Is the Pennsylvania Property & Casualty Exam Hard? Pass Rates and Difficulty (2026)

The Pennsylvania Property and Casualty exam is hard enough that only about half of first-time candidates pass. NAIC compiled data for the combined exam (PSI Series 16-06) shows a first-time pass rate of 54.0% in 2024 and 53.4% in 2025, which we round to 53-54%.

The exam is not exotic. It is 150 scored multiple-choice questions in 170 minutes, and you pass with 70% raw. What makes it hard is breadth: personal and commercial property, auto, liability and workers' compensation, with Pennsylvania law running through nearly all of it. None of it is out of reach, but the exam does not forgive a weak area.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) compiles pass rates from the states. These figures are for first-time candidates taking the combined exam in English:

Year	First-time candidates	In person	Remote	Pass rate
2024	2,248	886	1,362	54.0%
2025	2,455	1,500	955	53.4%

Two things stand out. The result barely moved from one year to the next, so it is not a one-off. And the sample is large, with more than two thousand first-time candidates a year, so the percentage is not an accident of small numbers. The Property-only and Casualty-only exams carry almost no volume, 10 to 40 candidates a year, because most candidates take the combined exam.

1. Length against the clock. You answer 150 scored questions plus 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions inside a single 170-minute limit. You are not told which questions are the unscored ones, so every question has to be treated as if it counts.

2. Two lines in one sitting. The combined exam covers the content of both single-line exams. Dwelling, homeowners, personal auto, commercial property, commercial general liability, commercial auto, businessowners, crime and workers' compensation all appear, along with an "other types" section. A candidate who sells only homeowners and auto still has to answer the commercial questions.

3. Pennsylvania law is woven through the outline. It does not sit in one block you can study last. State law appears in Insurance Regulation (section 1.0, which is 20% of the exam, 30 items), in Property and Casualty Insurance Basics, and across the dwelling, homeowners, auto, commercial property, liability, workers' compensation and other-lines sections. The two statutes that shape the most questions are the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (Title 75) and the Workers' Compensation Act (Title 77).

4. A raw passing score. The pass mark is 70% raw: the share of scored questions you answer correctly, with no scaling to rescue a weak section. Every area you neglect costs points directly.

No agency publishes why candidates fail, so treat this section as a reading of how the exam is built, not as measured data. The patterns that follow from the outline are these:

• Studying national concepts and skipping Pennsylvania law. A fifth of the exam is regulation, and state law shows up in many other sections as well. Candidates who learn only the general rules miss the state-specific questions.
• Being strong on one line. Someone who works in personal lines can be comfortable with homeowners and auto and still lose marks on commercial property, liability and workers' compensation.
• Memorising without applying. Many questions describe a loss and ask which coverage, form or rule responds. Knowing a definition is not the same as choosing the right option in a scenario.
• Never practising under time. 170 minutes is a long sitting. Candidates who have only ever answered ten questions at a time are not ready for 150.

Several things make the exam easier to reach and to recover from:

• No pre-licensing course. Act 142 of 2024 removed the requirement on April 29, 2025, for every line including property and casualty. See whether you need a pre-licensing course.
• Unlimited retakes with next-day scheduling. A failed attempt is a setback, not a lockout. The retake rules explain the details.
• Remote testing. In 2025, 955 of the 2,455 first-time candidates tested remotely.
• Multiple choice. Each question has a single best answer, and the weights tell you where the marks are.

Study in proportion to the outline. Insurance Regulation is 20%, Property and Casualty Insurance Basics is 14%, and the Personal Automobile Policy is 10%. The remaining sections are each 8% or less, but together they are most of the exam, so none of them can be skipped.

1. Listen first, then test yourself. Audio lessons build the vocabulary and the logic of each policy. Practice questions then show whether you can apply it.
2. Give Pennsylvania law its own time. Work through the producer law questions and the Pennsylvania property and casualty law questions.
3. Practise the commercial lines. Start with commercial property and general liability and commercial auto.
4. Take one full timed run before exam day, so the pace of 150 questions is familiar.

For a day-by-day plan, read how to pass the Pennsylvania P&C exam on your first try, and try the free course preview. The exam fee and the other costs are in how much the license costs.