The Texas property & casualty 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.

Why both halves matter equally

Failing either half fails the exam - there's no averaging across sections. A candidate who's memorized every ISO homeowners form cold can still fail 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 specifically so neither half gets shortchanged relative to the other - 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.

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.