- The combined exam has 150 questions, a 2-hour 30-minute limit, and requires 70% to pass.
- Property and Casualty Insurance Basics is the heaviest domain at 16% of the exam.
- Resident applicants need 40 hours of prelicensing education: 20 hours Property, 20 hours Casualty.
- PSI administers the exam as Series 11-36 for a $49 fee, at test centers or online-proctored.
What the OH P&C Certification Actually Is
The Ohio Property & Casualty Insurance Agent Exam (OH P&C) is the state licensing test administered on behalf of the Ohio Department of Insurance. PSI delivers it as Series 11-36, and passing it is the gatekeeping step for anyone who wants to sell property and casualty insurance products in Ohio. It is not a voluntary professional designation you add to a resume after years in the field - it is the mandatory exam new agents must clear before the state will issue a resident producer license covering property and casualty lines.
Because the acronym "P&C" gets reused across the insurance industry for different state exams and different credentialing bodies, it's worth being precise: this article covers only the Ohio-administered, PSI-delivered combined Property and Casualty exam. If you're still getting oriented, our overview of what OH P&C is and our plain-language breakdown of OH P&C meaning are good starting points before you dive into domain content.
Exam Format, Fees, and Delivery Options
The OH P&C exam is a single combined test covering both Property and Casualty content in one sitting. Candidates answer 150 computer-based multiple-choice questions within a 2-hour 30-minute window, and a score of 70% is required to pass. The exam fee is $49, payable through PSI when you schedule your appointment.
PSI gives you two delivery choices: an in-person test center or an online-proctored exam you can take from home or another quiet, private location that meets proctoring requirements. Both formats use the same question bank and same 70% passing standard - the choice is purely about convenience and comfort with remote proctoring software.
- Question count: 150 multiple-choice items
- Time limit: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Passing score: 70%
- Fee: $49 per attempt
- Delivery: PSI test center or online-proctored
For a full cost breakdown including prelicensing course fees and how they stack with the $49 exam fee, see our OH P&C Certification Cost 2026 guide. If you want to understand exactly how the 70% threshold translates into a raw score target, our OH P&C Passing Score guide walks through the math. And if scheduling logistics are your main question right now, check OH P&C Exam Dates 2026 for testing windows and deadlines.
The 10 OH P&C Exam Domains
The 150 questions are distributed across ten content domains, each weighted differently. Knowing these weights lets you prioritize study time instead of treating every topic equally.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Property and Casualty Insurance Basics | 16% |
| Homeowners Policy | 14% |
| Auto Insurance | 14% |
| Commercial Package Policy (CPP) | 12% |
| Insurance Regulation | 10% |
| General Insurance | 9% |
| Businessowners Policy | 8% |
| Other Coverages and Options | 7% |
| Dwelling Policy | 6% |
| Workers Compensation Insurance | 4% |
Domain 3: Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (16%)
This is the largest single domain and covers the foundational vocabulary and principles that every other domain builds on - insurable interest, risk types, policy structure, and underwriting concepts.
- Master core terminology before moving to policy-specific domains
- Expect this domain to reinforce concepts tested again inside Homeowners and Auto questions
Domain 5 & 6: Homeowners Policy and Auto Insurance (14% each)
Together these two domains make up 28% of the exam - more than a quarter of all questions. Homeowners tests policy forms, perils, and endorsements; Auto tests liability limits, coverage parts, and exclusions.
- Study these two domains back-to-back since they share structural logic (declarations, insuring agreements, exclusions)
- Expect scenario-based questions that ask what a specific policy would or would not cover
Domain 7 & 8: Commercial Package Policy and Businessowners Policy (12% + 8%)
Combined, commercial-line content is 20% of the exam. CPP questions test how monoline coverages bundle together; Businessowners Policy (BOP) questions test eligibility and the simplified package structure built for small commercial risks.
- Learn what distinguishes a BOP-eligible business from one that requires a full CPP
For a domain-by-domain deep dive with practice question style breakdowns, read the full OH P&C Exam Domains 2026 guide. If you're trying to gauge overall difficulty before committing study hours, How Hard Is the OH P&C Exam? covers what makes certain domains harder than others.
Eligibility, Prelicensing Hours, and Background Checks
Before you can sit for the OH P&C exam, resident applicants generally must complete 40 hours of approved prelicensing education, split evenly: 20 hours dedicated to Property and 20 hours to Casualty. This coursework maps closely to the exam domains, so the hours you spend here directly translate to exam readiness rather than being a bureaucratic hurdle.
