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

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

North Carolina Insurance Exam Basics

General Information

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

Score Explanation

Each licensing examination has multiple versions — known as forms — which are made up of different questions.

Consequently, your exam can be easier or more difficult than another candidate’s, even if you’re being tested on the same insurance line, on the very same day.

A statistical procedure known as equating is used to ensure that any differences in form difficulty are therefore accounted for.

Following this, a second procedure known as scaling is used to translate this method into a numerical figure, which is then reported to the candidates that fail only.

Cost

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

Examination	Cost	Time Allowed
Life	$45	75 Minutes
Accident and Health or Sickness	$45	75 Minutes
Property	$45	75 Minutes
Casualty	$45	75 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.

North Carolina Life and Health Insurance Exam

Below you can find the content outline offered by Pearson VUE.

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 Insurance Exam Content Outline

50 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Types of Individual Life Insurance

1. Term
2. Whole life insurance
3. Endowment
4. Premium variations
5. Combination policies and variations in the basic forms
6. Non-Traditional

II. Annuities

1. The annuity principle 
2. Annuity features

III. Policy Provisions, Options and Other Features

1. General provisions
2. Nonforfeiture values
3. Loan provisions
4. Right to defer loan or payment of cash value
5. Dividends
6. Settlement options
7. Beneficiary provision
8. Premium payment
9. Additional rights or optional benefits

IV. Other Life Topics

1. Types of group contracts
2. Group underwriting
3. Master policy and certificates
4. Group Conversion
5. Tax qualified (sheltered) retirement plans
6. Business uses of life insurance
7. Social Security survivors, death, and retirement benefits
8. Federal income tax treatment of life insurance and annuity premiums, proceeds, dividends, and withdrawal
9. Legal concepts
10. Cost comparison methods: interest adjusted cost vs. traditional net cost
11. Formation of the life insurance contract
12. Variable life, variable universal life, and variable annuity

V. North Carolina Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Life

1. Contract of Insurance
2. Definitions
3. Commissioner of Insurance
4. General Regulations for Insurance
5. Licensing of Agents, Brokers, Limited Representatives, and Adjusters
6. Insurance Information & Privacy Protection Act
7. Unfair Trade Practices
8. False Pretenses and Cheats
9. Continuing Education
10. General Regulations of Business
11. Regulations of Life Insurance Solicitation
12. Replacement Regulations
13. General Regulations
14. Fraternal Benefit Societies
15. Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
16. Viaticals

Accident and Health or Sickness Insurance Exam Content Outline

55 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Accident & Health Insurance Policies

1. Disability income insurance 
2. Basic Medical Expense insurance
3. Major Medical insurance
4. Comprehensive coverage
5. Hospital indemnity
6. Managed Care

II. Accident & Health Insurance Provisions

1. Individual policy mandatory provisions
2. Individual policy optional provisions
3. Other provisions

III. Other Accident & Health Topics

1. Group insurance
2. Approaches related to group insurance
3. Social Security disability
4. Accidental death and dismemberment coverage
5. Business uses
6. Federal income taxation
7. Misrepresentation and concealment
8. Formation of the health insurance contract

IV. North Carolina Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Accident & Health

1. Contract of Insurance
2. Definitions
3. Commissioner of Insurance
4. General Regulations for Insurance
5. Licensing of Agents, Brokers, Limited Representatives, and Adjusters
6. Insurance Information & Privacy Protection Act
7. Unfair Trade Practices
8. False Pretenses and Cheats
9. Continuing Education
10. General Regulations
11. Nature of Policies
12. Group Health Insurance Continuation and Conversion Privileges
13. Fraternal Benefit Societies
14. Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association

North Carolina Property and Casualty License Exam

Below you can find the content outline offered by Pearson VUE.

