Test
My surname is 蔡, then 禮 as in 禮貌 [the Chinese word for manners], then 旭 as in the Chinese historical figure 旭日東.
The Institutes’ QuizMe App
After a long hiatus, The Institutes’ QuizME app has finally been updated to include many of the courses that were dropped from the app back in 2023. We called The Institutes to get all the details you need to know, so read on to learn more about the updated app.
In this post:
1) What is the QuizME app?
2) Is this app different from the old Smart QuizME app?
3) How do I access the QuizME app?
4) What courses are available in the QuizME app?
5) Is app access included as part of The Institutes’ study material packages?
6) Is there an option to pay for app access without buying the full course from The Institutes?
7) Is there an expiration date on the app access?
8) Are the questions in the app different from the ones in The Institutes’ courses?
Ace your AINS® & CPCU® exams with the help of our study materials!
Ultimate Guide to Passing CPCU 556
Earning your CPCU® designation can help you advance your insurance career, but you must first complete a number of courses that can be quite challenging. In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the CPCU 556 course and give you tips on how to pass this exam.
What’s in this post
- About CPCU 556
- What is the CPCU program?
- What is CPCU 556?
- How difficult is CPCU 556?
- About the CPCU 556 exam
- Topics covered in CPCU 556
- Topics you are most likely to see on the CPCU 556 exam
- Tips for passing CPCU 556 exam
- Buy our CPCU 556 study guide bundle
CPCU 556 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
What is the CPCU program?
The Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) is a professional designation offered by an organization called The Institutes. After completing the program, you will have a solid understanding of how the insurance industry works and can display the CPCU designation on your business cards, resume, etc.
Having this designation shows that you have done extra education, which can make you a stronger candidate for hire or promotion. Also, this might give customers, colleagues, and business partners more confidence in working with you because they know you have this foundational knowledge.
What is CPCU 556?
CPCU 556 is one of four concentration courses you may choose from earn your CPCU designation. Whether you are pursuing the traditional CPCU path or the ARM to CPCU path, all students must choose between completing the commercial lines concentration courses or the personal lines concentration courses. CPCU 556 is one of the two personal lines concentration courses.
More specifically, this course is about how personal lines insurers manage their portfolios to maximize long-term profitability. The knowledge you gain from this course will help you understand the key considerations that insurers have to take into account when doing their strategic planning and what specific strategies they can use to capitalize on opportunities or mitigate threats.
How difficult is CPCU 556?
The content in CPCU 556 is relatively straight-forward and easy to understand. However, the course content is written almost as if it assumes you already have an understanding of how an insurance company operates. If you do not have that background information, you will probably encounter terms or broader concepts that are unfamiliar to you (example: loss ratio, expense ratio). That may require you to do additional research to learn what those terms are referring to.
About the CPCU 556 exam
In order to demonstrate that you have understood the material from this course, you will need to pass an online exam administered by The Institutes.
You must go through The Institutes' website to purchase and formally register for your exam. When registering, you must indicate which test window you plan to take the exam during. The four test windows that are available every year are:
- January 15 to March 15
- April 15 to June 15
- July 15 to September 15
- October 15 to December 15
You may pay for your exam fee at any time, and those who register before the test window opens will usually receive a discount. However, you can only launch the exam and complete it during the test window you chose at the time of purchase. If you need to reschedule your exam, a new fee will apply.
The exam consists of 50 questions that cover all the chapters from the course, with a time limit of 65 minutes. The exam is done online, and you must get a score of 70% or better to pass. You may retake the exam (and pay a new fee) if you do not pass, but please check The Institutes' policies regarding how often and how soon you can retake the exam, as that may change from time to time.
CPCU 556 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 556: Building a Competitive Edge in Personal Lines [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 556 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 556)
Topics covered in CPCU 556
- Insurance marketing strategies
- Analyzing risk exposures for:
- Personal auto
- Residential property
- Liability risks
- Personal inland marine insurance
- Personal watercraft
- Personal umbrella policies
- Establishing underwriting goals
- Business strategies for:
- Growing premiums
- Decreasing loss costs
- Controlling expenses
- Tiered-rating underwriting
- Product life cycle management
- Key insurance business indicators
- Making corrective changes to an insurance business portfolios
- Cost-benefit analyses
How IEG can help: We have a comprehensive study guide bundle that covers every chapter from CPCU 556. We use plain language and helpful examples to help you truly understand the content.
