Last updated on November 16, 2019
Passing the life insurance exam and getting your license to sell life insurance can seem very difficult, but can be easier if approached right. I took the life insurance exam in 2007 in Connecticut when I was a Primerica Financial Services representative. After scoring a 92 on a challenging Primerica Financial Services practice test that only a third of the Primerica Financial Services life insurance students passed, I passed the life insurance exam and finished it in two-thirds of the allotted time. Here is what I learned about passing the life insurance exam, as much as I am allowed to share.
I was with Primerica Financial Services when I went for my life insurance exam, and I went for the life insurance license in the state of Connecticut. Although different companies and different states may deviate slightly in their procedures, they share a lot in common. Here is how to pass the Connecticut life insurance exam and became licensed to sell life insurance with Primerica Financial Services.
Start out by talking to your training manager. Your training manager will have you sign up for Primerica Financial Services University, or PFSU. Primerica Financial Services University consists of twenty hours of study spread out over two days, usually two consecutive Saturdays or Sundays. You get breaks every couple hours, as well as a lunch break. Expect to spend eleven plus hours in the office on those two days. Primerica Financial Services University has no fee; your $199 sign-up fee ($199 as of 2007, but there was talk of changing it) will cover the classes. We were given a sheet to fill out and then we took our seats. We were also given a “Connecticut Life insurance and Law Decoder Student Manual” The professor then began class, breaking down the book chapter by chapter while giving a ten-minute break between each chapter. I forget how long lunch was. I think it was between forty-five minutes and an hour.
We were given the life insurance exam manual to take home and were encouraged to put in 20 hours of homework in addition to the 20 hours of Primerica Financial Services University to total up the forty hours of study needed for the life insurance license. They said the twenty hours had to be done within the week, but some people who were unable to do it in the week ended up doing it before they went for their test.
Some of the twenty hours of study I was able to do through one of the helps on Primerica Online. Primerica Online had three types of practice life insurance exams. The practice exams were broken down by topic and, after you made your choice, Primerica Online explained why that choice was the correct answer or told you your answer was incorrect and told you why the correct answer was correct. Then there was the simulated test. As the state of Connecticut keeps its life insurance exam questions secret, Primerica Financial Services can only guess at the content and use their guesses in their simulated life insurance exam. Then there was an extra test, with tougher questions. For the life insurance exam, you have to pay, but Primerica refunds your money if you pass. Should you achieve a certain mark or higher on the simulated tests, they guarantee your refund even if you fail the first test. At least, that was how it was when I was with Primerica Financial Services.
At any time, you can sign up with the state of Connecticut to take the life insurance exam for the life insurance license. Be sure to schedule it for a date after Primerica Financial Services University is completed. At the time I went, there was about a two-week waiting list for the life insurance exam.
It is good to test-drive to the testing site just so you know how to get there. In Primerica Financial Services University, I had been told what I needed to do and study for the life insurance exam, and what and what not to bring to the testing facility. I checked in and had to wait in a waiting room. I was given a locker and had to leave all the things in my pocket in it. The exam took place in a high-security room. There were a lot of rules in place to guarantee that the test takers can concentrate and also to protect the security of the secrecy of the content on the test. When the exam is completed, I left the exam center and retrieved my items from the locker. After a brief wait, my results came out and I was told I had passed the life insurance exam. My score was not revealed.
After filling out some forms with Primerica Financial Services, my up line manager submitted them and I became licensed to sell life insurance. Your life insurance license will need renewal and continuing education is a requirement. To drop your life insurance license, simply fail to renew it and you will get a letter from Connecticut saying you no longer can sell life insurance in Connecticut unless you pay a late fee and renew your life insurance license within a year.
So this was my experience with studying for and taking my life insurance exam in Connecticut for Primerica Financial Services. Although financial services wasn’t my thing, passing the life insurance exam showed me that I can still study and succeed in a classroom. For more info, be sure to check out Pros and Cons of becoming a Primerica Representative and What to expect from a Primerica Presentation.
