What the Connecticut Property Line Covers
Property is its own line of authority in Connecticut — one of the eight in CGS § 38a-702f — and it is not half of a combined P&C credential the way it is in most states. It has its own exam (12-CT-19), its own 20-hour pre-licensing block, and its own place on your producer license.
This is the fact third-party sites most consistently get wrong about Connecticut, and the reason is understandable: CID's own consumer-facing prose writes "Property & Casualty" as a convenience grouping. But the licensing layer and the exam layer both treat them as distinct — Pearson VUE publishes standalone Property and standalone Casualty exams, and CID prices pre-licensing at 20 hours for Property alone against 40 for the Property-and-Casualty combination. A state with one combined line would not do either.
What the line reaches: homeowners and dwelling fire, commercial property, inland marine, flood, and Connecticut's Standard Fire Policy — all named in the Connecticut-Specific content outline. What it does not reach is liability, auto and workers' compensation, which live in the Casualty line covered in the Casualty guide.
Three ways to end up with both. Take 12-CT-19 now and 12-CT-20 later (two $65 exams, two 20-hour courses, plus a $130 amendment to add the second line). Take the combined 12-CT-04 sitting at $105 off a 40-hour dual course. Or take neither and take Personal Lines instead, if your book will be individuals and families only — that is a separate 20-hour line of its own, covered in the Personal Lines guide.
For the 20-hour property course, TESTivity recommends Achievable. The Achievable insurance courses were built by the same subject-matter expert behind TESTivity, so the two are designed to work together.
One important distinction: TESTivity is not an approved pre-licensing provider in Connecticut and does not issue certificates of completion. The TESTivity learning tools and study packages will absolutely help you pass the exam — but treat them as a supplement to your Achievable course, not a substitute for it.
Disclosure: TESTivity has a partnership with Achievable and may earn a commission if you enroll through links on this page.
Exam Options & Format
The Connecticut Property exam is 12-CT-19 through Pearson VUE: 75 scored questions plus 5 unscored pretest items in 2 hours, at $65, passing at a raw 70%.
The scored 75 splits 50 General Knowledge + 25 Connecticut-Specific. The General Knowledge half breaks down as Types of Policies (22), Insurance Terms and Concepts (15) and Policy Provisions and Contract Law (13). The Connecticut half is 18 "Common to All Lines" statutes + 3 P&C common statutes + 4 property-only statutes — so only seven of your scored questions are property-specific Connecticut law, and eighteen are the shared block that also appears on the Life and Casualty exams.
Note a documented quirk in Pearson's outline: the Property and Casualty Connecticut-Specific sections state a scoreable count with no pretest questions, where Life and Accident & Health each state 25 scoreable plus 5 pretest. That is as published rather than a transcription error, and it is why this exam totals 80 items on screen rather than 85.
The alternatives: 12-CT-20 Casualty (75 scored + 5 pretest, 2 hours, $65) covers the other half separately, and 12-CT-04 Property and Casualty covers both in one sitting — 130 scored (100 General Knowledge + 30 Connecticut-Specific) plus 15 pretest in 2 hours 30 minutes at $105. That combined paper is by some distance the heaviest producer exam Connecticut administers.
Your passing score is valid one year, retakes cannot be booked for 24 hours, and there is no stated cap on attempts. The Personal Lines guide covers results and retake strategy.
Most Tested Topics on the Connecticut Property Exam
Connecticut's property-specific law concentrates on the residual market, the rate system and the surplus-lines gateway. Each row is verified against the statute:
| Concept | The Connecticut rule |
|---|---|
| Residual market | YES — the Connecticut Property Insurance Placement Facility, trading as the CT FAIR Plan (CGS § 38a-328) |
| What the statute actually authorizes | A "fire, liability and allied lines underwriting facility" — the FAIR Plan name comes from the Facility's own materials, not from § 38a-328 |
| Who it writes | Applicants who cannot obtain basic property insurance in the normal market, where the property meets reasonable underwriting standards |
| Rate regulation | Competitive file-and-use is PRESUMED — "a competitive market is presumed to exist" unless the Commissioner finds otherwise after a hearing (CGS § 38a-687) |
| What a noncompetitive finding does | Rates then sit on file for a 30-day waiting period, extendable by 30 more; the finding itself expires within 3 years (§ 38a-688) |
| Always prior approval | Residual-market rates — FAIR Plan and assigned risk — are never effective until the Commissioner approves them (§ 38a-688) |
| Always a 30-day wait | Workers' compensation and employers' liability rates (§ 38a-676) |
| The rate standard | Rates must not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory — and in a competitive market, a rate "is not excessive" (§ 38a-686) |
| Catastrophe exposure | Hurricane and coastal windstorm along Long Island Sound drive Connecticut's hurricane-deductible rules (CGS § 38a-316a); nor'easters and winter storms add to it |
| Surplus lines prerequisite | An active Connecticut property and casualty producer license — surplus lines carries no separate pre-licensing requirement (CGS § 38a-741 et seq.) |
| Diligent effort | Required — a diligent effort to place the risk in the admitted market must come first (§ 38a-741) |
The rate-regulation structure is the highest-yield property topic, because Connecticut's framing is unusual and the exam tests the mechanism rather than a label. Most states are described as "file-and-use" or "prior approval" flatly. Connecticut instead builds a presumption of competition into § 38a-687 and makes prior-approval-style treatment a consequence the Commissioner must earn through a hearing — and even then the finding lapses within three years unless renewed. If a question asks what triggers the 30-day waiting period, the answer is a post-hearing noncompetitive finding, not a category the state sits in permanently.