Topics you are most likely to see on the CPCU 556 exam
The following list is based on student feedback regard what topics they felt were most heavily-featured on their exam.
Please remember that this is not a comprehensive list of all the topics that will be tested, and each person’s exam may different. Any of the material covered in the course may potentially appear on your exam, so you should prepare accordingly.
- Types of market segmentation (national, retail, group, niche)
- Customer retention strategies
- Info used for underwriting personal auto exposures
- Factors that increase risk for autos & miscellaneous vehicles
- Fire losses for residential risks
- Factors that increase risk for personal liability exposures
- Factors that affect insurability for watercrafts
- Negative effects of various underwriting strategies
- Goals/features of tiered-rating underwriting
- Key indicators of underwriting strength (policies in force, new policy count / business count, policy retention)
How IEG can help: Our comprehensive study guide summarizes all the key details related to all of these topics.
CPCU 556 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
Tips for passing CPCU 556
1) Take CPCU 520 before taking CPCU 556
CPCU 556 is all about the strategic decisions that personal lines insurers have to make. As part of that discussion, the course will cover how an insurer’s different departments contribute to different types of initiatives, and also how different strategic decisions can impact the insurer’s various metrics.
CPCU 520 covers how each department within an insurance company functions, and also goes over the key performance metrics for insurance companies. In that way, CPCU 556 builds upon the concepts you learn about in CPCU 520.
For example, CPCU 556 might say that a certain strategy will hurt the insurer’s loss ratio, but the course never defines what a loss ratio is. Instead, CPCU 520 covers the loss ratio in great detail. Although you are not necessarily being tested on the loss ratio in CPCU 556, it is always possible that you might encounter a question where knowing what the loss ratio is would have helped you infer the correct answer.
How IEG can help: We have study materials for CPCU 520, including a full online study program that comes complete with video lessons, a streaming audio-only option, tons of practice questions, and our comprehensive study guide.
2) Take CPCU 555 before CPCU 556
CPCU 555 discusses various types of personal lines insurance products, explaining what those products cover and the benefits they provide to insureds. CPCU 556 looks at the same products but from a different angle, that of the insurer’s business side.
In CPCU 556, the course will explain what an insurer’s underwriters have to consider given the risks that the insurer is covering with that kind of policy or product. If you understand the policy/product beforehand, it makes a lot of sense why underwriters consider the things they do; this can help you more easily infer the right answer when you are taking your actual exam.
How IEG can help: We have comprehensive study guides for CPCU 555 that will not only help you prepare for your CPCU 555 exam, but will also serve as great reference material that you can turn back to as you are going through CPCU 556.
CPCU 556 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 556: Building a Competitive Edge in Personal Lines [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 556 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 556)
3) Don’t waste too much time on long questions or questions that you are stuck on
Every test question is worth only one point, no matter how simple or complex it is. If you find that you are spending a lot of time on one particular problem, you are better off guessing for now and using the option to flag the question so you can return to it later. You don’t want to spend so much time that you run out of time before you can get to all the other questions that might have been easier for you to score points on.
4) Put an answer for every question
You do not get minus points for getting a question wrong, so don’t leave any questions blank.
CPCU 556 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
5) Get as much practice as possible
The best way to ensure that you know how to apply the concepts you learning is to practice doing so, and practice quizzes are the perfect way to do this. On top of that, doing practice questions gets you comfortable with seeing the concepts in the same question-answer format you will see on your exam.
The Institutes’ online course includes tons of practice questions and you should do them all. The Institutes’ also offers a separate Smart QuizMe app that includes an entire bank of practice questions for every course. The app is free to download but you need to pay a small fee (about $10 per course at the time of this writing) to access the full bank of questions for any particular course.
NOTE: As of this writing (January 18, 2024), the Smart QuizMe app has not been updated yet to reflect the updated content in the latest version of CPCU 556. To the best of our knowledge, The Institutes has not confirmed when the app will be updated, but we do recommend utilizing it once the updated practice questions are available.
6) Aim to understand the practice questions and not just memorize them
The questions on the actual exam are not made up of the practice questions, so you cannot just rely on memorizing those answers for any practice quizzes and simulated exams you take. Read each explanation and re-review the material until you understand why you got a question wrong.
