New Mexico Insurance License Exam

Written by: Ethan Peyton

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New Mexico Insurance License Exam

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

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

Recommended: Interested in getting started? We recommend using Kaplan’s online study packages, which come with a 93% pass rate.

4.7 out of 5 starsKaplan Education Company

New Mexico Insurance Exam Basics

General Information

The state of New Mexico 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 is made up of multiple-choice questions and 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 New Mexico insurance regulations and laws that you will need to know in order to operate as an insurance agent.

Score Explanation

After you complete your exam, you will receive a score report via email.

This will include your overall score, the numerical percentage of questions that you answered correctly, and whether you passed or failed.

Your score report will also outline how well you did in each individual section of the exam.

Note: A score of 70% or higher is needed in order to pass an insurance license exam in New Mexico.

Cost

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

Examination

Cost 

Time Allowed

Life, Accident and Health or Sickness

$75

150 Minutes

Property and Casualty

$75

150 Minutes

Life Producer

$75

120 Minutes

Property Producer

$75

120 Minutes

Casualty Producer

$75

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.

Recommended Pre-License Course

Over 81% of our readers use Kaplan’s online courses — which come with a 93% pass rate — when preparing for their insurance license exam(s). For comprehensive study packages, StateRequirement recommends:

4.7 out of 5 starsKaplan Education Company

New Mexico 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.

Life, Accident and Health or Sickness Content Outline

150 scorable questions

I. Insurance Regulation

  1. Licensing
  2. State regulation
  3. Federal regulation

II. General Insurance

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

III. Life Insurance Basics

  1. Insurable interest
  2. Personal uses of life insurance
  3. Determining amount of personal life insurance
  4. Business uses of life insurance including key person
  5. Classes of life insurance policies
  6. Premiums
  7. Insurance Producer responsibilities
  8. 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. Individual standard provisions
  2. Beneficiaries
  3. Settlement options
  4. Nonforfeiture options
  5. Policy loan and withdrawal options
  6. Dividend options
  7. Disability riders
  8. Accelerated (living) benefit provision/rider
  9. Riders covering additional insureds
  10. Riders affecting the death benefit amount

VI. Annuities

  1. Annuity principles and concepts
  2. Immediate vs. deferred annuities
  3. Annuity (benefit) payment amount
  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 nonqualified annuities
  4. Taxation of individual retirement accounts (IRAs)
  5. Rollovers and transfers (IRAs and qualified plans)
  6. Section 1035 exchange

VIII. Qualified Plans

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

IX. Health Insurance Basics

  1. Definitions of perils
  2. Principal types of losses and benefits
  3. Classes of health insurance policies
  4. Limited policies
  5. Common exclusions from coverage
  6. Insurance Producer responsibilities in individual health insurance
  7. Individual underwriting by the insurer
  8. Considerations in replacing health insurance

X. Individual Health Insurance

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

XI. 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

XII. Medical Plans

  1. Medical plan concepts
  2. Types of providers and plans
  3. Cost containment in health care delivery
  4. New Mexico eligibility requirements and benefit offers (individual and group)
  5. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements
  6. Medical savings accounts (MSAs), Flexible savings accounts (FSAs), Health savings accounts (HSAs), Health reimbursement accounts (HRAs)

XIII. Group Health insurance

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

XIV. Dental Insurance

  1. Types of dental treatment
  2. Dental plan types
  3. Employer group dental expense

XV. 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
  5. New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool and Health Insurance Alliance

XVI. Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance

  1. Personally-owned health insurance
  2. Employer group health insurance
  3. Medical expense coverage for sole proprietors and partners
  4. Business disability insurance
  5. Medical savings accounts (MSAs), Flexible spending accounts (FSAs), Health savings accounts (HSAs), Health reimbursement accounts (HRAs)

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

New Mexico Property and Casualty License 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.

Property and Casualty Content Outline

150 scorable questions

I. Insurance Regulation

  1. Licensing
  2. State regulation
  3. Federal regulation

II. General Insurance

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

III. Property and Casualty Insurance Basics

  1. Principles and concepts
  2. Policy structure
  3. Common policy provisions
  4. New Mexico 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

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

VI. Auto Insurance

  1. Laws
  2. Personal auto policy
  3. Commercial auto

VII. Commercial Package Policy (CPP)

  1. Components of a commercial policy
  2. Commercial general liability
  3. Commercial property
  4. Commercial crime
  5. Commercial inland marine
  6. Equipment breakdown
  7. Farm coverage

VIII. Businessowners Policy

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

IX. Workers Compensation Insurance

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

X. Other Coverages and Options

  1. Umbrella/excess liability policies
  2. Specialty liability insurance
  3. Surplus lines
  4. Surety bonds
  5. National Flood Insurance Program
  6. Other policies
  7. FAIR plan act

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

How to Pass the New Mexico Insurance Exam

Passing your New Mexico 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 New Mexico, 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

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 New Mexico insurance exam, we recommend reading our How to Pass the Insurance Exam article.

Getting Your New Mexico 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.

Note: You can attempt passing additional insurance line exams before filing your licensing application, if that is something that you are interested in.

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 New Mexico review for more information on all the steps that you will need to take after passing your insurance exam.

New Mexico Department of Insurance Contact Information

Mailing Address:

Office of Superintendent of Insurance
P.O. Box 1689
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1689

Phone: (505) 827-4349

Email: agents.licensing@state.nm.us

Website: http://www.osi.state.nm.us/

License Search: New Mexico Insurance License Search and Lookup

New Mexico 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 New Mexico. For more information, see our guide on How to Renew Your Insurance License in New Mexico.

How long is the New Mexico insurance exam?

This depends on which exam you are taking. The Life, Accident and Health or Sickness and the Property and Casualty exams are 150 minutes long. Single-line exams are shorter, and generally range between 60 and 120 minutes.

How many times can you take the New Mexico insurance exam?

You will be able to sit each insurance exam four times with no penalty. If you fail the same exam four times, you will need to wait six months before you can register for another re-examination.

How many questions are on the New Mexico insurance exam?

This will depend on the exam in question. There are 150 questions on both the Life, Accident and Health or Sickness and on the Property and Casualty exam. The single-line Life, Accident and Health or Sickness, Property, and Casualty exams are all made up of 100 questions.

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