you pass.

Massachusetts Insurance Exam Basics

General Information

The state of Massachusetts uses Prometric to administer its insurance agent licensing. This means you can register and book all of your licensing examinations through the Prometric website. Your test can be carried out online or in person.

Each major insurance line examination includes both general and state-specific material.

The general questions test your federal insurance product and agent knowledge, whereas the state-specific questions test you on the Massachusetts insurance regulations and laws that you will need to know in order to operate as an insurance agent.

Score Explanation

As soon as you finish your exam, a score report will be emailed to you.

This will show your overall grade and score, including the percentage of questions you have answered correctly and your pass or fail mark.

The report will also provide you with information about how many questions you got correct in each major section of the exam.

Note: You need a minimum score of 70% in order to pass your insurance license exam(s) in Massachusetts.

Cost

Your Massachusetts insurance license exam cost will depend on the number of examinations that you take:

Examination	Cost	Time Allowed
Life Insurance	$39	120 Minutes
Accident and Health or Sickness Insurance	$39	120 Minutes
Property Insurance	$39	120 Minutes
Casualty Insurance	$39	120 Minutes

Note: You should focus on one exam at a time. This will likely increase the amount of time and effort you can allocate to each examination and should allow you to feel more prepared when you sit your exam.

Massachusetts Life and Health Insurance Exam

Below you can find the content outline offered by Prometric.

We recommend using it as a checklist when working through your pre-license education course. This way, you’ll be absolutely sure that you haven’t missed any topic that you will be tested on later on.

Massachusetts Life Insurance Exam

100 questions

I. Insurance Regulation

1. Licensing
2. State regulation
3. Federal regulation

II. General Insurance

1. Concepts 
2. Insurers
3. Producers and general rules of agency
4. Contracts

III. Life Insurance Basics

1. Insurable interest
2. Personal uses of life insurance
3. Life Settlement Act
4. Determining amount of personal life insurance
5. Business uses of life insurance
6. Classes of life insurance policies
7. Premiums
8. Producer responsibilities
9. Individual underwriting by the insurer

IV. Life Insurance Policies

1. Term life insurance
2. Whole life insurance
3. Flexible premium policies
4. Specialized policies
5. Group life insurance
6. Credit life insurance (individual versus group)

V. Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders

1. Standard provisions
2. Beneficiaries
3. Settlement options
4. Nonforfeiture options
5. Policy loan and withdrawal options
6. Dividend options
7. Disability riders
8. Living benefit provisions/riders
9. Riders covering additional insureds
10. Riders affecting the death benefit amount

VI. Annuities 

1. Annuity principles and concepts
2. Immediate versus deferred annuities
3. Annuity (benefit) payment options
4. Annuity products
5. Uses of annuities

VII. Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities 

1. Taxation of personal life insurance 
2. Modified endowment contracts (MECs)
3. Taxation of non-qualified annuities
4. Taxation of individual retirement annuities (IRAs)
5. Rollovers and transfers (IRAs and qualified plans)
6. Section 1035 exchanges

VIII. Qualified Plans

1. General requirements
2. Federal tax considerations
3. Plan types, characteristics and purchasers

Massachusetts Accident and Health or Sickness Insurance Exam

100 questions

I. Insurance Regulation

1. Licensing
2. State regulation
3. Federal regulation

II. General Insurance 

1. Concepts
2. Insurers
3. Producers and general rules of agency
4. Contracts

III. Accident, Health, or Sickness Insurance Basics

1. Definitions of accident, health or sickness insurance perils
2. Principal types of accident, health or sickness insurance losses and benefits
3. Classes of health insurance policies
4. Limited policies, which are considered as accident/sickness policies rather than health insurance policies, in Massachusetts
5. Common non-insurance exclusions from coverage
6. Producer responsibilities in individual accident, health or sickness insurance
7. Individual underwriting by the insurer for accident/sickness policies only
8. Considerations in replacing accident, health or sickness insurance

IV. Individual Accident, Health or Sickness Insurance General Rights

1. Required provisions
2. Optional provisions
3. Other general provisions

V. Disability Income and Related Insurance

1. Qualifying for disability benefits
2. Individual disability income insurance
3. Unique aspects of individual disability underwriting
4. Group disability income insurance
5. Business disability insurance
6. Social Security disability
7. Workers compensation

VI. Health Insurance Plans

1. Medical plan concepts
2. Types of providers and plans
3. Cost containment in health care delivery 
4. Massachusetts eligibility requirements (Open enrollment)
5. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
6. Mental Health Parity

VII. Large Group Health Insurance

1. Characteristics of group insurance
2. Types of eligible groups
3. Marketing considerations
4. Employer group health insurance
5. Small employer and individual medical plans
6. Regulation of employer group insurance plans

VIII. Dental Insurance

1. Types of dental treatment
2.  Indemnity plans
3. Employer group dental expense

IX. Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals 

1. Medicare
2. Medicare supplements
3. Other options for individuals with Medicare
4. Long-term care (LTC) insurance

X. Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance

1. Personally-owned health insurance
2. Employer group health insurance
3. Medical expense coverage for sole proprietors, partners and limited liability corporations
4. Business disability insurance

Massachusetts Property and Casualty Insurance Exam

Below you can find the content outline offered by Prometric.

You should use this outline as a checklist when working through your pre-license education course in order to ensure that you haven’t missed any topic that you will be tested on later on.