7) Don’t rely solely on The Institutes’ study materials
The Institutes’ way of explaining things is not necessarily the best way, so take advantage of other resources available to you. Some students don’t use The Institutes’ study materials at all and prefer to go with another study option, such as our comprehensive study materials. We use plain English to explain all of the concepts, include helpful examples so you can see how they apply in real life, and show you how different elements of something relate to one another.
You can also turn to Google and YouTube to look for explanations and examples from other sources too.
8) Join the CPCU Candidates Facebook group
One of the best things you can do during your CPCU journey is to join the CPCU Candidates Facebook group, which is a wonderful community of current and former CPCU students. Here, you can get help with test questions that might be stumping you, ask for advice on propelling your insurance career, and find a healthy dose of moral support and motivation.
Why Our Study Guides Work
Learning the material is just the first step. You need a way to refresh yourself on the content because there is so much to remember.
We created our signature study guides to help you quickly and easily review everything you've learned:
Focus on the right things
We condense every chapter to a few pages each, so you can focus on what you need to know.
Understand the key concepts
We provide extra examples & bonus materials to help you understand the trickier concepts.
See how it all relates
Our outlines are super organized and make it easy to see how the concepts relate to each other.
About your instructor
Insurance Exam Guides (IEG) was founded by Stacy Trinh, CPCU®, who first started her teaching journey at the request of her co-workers who were preparing for their CPCU exams. Because of her reputation as an adept trainer and motivator, Stacy's co-workers had asked her to lead a class. The feedback on her sessions and study materials was overwhelming positive, and her students encouraged her to share what she had to offer with the rest of the CPCU community.
Since then, Stacy created a library of study materials for both CPCU® and AINS® that have helped thousands of students pass their exams. As an accounting major and former claims adjuster, her style of instruction incorporates both a financial and operational perspective that makes her study materials well-rounded. She looks forward to helping many more students continue to succeed, including you!
Disclaimers: The Institutes, CPCU®, and AINS® are trademarks of the American Institute For Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, d/b/a The Institutes. InsuranceExamGuides.com is not affiliated or associated with The Institutes in any way, and The Institutes do not endorse, approve, support, or otherwise recognize InsuranceExamGuides.com or its products or services. CPCU® and AINS® are registered trademarks of The Institutes. All rights reserved.
Ultimate Guide to Passing CPCU 555
Earning your CPCU® designation can help you advance your insurance career, but you must first complete a number of courses that can be quite challenging. In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the CPCU 555 course and give you tips on how to pass this exam.
What’s in this post
- About CPCU 555
- What is the CPCU program?
- What is CPCU 555?
- How difficult is CPCU 555?
- About the CPCU 555 exam
- Topics covered in CPCU 555
- Topics you are most likely to see on the CPCU 555 exam
- Tips for passing CPCU 555 exam
- Buy our CPCU 555 study guide bundle
CPCU 555 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
What is the CPCU program?
The Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) is a professional designation offered by an organization called The Institutes. After completing the program, you will have a solid understanding of how the insurance industry works and can display the CPCU designation on your business cards, resume, etc.
Having this designation shows that you have done extra education, which can make you a stronger candidate for hire or promotion. Also, this might give customers, colleagues, and business partners more confidence in working with you because they know you have this foundational knowledge.
What is CPCU 555?
Whether you are pursuing the traditional CPCU path or the ARM to CPCU path, all students must choose between completing the commercial lines concentration courses or the personal lines concentration courses. CPCU 555 is one of the two personal lines concentration courses.
More specifically, this course is about various types of personal lines insurance products that are available, as well as how to incorporate insurance into personal financial planning. The knowledge you gain from this course will help you understand what types of products are available to help individuals and families get insurance protection, and how coverage typically applies for each of those policies.
How difficult is CPCU 555?
There are several major factors that make CPCU 555 one of the most difficult courses in the CPCU program:
- Sheer amount of detail: CPCU 555 may have the most content out of all the CPCU courses, and the exam does include questions on the finer nuances of each topic. This means you need to be familiar with even the smallest details and can’t get by with only a high-level understanding.