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 Insurance Exam Content Outline

55 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Terms and Concepts

1. Risk
2. Hazard
3. Peril
4. Economic Loss, indemnity, and insurable interest
5. Deductible
6. Direct loss vs. Indirect loss (loss of use)
7. Named peril vs. open peril
8. Specific vs. blanket coverage 
9. Property loss valuation
10. Mortgagee/loss payee
11. Misrepresentation, breach of warranty, concealment
12. Negligence, liability, and supplementary payments
13. Bodily injury, property damage, personal injury
14. Accident/Occurrence
15. Certificate of insurance
16. Binder
17. Endorsement
18. Liberalization clause
19. First named insured
20. Monoline vs. package policies
21. Major classes of policy provisions
22. Insurance
23. Application and Subrogation
24.  Adhesion
25.  Consent to Rate
26. Law of Large Numbers

II. Personal Insurance Coverages

1. Standard Fire Policy
2. Basic (DP-1), Broad (DP-2), and Special (DP-3) Dwelling property forms
3. Homeowner’s policies (including amendatory endorsements)
4. Other personal policies
5. National Flood Insurance Program
6. Watercraft/yacht

III. Commercial Insurance Coverages

1. Building and Personal Property coverage form
2. Other coverage forms and endorsements
3. Package policies
4. Business income coverage form
5. Extra Expense coverage form
6. Equipment breakdown (Boiler and machinery coverage) 
7. Other coverages
8. Commercial Inland Marine

IV. North Carolina Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Property Insurance

1. Contract of Insurance
2. Commissioner of Insurance
3. General Regulations for Insurance
4. Licensing of Agents, Brokers, Limited Representatives and Adjusters
5. Insurance Information & Privacy Protection Act
6. Unauthorized Insurers
7. Unfair Trade Practices
8. False Pretenses and Cheats
9. Continuing Education
10. North Carolina Rate Bureau
11. General Regulations of Business
12. Fire Insurance Policies
13. Essential Property Insurance for Beach Area Property
14. Fair Access to Insurance Requirements
15. Post Assessment Insurance Guaranty Association (Guaranty Fund)
16. Consumer Division

Casualty Insurance Exam Content Outline

55 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.

I. Terms and Concepts

1. Risk
2. Hazard
3. Peril
4. Economic Loss
5. Indemnity
6. Deductible
7. Misrepresentation, breach of warranty, concealment
8. Negligence, liability, and supplementary payments 
9. Bodily injury, property damage, personal injury
10. Accident/Occurrence
11. Deposit premium/audit
12. Liability limits: single, split, aggregate
13. Certificate of insurance
14. Binder
15. Endorsement
16. Liberalization clause
17. First named insured
18. Monoline vs. package policies
19. Major classes of policy provisions
20. Insurance
21. Application
22. Subrogation
23. Adhesion
24. Unilateral 
25. Consent to Rate

II. Personal Insurance Coverages

1. Personal Auto Policy (North Carolina Rate Bureau Form)
2. Personal umbrella liability
3. Watercraft/yacht

III. Commercial Insurance Coverages

1. General liability insurance 
2. Commercial automobile insurance
3. Workers’ compensation and employers liability insurance
4. Other coverages
5. Crime coverage forms
6. Package policies

IV. North Carolina Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Casualty Insurance

1. Contract of Insurance
2. Commissioner of Insurance
3. General Regulations for Insurance 
4. Licensing of Agents, Brokers, Limited Representatives, and Adjusters
5. Insurance Information & Privacy Protection Act
6. Unauthorized Insurers
7. Unfair Trade Practices
8. False Pretenses and Cheats
9. Continuing Education
10. North Carolina Rate Bureau
11. North Carolina Motor Vehicle Reinsurance Facility
12. Post Assessment Insurance Guaranty Association
13. Motor Vehicle Liability Policy Defined
14. Cancellation or Nonrenewal of Motor Vehicle Policy 
15. Workers’ Compensation Law
16. Consumer Division

How to Pass the North Carolina Insurance Exam

Passing your North Carolina 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

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. It is also a legal requirement in North Carolina.

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 North Carolina 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 have 90 days from your pre-licensing course’s completion date or five attempts to pass each exam, depending on which comes first.

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

• Complete a fingerprint and criminal history check
• Ensure the North Carolina Licensing Office has received your NIPR application fees
• Wait for your application to be reviewed

North Carolina Department of Insurance Contact Information

Mailing Address:

North Carolina Department of Insurance
Agent Services
1204 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1204

Phone: (919) 807-6800

Fax: (919) 715-3794

Email: ASD@ncdoi.gov

Website: http://www.ncdoi.com/

License Search: North Carolina Insurance License Search and Lookup