Massachusetts Property Insurance Exam

100 questions

I. Insurance Regulation

1. Licensing
2. State regulation
3. Federal regulation

II. General Insurance

1. Concepts
2. Insurers
3. Producers and general rules of agency
4. Contracts

III. Property Insurance Basics

1. Principles and concepts
2. Policy structure
3. Common policy provisions
4. Massachusetts laws, regulations and required provisions

IV. Dwelling Policy

1. Characteristics and purpose
2. Coverage forms — Perils insured against
3. Property coverages
4. General exclusions
5. Conditions
6. Selected endorsements
7. Personal liability supplement

V. Homeowners Policy — Section I

1. Coverage forms
2. Definitions
3. Section I — Property coverages
4. Perils insured against
5. Exclusions
6. Conditions
7. Selected endorsements

VI. Auto Insurance

1. Massachusetts auto insurance policy 
2. Commercial auto

VII. Commercial Package Policy (CPP)

1. Components of a commercial policy
2. Commercial property
3. Commercial inland marine 
4. Equipment breakdown
5. Farm coverage

VIII. Businessowners Policy — Property

1. Characteristics and purpose
2. Businessowners Section I — Property
3. Businessowners Section III — Common Policy Conditions
4. Selected endorsements

IX. Other Coverages and Options

1. Aviation insurance
2. Ocean marine insurance
3. National Flood Insurance Program 
4. Other policies
5. Residual markets

Massachusetts Casualty Insurance Exam 

100 questions

I. Insurance Regulation

1. Licensing
2. State regulation
3. Federal regulation

II. General Insurance

1. Concepts
2. Insurers
3. Producers and general rules of agency
4. Contracts

III. Casualty Insurance Basics

1. Principles and concepts
2. Policy structure
3. Common policy provisions
4. Massachusetts laws, regulations and required provisions

IV. Homeowners Policy — Section II

1. Coverage forms
2. Definitions
3. Section II — Liability coverages
4. Exclusions
5. Conditions
6. Selected endorsements

V. Auto Insurance

1. Laws
2. Massachusetts auto insurance policy
3. Commercial auto

VI. Commercial Package Policy (CPP)

1. Components of a commercial policy
2. Commercial general liability
3. Commercial crime
4. Farm coverage

VII. Businessowners Policy — Liability 

1. Characteristics and purpose
2. Businessowners Section II — Liability
3. Businessowners Section III — Common Policy Conditions
4. Selected endorsements

VIII. Workers Compensation Insurance

1. Workers compensation laws
2. Workers compensation and employers liability insurance policy
3. Premium computation
4. Other sources of coverage

IX. Other Coverages and Options

1. Umbrella/excess liability policies
2. Specialty liability insurance
3. Surplus lines
4. Surety bonds
5. Aviation insurance
6. Ocean marine insurance
7. Other policies
8. Residual markets

How to Pass the Massachusetts Insurance Exam

Passing your Massachusetts insurance exam ultimately comes down to your mindset and degree of preparation.

We have composed a few helpful exam tips and tricks that should help you perform as well as you can during your exam day.

Get a Pre-License Course

Even though this is not a requirement in the state of Massachusetts, getting a pre-license course can be incredibly beneficial. These courses can help you get accustomed to the extensive amount of content that you will have to memorize.

We recommend Kaplan’s course because it offers a variety of helpful features, including:

• Online exam simulations
• Live online training
• Printable study guides
• End of chapter reviews

Make Enough Time to Study

Not leaving enough time to prepare is one of the easiest ways to ensure that you do not pass your exam on your first attempt.

Remember, there are zero questions on your exam that are based on common sense or critical thinking. All questions are purely factual, and so will relate to how well you understand and remember the content that you have learned.

We recommend allocating around one to two weeks to prepare for your exam, as this should allow you to go through all of the material at least twice.

Control Test Anxiety

Even though you cannot control whether you get exam anxiety or not, you can take a few steps when preparing to limit its effect on your performance:

• Establish a consistent pretest routine — Acclimate yourself to exam conditions by following a specific routine on each practice exam at home. This should help you feel less anxious during your exam day.
• Get plenty of sleep — Lack of sleep can exacerbate your anxiety and increase your self-doubt. Make sure you are consistently getting a good night’s sleep in the week leading up to your exam.
• Study effectively — This sounds obvious, but make sure you are actually tailoring your studying to the exam that you are taking. Remember, there are no critical thinking or common sense questions involved.
• Arrive early — If you are planning to sit your exam in person, we recommend you arrive at least 30 minutes before it’s due to start in order to get used to your surroundings and have time to check in with your center’s administrator.

Getting Your Massachusetts Insurance License

Your next steps will depend on whether you actually passed your exam, as well as on whether you plan to get licensed for any additional lines.

You can apply for your license up to 12 months after you complete your exam, so if you would like to attempt passing additional insurance line exams before filing your licensing application, you are totally free to do that.

After you have passed your insurance licensing exam, you will need to:

• Complete a fingerprint and background check
• File your licensing application
• Wait for your application to be reviewed

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Contact Information

Mailing Address:

Division of Insurance
1000 Washington Street, Suite 810
Boston, Massachusetts 02118-6200

Phone: (617) 521-7794

Fax: (617) 753-6883

Email: producerupdate.mailbox@state.ma.us

Website: http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/

License Search: Massachusetts Insurance License Search and Lookup