- Numerous close similarities: In this course, there are lot of products and concepts that are super similar in terms of their name or how they function, which makes it very easy to mix them up. For example, the course will cover the Snowmobile endorsement (which is for personal auto policies) and the Owned Snowmobile endorsement (which is for homeowners policies). Keeping all of the very-similar terms straight can be very tricky.
- Endorsements: Endorsements are always a tricky topic to study because they modify the standard terms of a policy contract language. This means you have to remember what the normal terms are and how each endorsement changes those terms.
- Putting it all together: Many of the exam questions involve determining which coverage form is best suited for covering a particular exposure, or whether or not a particular loss scenario would be covered. This requires you to be familiar with ALL the policy forms so that you can decide either which one is the best option for a situation or how all the forms will interact to affect coverage for that loss scenario. This type of applied learning is far more difficult than just memorizing and regurgitating isolated facts.
- Personal finance chapter: For many students, chapter 5 feels totally out of left field because it has almost nothing to do with insurance. Instead, this chapter talks about financial planning and investing. Knowing a client’s financial situation might be somewhat helpful in assessing their insurance needs, but not so much that you would expect an entire chapter to be devoted to it. The nature of the content feels pretty different too. While the rest of the course centers around looking at specific policy provisions and understanding how they affect coverage, Chapter 5 is essentially a laundry list of different types of investments.
Our study guide bundle and bonus printables are the perfect supplement to The Institutes’ course, and serves as a super-effective tool for helping you quickly but thoroughly review everything you need to know before test time:
- Comprehensive 80+ study guide
- Policy summary sheets
- Comparison sheets for HO3 vs DP3 policies, 529 plans vs Coverdell ESAs
- Visual cheat sheets
- Practice problems for calculating rate of return
- Extra lessons to give you helpful background knowledge that will improve your understanding of the materials
How IEG can help: Our study guide bundle and bonus printables are the perfect supplement to The Institutes’ course, and serve as a super-effective tool for helping you quickly but thoroughly review everything you need to know before test time:
- Comprehensive 80+ study guide
- Policy summary sheets
- Comparison sheets for HO3 vs DP3 policies, 529 plans vs Coverdell ESAs
- Visual cheat sheets
- Practice problems for calculating rate of return
- Extra lessons to give you helpful background knowledge that will improve your understanding of the materials
About the CPCU 555 exam
In order to demonstrate that you have understood the material from this course, you will need to pass an online exam administered by The Institutes.
You must go through The Institutes' website to purchase and formally register for your exam. When registering, you must indicate which test window you plan to take the exam during. The four test windows that are available every year are:
- January 15 to March 15
- April 15 to June 15
- July 15 to September 15
- October 15 to December 15
You may pay for your exam fee at any time, and those who register before the test window opens will usually receive a discount. However, you can only launch the exam and complete it during the test window you chose at the time of purchase. If you need to reschedule your exam, a new fee will apply.
The exam consists of 50 questions that cover all the chapters from the course, with a time limit of 65 minutes. The exam is done online, and you must get a score of 70% or better to pass. You may retake the exam (and pay a new fee) if you do not pass, but please check The Institutes' policies regarding how often and how soon you can retake the exam, as that may change from time to time.
CPCU 555 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 555: Advancing Personal Insurance Products [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 555 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 555)
Topics covered in CPCU 555
- Homeowners insurance
- Dwelling policies
- Personal Auto Policy (PAP)
- Inland marine insurance
- Coverage for miscellaneous vehicles
- Mobile home insurance
- Personal watercraft insurance
- Financial planning
- Types of investments
- Life insurance
- Health insurance
- Disability insurance
- Long-term care insurance
How IEG can help: We have a comprehensive study guide bundle that covers every chapter from CPCU 555. We use plain language and helpful examples to help you truly understand the content.
Topics you are most likely to see on the CPCU 555 exam
The following list is based on student feedback regard what topics they felt were most heavily-featured on their exam.
Please remember that this is not a comprehensive list of all the topics that will be tested, and each person’s exam may different. Any of the material covered in the course may potentially appear on your exam, so you should prepare accordingly.
- HO3 policy conditions
- Differences between homeowners policies and dwelling policies
- National Flood Insurance Program
- Whose policy is primary in various loss scenarios
- Which parties’ injuries would be excluded in various loss scenarios
- Miscellaneous vehicle endorsements
- Mobile home insurance
- Personal finance life cycle
- Types of stocks
- Differences between term life insurance and permanent nature of life insurance
- Differences between various health insurance plan options
- Key provisions in disability policies
How IEG can help: Our comprehensive study guide summarizes all the key details of these topics. We also provide cheat sheets and comparison charts as part of our bonus materials, to help you nail down the finer details that matter.
