Minnesota Insurance License Exam

Written by: Ethan Peyton

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Minnesota Insurance License Exam

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

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 Minnesota insurance licensing exam, and on what to do after you pass.

Tip: Doing a pre-licensing education course dramatically increases your chance of passing your exam on your first attempt, which can end up saving you both time and money in the long run.

4.7 out of 5 starsKaplan Education Company

Minnesota Insurance Exam Basics

General Information

The state of Minnesota uses PSI to administer its insurance agent licensing. This means you can register and book all of your licensing examinations through the PSI Exams 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 Minnesota insurance regulations and laws that you will need to know in order to operate as an insurance agent.

Score Explanation

As soon as you complete your examination, you will be issued with a score report marked as “pass” or “fail.”

If you passed your exam, your score report will include information on how to apply for your insurance license with the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

If, on the other hand, you failed a Property, Casualty, Life or Health exam, your score report will include a numerical score, as well as diagnostic information that can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Cost

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

Examination

Cost 

Time Allowed

Life Producer

$39

120 Minutes

Accident & Health Producer

$39

120 Minutes

Life, Accident & Health Producer

$39

180 Minutes

Property Producer

$39

120 Minutes

Casualty Producer

$39

120 Minutes

Property & Casualty Producer

$39

180 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.

Recommended

Doing a pre-licensing education course dramatically increases your chance of passing your exam on your first attempt, which can end up saving you both time and money in the long run. For pre-licensing education, StateRequirement recommends:

4.7 out of 5 starsKaplan Education Company

Minnesota Life, Accident and Health Insurance Exam

Below you can find the content outline offered by PSI.

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.

Life General Knowledge Content Outline

50 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

Types of Policies – 15 Items

Traditional Whole Life Products

  • Ordinary Whole Life
  • Limited-Pay and Single-Premium Life

Interest/market-Sensitive/adjustable Life Products

  • Universal Life
  • Variable Whole Life
  • Variable Universal Life
  • Interest-senstive whole life
  • Indexed life

Term Life
Types

  • Level
  • Decreasing
  • Return of premum
  • Annually renewable

Special Features

  • Renewable
  • Convertible

Annuities

  • Single and Flexible Premium
  • Immediate and Deferred
  • Fixed and Variable
  • Indexed

Accumulation and Annuity Periods

  • Payout Options

Combination Plans and Variations

  • Joint Life (first to die)
  • Survivorship Life (second to die)

Life Minnesota Specific Content Outline

25 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance

A. Powers and Duties of the Commissioner
B. Definitions
C. Licensing and Appointments
D. Trade Practices
E. Guaranty Association

II. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Life Insurance Only

A. Beneficiaries
B. Right to Cancel
C. Policy Provisions
D. Credit Insurance (Life and A&H)
E. Group Life
F. Insurable Interest Act
G. Replacement Insurance

Accident & Health General Knowledge Content Outline

50 scorable questions, plus 10 pretest questions.

I. Types of Polices

A. Disability income
B. Accidental death and dismemberment
C. Medical expense insurance
D. Medicare supplement policies
E. Group insurance
F. Individual/Group Long Term Care (LTC)
G. Other policies

II. Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders

A. Mandatory and optional provisions
B. Other provisions and clauses
C. Riders
D. Rights of renewability

III. Social Insurance

A. Medicare (Parts A, B, C, D)
B. Medicaid
C. Social Security benefits

IV. Other Insurance Concepts

A. Total, partial, recurrent, and residual disability
B. Owner’s rights
C. Dependent children benefits
D. Primary and contingent beneficiaries
E. Modes of premium payments
F. Nonduplication and coordination of benefits
G. Occupational vs. non-occupational
H. Tax treatment of premiums and proceeds of insurance contracts
I. Managed care
J. Workers Compensation
K. Subrogation

V. Field Underwriting Procedures

A. Completing the application
B. Explaining sources of insurability and HIPAA privacy info
C. Initial premium payment and receipt
D. Submitting application to company for underwriting
E. Policy delivery
F. Explaining policy to clients
G. Replacement
H. Contract law

Accident & Health Minnesota Specific Content Outline

25 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions. 

I. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance

A. Powers and Duties of the Commissioner
B. Definitions
C. Licensing and Appointments
D. Trade Practices
E. Guaranty Association

II. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Health Insurance Only

A. Policy clauses and provisions/mandates
B. Medicare Supplement plans
C. Long-Term Care (LTC)
D. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
E. Nonprofit Health Service Plan Corporations
F. Small Employer Insurance Reform
G. Grace period

We recommend reading our in-depth How to Pass the Life Insurance Exam guide for a better overview.

Minnesota Property and Casualty License Exam

Below you can find the content outline offered by PSI.

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.

Property General Knowledge Content Outline

50 scorable answers plus 10 pretest questions.