Two timing details trip up candidates:
- 180-day validity window: Course completion certificates and education waivers are only valid for 180 days. If you finish your prelicensing course but delay scheduling the exam, your certificate can expire before you sit for it.
- Fingerprint-based background checks: Resident applicants must complete BCI and FBI fingerprint-based background checks as part of the licensing process, separate from the exam itself.
Key Takeaway
Schedule your exam date as soon as you finish prelicensing coursework - don't let the 180-day certificate window lapse while you're "still planning to study."
For the complete rundown of prerequisites, waiver rules, and how the fingerprinting process fits into your timeline, see OH P&C Requirements 2026.
Who Hires OH P&C License Holders
Once licensed, OH P&C holders typically move into roles at independent insurance agencies, captive-carrier agent positions, brokerages that place commercial and personal lines, and carrier customer-service or underwriting-support teams that require a producer license to discuss policy specifics with clients. The domain weighting on the exam is a fair preview of the job itself: heavy emphasis on Homeowners and Auto reflects how much personal-lines volume most entry-level agents handle, while the Commercial Package Policy and Businessowners Policy domains reflect the path toward commercial-lines producer work.
If you're evaluating whether pursuing this license is worth the time and cost relative to career payoff, our ROI analysis and salary guide lay out the qualitative case, and OH P&C Jobs surveys the kinds of roles that list this license as a requirement.
Building a Domain-Weighted Study Plan
Because the exam weights domains unevenly, an effective study plan spends time proportional to point value rather than splitting hours evenly across all ten domains. A candidate who spends equal time on Workers Compensation Insurance (4%) and Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (16%) is misallocating four times the necessary effort on the smaller domain.
Foundations First
- Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (16%)
- General Insurance (9%)
- Insurance Regulation (10%)
Personal Lines Depth
- Homeowners Policy (14%)
- Dwelling Policy (6%)
- Auto Insurance (14%)
Commercial Lines
- Commercial Package Policy (12%)
- Businessowners Policy (8%)
- Workers Compensation Insurance (4%)
- Other Coverages and Options (7%)
Full-Length Practice and Review
- Timed practice sets replicating the 150-question, 150-minute format
- Revisit weakest domains identified from missed questions
Running full-length timed practice exams that mirror the 150-question, 2-hour-30-minute structure matters more than passive re-reading - you need to build stamina for a two-and-a-half-hour multiple-choice session, not just recognize correct answers. You can run mock exams built to this exact format at our OH P&C practice test platform, and cross-reference weak spots against the OH P&C Study Guide 2026 for a first-attempt-focused study sequence.
Common Missteps Candidates Make
- Letting the 180-day clock run out. Finishing prelicensing coursework too far ahead of your exam date risks having to redo hours if your certificate expires.
- Treating all ten domains equally. Skipping proportional study time on Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (16%) in favor of smaller domains like Workers Compensation (4%) is a common and costly imbalance.
- Ignoring commercial lines because personal lines feel more familiar. Commercial Package Policy and Businessowners Policy together account for 20% of the exam - too much to gloss over.
- Not practicing under real time pressure. 150 questions in 150 minutes averages exactly one minute per question; candidates who never rehearse that pace often run out of time on the back half of the exam.
- Skipping a quick-reference review pass. A condensed one-page review in the final days before test day helps lock in formulas, coverage limits, and regulatory terms. Our OH P&C Cheat Sheet 2026 is built for exactly this last-mile review.
Beyond the domain content, it helps to understand exactly what the certification is called, how it's structured, and how it differs from similarly-named credentials elsewhere. If you landed here still sorting out terminology, our companion explainers - OH P&C Certification, What Does OH P&C Stand For?, What Is A OH P&C?, and What Does OH P&C Mean? - cover the naming and scope questions directly. For structured coursework leading up to your exam date, OH P&C Training outlines how prelicensing programs are typically organized.
Frequently Asked Questions
The combined Property and Casualty exam has 150 computer-based multiple-choice questions with a 2-hour 30-minute time limit.
You need 70% correct to pass. See our passing score guide for how that translates to a target number of correct answers.
The exam fee is $49, paid through PSI when scheduling. This is separate from prelicensing course costs - see our cost breakdown for the full picture.
Yes. PSI offers both in-person test-center delivery and online-proctored delivery for the OH P&C exam, using the same question format and passing standard either way.
Start with Property and Casualty Insurance Basics, since it's the largest domain at 16% and its concepts underpin the Homeowners, Auto, and commercial-lines domains tested later in the exam.