CPCU 555 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 555: Advancing Personal Insurance Products [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 555 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 555)
Tips for passing CPCU 555
1) Look up actual policy forms to see how they are organized and the exact language they use
The Institutes’ paraphrases most of the standard policy terms and sections, but it can sometimes be more helpful to see how things are worded in the actual policy form itself. Most insurance policies are based on standard starting templates that nearly all insurers use, and it is pretty easy to find samples online. Just search for the policy type as a PDF (ex: “personal auto policy form filetype:pdf”) and take a look at the real language used.
2) Keep track of how coverage applies under the standard policy form and how each endorsement amends the standard policy to apply coverage differently
This course will cover a TON of endorsement forms. It is NOT enough to simply know what coverage the endorsement provides; you need to understand HOW the endorsement amends the policy to provide that coverage or change. For example, does it modify a definition? Does it add totally new terms? Which policy form does it have to be attached to?
How IEG can help: Our study guide bundle includes comprehensive descriptions of all the endorsements covered in the course, including all the key details we mentioned above.
CPCU 555 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
3) Don’t waste too much time on long questions or questions that you are stuck on
Every test question is worth only one point, no matter how simple or complex it is. If you find that you are spending a lot of time on one particular problem, you are better off guessing for now and using the option to flag the question so you can return to it later. You don’t want to spend so much time that you run out of time before you can get to all the other questions that might have been easier for you to score points on.
4) Put an answer for every question
You do not get minus points for getting a question wrong, so don’t leave any questions blank.
5) Get as much practice as possible
The best way to ensure that you know how to apply the concepts you are learning is to practice doing that, and practice quizzes are the perfect way to test your understanding. The Institutes’ course does include practice questions, which you should keep reattempting until you are confident you understand the concepts that you are being quizzed on.
The Institutes used to have a Smart QuizMe app that also provided practice questions, but they have since removed the question banks for all the current CPCU & AINS courses from the app. At this time, we do not think that The Institutes will be updating their app to include CPCU & AINS question banks since they have not announced any specific plans to do so.
CPCU 555 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 555: Advancing Personal Insurance Products [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 555 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 555)
6) Aim to understand the practice questions and not just memorize them
The questions on the actual exam are not made up of the practice questions, so you cannot just rely on memorizing those answers for any practice quizzes and simulated exams you take. Read each explanation and re-review the material until you understand why you got a question wrong.
7) Don’t rely solely on The Institutes’ study materials
The Institutes’ way of explaining things is not necessarily the best way, so take advantage of other resources available to you. Some students don’t use The Institutes’ study materials at all and prefer to go with another study option, such as our comprehensive study materials. We use plain English to explain all of the concepts, include helpful examples so you can see how they apply in real life, and show you how different elements of something relate to one another.
You can also turn to Google and YouTube to look for explanations and examples from other sources too.
8) Join the CPCU Candidates Facebook group
One of the best things you can do during your CPCU journey is to join the CPCU Candidates Facebook group, which is a wonderful community of current and former CPCU students. Here, you can get help with test questions that might be stumping you, ask for advice on propelling your insurance career, and find a healthy dose of moral support and motivation.
CPCU 555 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
Why Our Study Guides Work
Learning the material is just the first step. You need a way to refresh yourself on the content because there is so much to remember.
We created our signature study guides to help you quickly and easily review everything you've learned:
Focus on the right things
We condense every chapter to a few pages each, so you can focus on what you need to know.
Understand the key concepts
We provide extra examples & bonus materials to help you understand the trickier concepts.
See how it all relates
Our outlines are super organized and make it easy to see how the concepts relate to each other.
About your instructor
Insurance Exam Guides (IEG) was founded by Stacy Trinh, CPCU®, who first started her teaching journey at the request of her co-workers who were preparing for their CPCU exams. Because of her reputation as an adept trainer and motivator, Stacy's co-workers had asked her to lead a class. The feedback on her sessions and study materials was overwhelming positive, and her students encouraged her to share what she had to offer with the rest of the CPCU community.