I. Types of Policies

A. Homeowners
B. Dwelling policies
C. Commercial lines
D. Inland marine
E. National Flood Insurance Program
F. Others

II. Insurance Terms and Related Concepts

A. Insurance
B. Insurable interest
C. Risk
D. Hazard
E. Peril
F. Loss
G. Loss Valuation
H. Proximate cause
I. Deductible
J. Indemnity
K. Limits of liability
L. Coinsurance/Insurance to value
M. Occurrence
N. Cancellation
O. Nonrenewal
P. Vacancy and Inoccupancy
Q. Liability
R. Negligence
S. Binder
T. Endorsements
U. Blanket vs. Specific

III. Policy Provisions and Contract Law

A. Declarations
B. Insuring agreement
C. Conditions
D. Exclusions
E. Definition of the insured
F. Duties of the insured
G. Obligations of the insurance company
H. Mortgagee rights
I. Proof of loss
J. Notice of claim
K. Appraisal
L. Other Insurance Provision
M. Subrogation
N. Elements of a contract
O. Warranties, representations, and concealment
P. Sources of underwriting information
Q. Fair Credit Reporting Act
R. Privacy Protection (Gramm Leach Bliley)
S. Policy Application
T. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA)

Property Minnesota Specific Content Outline

25 scorable answers plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance

A. Powers and Duties of the Commissioner
B. Definitions
C. Licensing and Appointments
D. Trade Practices
E. Guaranty Association

II. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Property Insurance Only

A. Definition of Adjusters
B. Minnesota Standard Fire Policy
C. FAIR Plan
D. Homeowners
E. Binders

Casualty General Knowledge Content Outline

50 scorable questions, plus 10 pretest questions.

I. Types of Policies, Bonds, and Related Terms

A. Commercial general liability
B. Automobile: personal auto and business auto
C. Workers Compensation Insurance, Employers Liability Insurance and Related Issues
D. Crime
E. Bonds
F. Professional liability
G. Umbrella/Excess Liability

II. Insurance Terms and Related Concepts

A. Risk
B. Hazards
C. Indemnity
D. Insurable interest
E. Loss valuation
F. Negligence
G. Liability
H. Occurrence
I. Binders
J. Warranties
K. Representations
L. Concealment
M. Deposit Premium/Audit
N. Certificate of Insurance
O. Law of Large Numbers
P. Pure vs. Speculative Risk
Q. Endorsements
R. Damages
S. Compliance with provisions of Fair Credit Reporting Act

III. Policy Provisions

A. Declarations
B. Insuring agreement
C. Conditions
D. Exclusions and Limitations
E. Definition of the insured
F. Duties of the insured after a loss
G. Cancellation and nonrenewal provisions
H. Supplementary payments
I. Proof of loss
J. Notice of claim
K. Arbitration
L. Other insurance
M. Subrogation
N. Loss settlement provisions including consent to settle a loss
O. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA)

Casualty Minnesota Specific Content Outline

25 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance

A. Powers and Duties of the Commissioner
B. Definitions
C. Licensing and Appointments
D. Trade Practices
E. Guaranty Association

II. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Casualty Insurance Only

A. Automobile insurance
B. Workers’ compensation

We recommend reading our Property and Casualty Insurance exam article for a more in-depth overview.

How to Pass the Minnesota Insurance Exam

Passing your Minnesota 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 for every insurance exam in the state of Minnesota, getting a pre-license course can go a long way in helping you get accustomed to the prolific 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

For more information, we recommend reading our Kaplan Insurance Course Review.

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.

For a more in-depth overview of how you can prepare for your Minnesota insurance exam, we recommend reading our How to Pass the Insurance Exam article.

Getting Your Minnesota 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 three years 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

Have a look at our How to Become an Insurance Agent in Minnesota review for more information on all the steps that you will need to take after passing your insurance exam.

Minnesota Commerce Department Contact Information

Mailing Address:

Insurance Licensing Unit
85 7th Place East, Suite 600
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101

Phone: (651) 539-1600

Email: licensing.commerce@state.mn.us

Website: http://mn.gov/commerce/industries/insurance/

License Search: Minnesota Insurance License Search and Lookup

Minnesota Insurance Exams FAQ

How often do I have to renew my license?

You will need to renew your insurance license every two years in order to continue operating as a legitimate insurance agent in Minnesota. For more information, see our guide on How to Renew Your Insurance License in Minnesota.

How long is the Minnesota insurance exam?

This will depend on the insurance exam that you are taking. The Minnesota Life and the Accident and Health exams are both two hours long. The combined Life, Accident and Health exam, on the other hand, is three hours long.

How many times can you take the Minnesota insurance exam?

There is no limit to the number of times you can retake an insurance exam in Minnesota. You will need to wait at least 24 hours before registering for a re-examination.

How many questions are on the Minnesota insurance exam?

This will depend on the insurance exam in question. Having said that, the Life, Accident & Health, Property, and Casualty exams are all made up of 75 questions.

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