Passing your Illinois insurance license exam is a pivotal part of becoming a licensed insurance agent in the state of Illinois.
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 Illinois 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.
Kaplan Education Company
The State of Illinois 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 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 Illinois insurance regulations and laws that you will need to know in order to operate as an insurance agent.
Each licensing examination has multiple versions (known as forms), which are made up of different questions. This means that your exam can be easier or more difficult than someone else’s, even if you’re being tested on the same line, on the same day.
A statistical procedure known as equating is used to ensure that any differences in form difficulty are accounted for.
Example
Imagine that you have two forms of a Life exam.
On Form X, the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) determines that correctly answering 30 questions demonstrates that you have the minimum knowledge necessary to pass your exam and become a licensed agent.
On Form Y, however, the same level of understanding is demonstrated by answering 25 questions correctly. In this scenario, you would need 30 correct answers to pass on Form X, whereas you would need 25 correct answers to pass on Form Y.
Following this, a second procedure known as scaling is used to translate this method into a numerical figure, which is then reported to all candidates. A scaled score of 70 or above is needed in order to pass your insurance license exam(s) in Illinois.
Your Illinois insurance license exam cost will depend on the number of examinations that you take:
Examination
Cost
Time Allowed
IL Life Producer General
IL Life Producer State
IL Accident and Health Producer General
IL Accident and Health Producer State
IL Property Producer General
IL Property Producer State
IL Casualty Producer General
IL Casualty Producer State
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:
Kaplan Education Company
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 on.
50 scorable questions, plus 10 pretest questions.
I. Types of Policies
A. Traditional whole life products
B. Interest/market-sensitive/adjustable life products
C. Term life
D. Annuities
E. Combination plans and variations
II. Policy Riders, Provisions, Options, and Exclusions
A. Policy Riders
B. Policy Provisions and Options
C. Policy Exclusions
III. Completing the Application, Underwriting, and Delivering the Policy
A. Completing the Application
B. Underwriting
C. Delivering the Policy
D. Contract Law
IV. Taxes, Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts
A. Third-Party Ownership
B. Viatical Settlements
C. Life Settlements
D. Group Life Insurance
E. Retirement Plans
F. Life Insurance Needs Analysis/Suitability
G. Social Security Benefits
H. Tax Treatment of Insurance Premiums, Proceeds, and Dividends
31 scorable questions, plus 8 pretest questions.
I. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property, Casualty and Personal Lines Insurance
A. Insurance Director
B. License and registration
C. Fiduciary responsibilities
D. Commissions and compensation
E. Felony convictions
F. Disclosure
G. Marketing practices
H. Unfair claims practices
II. Illinois Statutes and Requirements Pertinent to Life Insurance Only
A. Advertising and sales
B. Replacement
C. Life solicitation
D. Accelerated benefits
E. Illustrations
F. Viatical Settlements
G. Unfair Practices
H. Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
50 scorable questions, plus 10 pretest questions.
I. Types of Policies
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 (e.g., primary vs. excess)
G. Occupational vs. Non-occupational
H. Tax Treatment of Premiums and Proceeds of Insurance Contracts (e.g., disability income and medical expenses, etc.)
I. Managed Care
J. Workers Compensation
K. Subrogation
V. Field Underwriting Procedures
A. Completing the Application
B. Explaining sources of insurability and HIPAA privacy information (e.g., MIB Report, Fair Credit Reporting Act, etc.)
C. Initial premium payment and receipt and consequences of the receipt (e.g., medical examination, etc.)
D. Submitting application (and initial premium if collected) to company for underwriting
E. Policy Delivery
F. Explaining Policy and its Provisions, Riders, Exclusions, and Ratings to Clients
G. Replacement
H. Contract Law
39 scorable questions, plus 5 pretest questions.
I. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property, Casualty and Personal Lines Insurance
A. Insurance Director
B. License and registration
C. Fiduciary responsibilities
D. Commissions and compensation
E. Felony convictions
F. Disclosure
G. Marketing practices
H. Unfair claims practices
II. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Accident and Health Insurance Only
A. Medicare supplements
B. Long term care
C. Advertising
D. Minimum standards for Individual Policies
E. Group Insurance
F. Unfair Practices
G. Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
H. Short-Term Limited-Duration Health Insurance
I. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)
J. Limited Health Service Organizations (LHSO)
We recommend reading our in-depth How to Pass the Life Insurance Exam guide for a better overview.
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 on.
50 scorable questions, 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. Hazards
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. Binders
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)
30 scorable answers plus 7 pretest questions.
I. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property, Casualty and Personal Lines Insurance
A. Insurance Director
B. License and registration
C. Fiduciary responsibilities
D. Commissions and compensation
E. Felony convictions
F. Disclosure
G. Marketing practices
H. Unfair claims practices
I. Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund
II. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Common to Property and Casualty Insurance Only
A. Renewal, nonrenewal, cancellation, and Certificates of Insurance
B. Financing insurance premiums
C. Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act
D. Use of credit information
E. Hate crimes
III. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Property Insurance Only
A. Rejection on basis of location
B. Illinois FAIR Plan (FAIR plan)
C. Mine subsidence
D. Customer affairs and info. dept
50 scorable answers 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)
37 scorable answers plus 7 pretest questions.
I. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property, Casualty and Personal Lines Insurance
A. Insurance Director
B. License and registration
C. Fiduciary responsibilities
D. Commissions and compensation
E. Felony convictions
F. Disclosure
G. Marketing practices
H. Unfair claims practices
I. Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund
II. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Common to Property and Casualty Insurance
A. Renewal, nonrenewal, cancellation, and Certificates of Insurance
B. Financing insurance premiums
C. Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act
D. Use of credit information
E. Hate crimes
IlI. Illinois Statutes and Regulations Pertinent to Casualty Insurance Only
A. Auto
B. Worker’s Compensation Assigned Risk Pool
We recommend reading our Property and Casualty Insurance exam article for a more in-depth overview.
Passing your Illinois 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.
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 the state of Illinois.
We recommend Kaplan’s course because it offers a variety of helpful features, including:
For more information, we recommend reading our Kaplan Insurance Course Review.
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.
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:
For a more in-depth overview of how you can prepare for your Illinois insurance exam, we recommend reading our How to Pass the Insurance Exam article.
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 with the IDOI, you are totally free to do that.
After you have passed your insurance licensing exam, you will need to:
Have a look at our How to Become an Insurance Agent in Illinois review for more information on all the steps that you will need to take after passing your insurance exam.
Mailing Address:
320 West Washington Street
Springfield, Illinois 62767-0001
Phone: (217) 782-4515
Fax: (217) 782-5020
In Illinois, you need to renew your insurance license every two years in order to continue operating as a legitimate insurance agent. For more information, see our guide on How to Renew Your Insurance License in Illinois.
This will depend on the exam in question. The Life, Accident and Health, Casualty and Property general exams are all between 80 and 85 minutes long. Their state-specific counterparts, on the other hand, are between 50 and 55 minutes long.
There is no limit to the amount of times you can take the Illinois insurance exams. Having said that, you will be required to pass both the general and state-specific parts of your exam within 90 days of each other.
This will depend on the exam that you are taking. The Life insurance exam, for example, is made up of 81 questions (split into a general and state-specific exam). On the other hand, the Accident & Health exam has 89 — 50 general and 39 state-specific questions.
Information on this page was researched and gathered from a multitude of sources and was most recently updated on June 6, 2024
Any Information on this site is not guaranteed or warranted to be correct, accurate, or up to date. StateRequirement and its members and affiliates are not responsible for any losses, monetary or otherwise. StateRequirement is not affiliated with any state, government, or licensing body. For more information, please contact your state's authority on insurance.
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