Since then, Stacy created a library of study materials for both CPCU® and AINS® that have helped thousands of students pass their exams. As an accounting major and former claims adjuster, her style of instruction incorporates both a financial and operational perspective that makes her study materials well-rounded. She looks forward to helping many more students continue to succeed, including you!
Disclaimers: The Institutes, CPCU®, and AINS® are trademarks of the American Institute For Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, d/b/a The Institutes. InsuranceExamGuides.com is not affiliated or associated with The Institutes in any way, and The Institutes do not endorse, approve, support, or otherwise recognize InsuranceExamGuides.com or its products or services. CPCU® and AINS® are registered trademarks of The Institutes. All rights reserved.
Ultimate Guide to Passing CPCU 552
Earning your CPCU® designation can help you advance your insurance career, but you must first complete a number of courses that can be quite challenging. In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the CPCU 552 course and give you tips on how to pass this exam.
What’s in this post
- About CPCU 552
- What is the CPCU program?
- What is CPCU 552?
- How difficult is CPCU 552?
- About the CPCU 552 exam
- Topics covered in CPCU 552
- Topics you are most likely to see on the CPCU 552 exam
- Tips for passing CPCU 552 exam
- Buy our CPCU 552 study guide bundle
CPCU 552 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
What is the CPCU program?
The Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) is a professional designation offered by an organization called The Institutes. After completing the program, you will have a solid understanding of how the insurance industry works and can display the CPCU designation on your business cards, resume, etc.
Having this designation shows that you have done extra education, which can make you a stronger candidate for hire or promotion. Also, this might give customers, colleagues, and business partners more confidence in working with you because they know you have this foundational knowledge.
What is CPCU 552?
CPCU 552 is one of four concentration courses you may choose from earn your CPCU designation. Whether you are pursuing the traditional CPCU path or the ARM to CPCU path, all students must choose between completing the commercial lines concentration courses or the personal lines concentration courses. CPCU 552 is one of the two commercial lines concentration courses.
This particular course is about the various types of insurance policies available for commercial liability exposures. The knowledge you gain from this course will help you understand what types of commercial policies are avaialble, how coverage typically applies for each of those policies, and what are the key considerations that producers and customers must think about when deciding on their policy terms and coverage options.
How difficult is CPCU 552?
The content in CPCU 552 is not inherently difficult to understand, but there are a few things that add to its complexity:
- The Institutes’ course is written almost as if it assumes you have some preexisting knowledge about commercial insurance and/or legal concepts. There were instances where we felt that The Institutes should have taken the time to more fully explain certain concepts or terms that not all students will be familiar with.
- Many types of policies do cover similar categories of exposures, but the extent of that coverage varies widely. For example, many policies offer some sort of coverage for cyber-related exposures, but what exactly that policy type covers and what kinds of exclusions apply will vary widely between those policy types. Students will need to know the limitations of each type of policy and be able to identify which policy is best suited to cover certain situations, but it is all too easy to mix up those details.
- Chapter 5 covers excess and umbrella policies, and students will be expected to know how to determine how much an insurer will pay out in certain scenarios.
Our study guide bundle and bonus printables are the perfect supplement to The Institutes’ course, and serves as the perfect tool to help you effectively review everything you need to know:
- Comprehensive 50+ study guide
- Policy summary sheets
- Cheat sheets for BACF covered auto symbols and endorsements
- Visual explanation of excess and umbrella policies
- Extra lessons to give you helpful background knowledge that will improve your understanding of the materials
About the CPCU 552 exam
In order to demonstrate that you have understood the material from this course, you will need to pass an online exam administered by The Institutes.
You must go through The Institutes' website to purchase and formally register for your exam. When registering, you must indicate which test window you plan to take the exam during. The four test windows that are available every year are:
- January 15 to March 15
- April 15 to June 15
- July 15 to September 15
- October 15 to December 15
You may pay for your exam fee at any time, and those who register before the test window opens will usually receive a discount. However, you can only launch the exam and complete it during the test window you chose at the time of purchase. If you need to reschedule your exam, a new fee will apply.
The exam consists of 50 questions that cover all the chapters from the course, with a time limit of 65 minutes. The exam is done online, and you must get a score of 70% or better to pass. You may retake the exam (and pay a new fee) if you do not pass, but please check The Institutes' policies regarding how often and how soon you can retake the exam, as that may change from time to time.
