How Many Questions Are on the California Property & Casualty Exam? Format, Time Limit and Passing Score (2026)

The combined California Property and Casualty exam has 150 scored questions and a time limit of 195 minutes. The CDI exam chart rounds that to "3 hours", and the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin gives the time as 195 minutes. On top of the scored questions, the exam includes 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions, and extra time is allowed for them. The pass mark is 60% raw.

California offers three producer exams in this area. The combined exam is the one this course prepares you for.

A note on the single-line times: the Property License Examination Objectives document says 90 minutes, the CDI chart says 1.5 hours and the PSI bulletin chart says 98 minutes. If you sit a single-line exam, confirm the time when you book. The exams are delivered by PSI.

The bulletin states that experimental questions are included in the exam. They are not scored, you are not told which they are, and additional time is allowed for them. The practical rule is simple: answer every question as if it counts, and do not waste minutes trying to guess which ones are the tests.

The pass mark for all California producer exams is 60% raw. Raw means the percentage of questions you answer correctly. It is not a scaled score adjusted between exam forms. Experimental questions do not count toward it, so the 60% is measured against the scored questions only.

That is a modest threshold on paper, yet the published first-time pass rate for the combined exam was 57% in 2025. The mark is not the obstacle; the breadth of material is.

California publishes License Examination Objectives for each line, effective 2026-01-01. Weights are published at section level only; there are no per-topic question counts.

• Property objectives (75 questions): I General Insurance 15%, II Property Insurance 15%, III Personal Lines Insurance 38%, IV Commercial Insurance Coverages 30%, V Pet Insurance 2%.
• Casualty objectives (75 questions): I General Insurance 15%, II Casualty Insurance 15%, III Personal Lines Insurance 35%, IV Commercial Insurance Coverages 35%.

There is no combined P&C objectives document. The combined exam draws from both, so you need all of the sections above. Workers' compensation and employers' liability appear on the Casualty side only. A Property and Casualty subcommittee was revising the objectives in early 2026, so re-check the CDI page before your exam date.

Property only and Casualty only each have 75 scored questions. They suit a candidate who needs only one line. One fee covers whichever exam you take: the CDI exam fee is $55 plus a $43 PSI convenience fee, whether the exam is Property, Casualty or combined. Most candidates sit the combined exam because it leaves both lines open.

Weight your study to the weights: personal lines and commercial coverages first, because they carry the largest sections in both documents. Then secure the general-insurance section shared by both objectives, then the line-specific sections.

Our chapter practice sets follow that structure, one topic at a time. Try the course preview, then work through the sets on the free practice questions hub. To see how these numbers translate into real results, read Is the California P&C exam hard?