Texas P&C license exam: what's actually on it

The Texas General Lines - Property and Casualty exam, administered through Pearson VUE for the Texas Department of Insurance, tests two distinct bodies of knowledge, and a lot of candidates prepare for one and get caught out by the other.

Half one: national P&C fundamentals

This is the part that looks like any state's P&C exam. Insurance basics (risk, perils vs hazards, insurable interest, indemnity), contract law as it applies to policies (elements of a contract, aleatory and adhesion characteristics, representations vs warranties), agency law, and then the actual coverage lines: dwelling policies, homeowners forms (HO-2 through HO-8), personal auto (the PAP's six parts), commercial general liability, commercial property, commercial auto, workers compensation, and specialty lines like inland marine and umbrella coverage. This material is built on standard ISO forms used nationally, so if you've studied P&C for another state, most of this transfers directly.

Half two: Texas-specific law

This is where a national study guide alone falls short. Texas has real deviations from what other states test:

• Workers compensation is not mandatory for most private Texas employers - a business can "nonsubscribe" and opt out, losing certain common-law defenses in exchange. This is a heavily tested, genuinely unusual fact most other states don't have an equivalent for.
• TWIA (Texas Windstorm Insurance Association) exists specifically for coastal/catastrophe-exposed property that the standard market won't write, alongside the FAIR Plan and TAIPA (the residual auto market).
• Texas has its own rules on unfair trade practices - specifically distinguishing twisting, churning, and rebating, which the exam tests as distinct violations, not synonyms.
• Licensing itself runs through TDI: application, exam, continuing education requirements, and TDI's regulatory authority over producer conduct.

How it's scored, and why both halves still need study time

Per the Pearson VUE candidate handbook (#124400), the exam is 145 questions (130 scored plus 15 unscored pretest questions) in 150 minutes, and the fee is $49. The passing score is 70 on a scaled score, and you're scored on the exam as a whole, not on each half separately. A strong national half can make up for a weaker Texas half, and the reverse.

That doesn't make either half optional. The Texas section is a real share of the scored questions, too many to write off, and it's the material you're least likely to pick up from general insurance familiarity. A candidate who's memorized every ISO homeowners form cold can still lose a lot of points on TWIA eligibility or the nonsubscriber rule, and a candidate confident on Texas law can still miss coinsurance-formula questions on the national side. Our Texas P&C deck is built as 15 units so neither half gets shortchanged - the national coverage material and the Texas-specific unit both get dedicated, sourced card sets rather than one being an afterthought tacked onto the other. You can find it on the Texas P&C exam page.

If you're deciding how to structure your own study time, see how to study for the Texas general lines P&C exam for the practical side of splitting attention between the two halves.

Once you know your exam's total question count and passing percentage, the exam pass score calculator gives you a working miss budget - keep in mind the Texas exam reports a scaled score, not a raw percentage, so treat the result as an estimate. See how many questions can you miss and still pass for the full breakdown, and how the coinsurance penalty works for the formula the national half loves to test.

Studying for the life and health license instead, or as well? What's on the Texas life and health exam covers that exam's 2026 outline, which uses the same format and scoring.

Next steps: how to get a Texas property and casualty license, Texas insurance exam day rules, and Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act deadlines. See every certification course on the Encodr exam prep hub.