CPCU 552 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 552: Managing Commercial Liability Risk [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 552 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 552)
Topics covered in CPCU 552
- Commercial general liability (CGL)
- Commercial auto policies
- Cyber exposures
- Workers compensation coverage
- Employers liability coverage
- Directors and officers liability
- Employment practices liability
- Excess liability coverage
- Umbrella policies
How IEG can help: We have a comprehensive study guide bundle that covers every chapter from CPCU 552. We use plain language and helpful examples to help you truly understand the content.
Topics you are most likely to see on the CPCU 552 exam
The following list is based on student feedback regard what topics they felt were most heavily-featured on their exam.
Please remember that this is not a comprehensive list of all the topics that will be tested, and each person’s exam may different. Any of the material covered in the course may potentially appear on your exam, so you should prepare accordingly.
- Commercial general liability
- Differerentiating between premises liability, operations liability, products liability, and completed operations liability
- Coverage for mobile equipment
- Coverage B exclusions
- Coverage C provisions
- Commercial auto policies
- Covered auto symbols
- Who qualifies as “insured”
- Auto-related endorsements
- Cyber exposures – Limitations of various types of policies for covering cyber-related losses
- Workers compensation – Info Page; Part 1
- Directors & officers liability – differences between Coverages A, B, C
- Excess & umbrella policies
- Differences between excess vs. umbrella coverage
- Calculating how much an insurer will cover for a given scenario
- Duties of insurer, insured, and claimant with respect to liability losses
How IEG can help: Our comprehensive study guide summarizes all the key details of these topics. We also provide cheat sheets and comparison charts as part of our bonus materials, to help you nail down the finer details that matter.
CPCU 552 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 552: Managing Commercial Liability Risk [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 552 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 552)
Tips for passing CPCU 552
1) Take CPCU 551 before taking CPCU 552
This is a smart strategy for two reasons:
First, CPCU 552 mentions a lot of concepts & policies types from CPCU 551, usually to illustrate how a policy type being discussed in CPCU 552 is different from or similar to the ones covered in CPCU 551. If you can go into CPCU 552 already being familiar with the policies from CPCU 551, the comparisons will be far more meaningful to you and you will understand.
Second, there are lots of general insurance concepts that are elaborated on in CPCU 551, but barely explained in CPCU 552. It is almost as if CPCU 551 was written with the assumption that you aren’t familiar with commercial insurance, but CPCU 552 assumes you have some working knowledge.
How IEG can help: Our study guide bundle, includes some introductory lessons that cover the basics of how insurance policies are structured and some other key terms that you will see repeatedly in CPCU 552. That way, you have the relevant background information you need to make more sense out of the course content.
2) Take CPCU 530 before CPCU 552
Among the topics discussed in CPCU 530, a few will come up in CPCU 552 (negligence versus strict liability, different types of damages, and the parties to a lawsuit/claim). It is nice to go into CPCU 552 already understanding these terms, although admittedly the overlap between CPCU 530 & CPCU 552 nowhere near as extensive as the overlap between CPCU 551 & CPCU 552. Still, if you haven’t already taken CPCU 530, you might as well get that out of the way and go into CPCU 552 being already familiar with those basic legal concepts.
How IEG can help: We have study materials for CPCU 530, including a full online study program that comes complete with video lessons, a streaming audio-only option, tons of practice questions, and our comprehensive study guide.
3) Take the time to master the content on excess & umbrella policies
We can guarantee that you will encounter several questions about this topic on your exam, which will mainly test your knowledge of the differences between excess vs. umbrella policies. You will also have to apply your knowledge to actual scenarios and determine how much the insurer will pay for that loss. This will require you to understand whether the excess or umbrella policy would even provide coverage in the first place, how the excess or umbrella coverage would be affected by the limits of the underlying policy, and whether a self-insured retention will apply.
Because you will get numerous questions from this chapter, you should invest extra time in learning the key differences and policy applications.
How IEG can help: Our study guide bundle includes a bonus handout on how excess and umbrella policies work, with helpful visual illustrations that show you exactly how these policy coverages would apply.
CPCU 552 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
4) Look up actual policy forms to see how different clauses are specifically worded
The Institutes’ paraphrases most of the standard policy terms and sections, but it can sometimes be more helpful to see how things are worded in the actual policy form itself. Most commercial policies are based on standard starting templates that nearly all insurers use, and it is pretty easy to find samples online. Just search for the policy type as a PDF (ex: “business auto coverage form pdf”) and take a look at real language used.
5) Don’t waste too much time on long questions or questions that you are stuck on
Every test question is worth only one point, no matter how simple or complex it is. If you find that you are spending a lot of time on one particular problem, you are better off guessing for now and using the option to flag the question so you can return to it later. You don’t want to spend so much time that you run out of time before you can get to all the other questions that might have been easier for you to score points on.
6) Put an answer for every question
You do not get minus points for getting a question wrong, so don’t leave any questions blank.
CPCU 552 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
- Based on CPCU 552: Managing Commercial Liability Risk [1st edition]
- For buyer's personal use only (non-transferrable and not for resale)
- (NOTE: this will be the only IEG product available for CPCU 552 as we will not be developing a full study program for CPCU 552)
7) Get as much practice as possible
The best way to ensure that you know how to apply the concepts you are learning is to practice doing that, and practice quizzes are the perfect way to test your understanding. The Institutes’ course does include practice questions, which you should keep reattempting until you are confident you understand the concepts that you are being quizzed on.
The Institutes used to have a Smart QuizMe app that also provided practice questions, but they have since removed the question banks for all the current CPCU & AINS courses from the app. At this time, we do not think that The Institutes will be updating their app to include CPCU & AINS question banks since they have not announced any specific plans to do so.
How IEG can help: The step-by-step walkthroughs we provide with our study guide bundle include sample problems you can work through, with the detailed explanation right there that you can use to immediately check your answer and approach.
8) Aim to understand the practice questions and not just memorize them
The questions on the actual exam are not made up of the practice questions, so you cannot just rely on memorizing those answers for any practice quizzes and simulated exams you take. Read each explanation and re-review the material until you understand why you got a question wrong.
9) Don’t rely solely on The Institutes’ study materials
The Institutes’ way of explaining things is not necessarily the best way, so take advantage of other resources available to you. Some students don’t use The Institutes’ study materials at all and prefer to go with another study option, such as our comprehensive study materials. We use plain English to explain all of the concepts, include helpful examples so you can see how they apply in real life, and show you how different elements of something relate to one another.
You can also turn to Google and YouTube to look for explanations and examples from other sources too.
10) Join the CPCU Candidates Facebook group
One of the best things you can do during your CPCU journey is to join the CPCU Candidates Facebook group, which is a wonderful community of current and former CPCU students. Here, you can get help with test questions that might be stumping you, ask for advice on propelling your insurance career, and find a healthy dose of moral support and motivation.
CPCU 552 Study Guide e-Bundle – $49.99
Why Our Study Guides Work
Learning the material is just the first step. You need a way to refresh yourself on the content because there is so much to remember.
We created our signature study guides to help you quickly and easily review everything you've learned:
Focus on the right things
We condense every chapter to a few pages each, so you can focus on what you need to know.
Understand the key concepts
We provide extra examples & bonus materials to help you understand the trickier concepts.
See how it all relates
Our outlines are super organized and make it easy to see how the concepts relate to each other.
About your instructor
Insurance Exam Guides (IEG) was founded by Stacy Trinh, CPCU®, who first started her teaching journey at the request of her co-workers who were preparing for their CPCU exams. Because of her reputation as an adept trainer and motivator, Stacy's co-workers had asked her to lead a class. The feedback on her sessions and study materials was overwhelming positive, and her students encouraged her to share what she had to offer with the rest of the CPCU community.
Since then, Stacy created a library of study materials for both CPCU® and AINS® that have helped thousands of students pass their exams. As an accounting major and former claims adjuster, her style of instruction incorporates both a financial and operational perspective that makes her study materials well-rounded. She looks forward to helping many more students continue to succeed, including you!
Disclaimers: The Institutes, CPCU®, and AINS® are trademarks of the American Institute For Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, d/b/a The Institutes. InsuranceExamGuides.com is not affiliated or associated with The Institutes in any way, and The Institutes do not endorse, approve, support, or otherwise recognize InsuranceExamGuides.com or its products or services. CPCU® and AINS® are registered trademarks of The Institutes. All rights reserved.