The second reliable point is the residual market's name. The exam outline names the Connecticut Insurance Placement Facility / FAIR Plan explicitly, and the statute it rests on describes a "fire, liability and allied lines underwriting facility" without using either trade name. Candidates who learned "the Connecticut FAIR Plan" as the formal title have half the fact; the formal title is the Connecticut Property Insurance Placement Facility.
Where to Sit the Exam — Centers, Scheduling and the End of Online Testing
Start with the change most pages have not caught up with. Connecticut discontinued online exams on 1 August 2025. CID states it plainly: "Connecticut discontinued online exams, August 1, 2025. All exams are taken through one of Pearson's physical test centers." Pearson VUE's Connecticut page corroborates it — candidates may reserve an appointment in a physical test center only. If your course provider's onboarding still walks you through a room scan and a system check, that material predates the change.
Connecticut's own three centers. The March 2026 handbook names sites in Norwalk (Fairfield County), Wallingford (New Haven County) and Wethersfield (Hartford County). It does not print street addresses — the network changes too often — so use the official locator at wsr.pearsonvue.com/testtaker/find/testcenter/CTINS, which returns sites and available dates near a ZIP code.
Each is open only three to four days a week. That is the scheduling fact worth planning around: with three in-state sites on part-time schedules, Connecticut's seat inventory is thin compared with a large state's, and a specific week can genuinely be full. Book early rather than optimally, especially if a start date or your one-year score clock is driving the timeline.
You may test at any national center at no extra charge. This is unusually generous and materially useful in a small state — the handbook confirms it, and also names nearby out-of-state sites including Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts; Albany, East Syracuse and New York City; and East Providence, Rhode Island. For a Connecticut resident in Greenwich or Stamford, a New York center may be closer than Wethersfield. For someone in the northeast corner, East Providence may beat all three. There is no surcharge for using them.
The two scheduling windows are different numbers, and this is a classic mix-up. You may book as late as one calendar day before the day you wish to test, subject to availability. You must reschedule or cancel at least 48 hours before the appointment — online or by calling (866) 407-2057. Twenty-four hours to book, forty-eight to change; inside the 48-hour window the $65 is gone.
Register in your exact legal name. The name on the reservation must match the name on your identification precisely, and Connecticut requires two forms of ID at check-in. The Life & Health guide covers ID and the rest of exam-day procedure.
Bring the original pre-licensing certificate. Connecticut requires the original certificate of completion at the test center — not a photo of it. Confirm with your provider how they issue it and how long it takes, because that lead time sits between you and a seat.
What It Costs
$65 to Pearson VUE for 12-CT-19, and $190 to CID at application — the $140 initial license fee plus the separate $50 non-refundable application fee. About $255 on a first-attempt pass, before your 20-hour course. No fingerprint cost, because Connecticut does not print producers.
Do the arithmetic before you choose the narrow path. Property alone is $65 and 20 hours. Property then Casualty later is $130 in exams, 40 hours of coursework, and a $130 amendment fee to add the second line — $260 and 40 hours. The combined 12-CT-04 is $105 and 40 hours, with no amendment fee. If you are reasonably confident you want both, the combined sitting is cheaper on every axis except the risk of failing a much longer exam.
Recurring: $160 to renew biennially ($320 late) and $130 to reinstate. The P&C guide covers the renewal cycle.
Eligibility Requirements
You must be at least 18, complete the 20-hour property pre-licensing course, pass 12-CT-19, and file the uniform application through NIPR with the $140 + $50 fees. Connecticut requires no fingerprints, no separate background submission and no Letter of Clearance — the Accident & Health guide covers what carries the background review instead.
A CPCU designation may waive the examination for property and casualty under CGS § 38a-702h(c), at the Commissioner's discretion. A longer list of designations — including AAI, ARM and CIC — waives the pre-licensing coursework only, leaving 12-CT-19 in place. The Life & Health guide sets out both lists; merging them is the most common Connecticut licensing error.
Two 90-day routes matter if you are arriving from elsewhere: prior licensure for the same lines in another state, applied for within 90 days of cancellation, waives both education and exam; and a producer who moves to Connecticut must apply within 90 days of establishing legal residence for the same treatment. The P&C guide covers reciprocity in full — including the accommodation that lets New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island residents hold Connecticut resident licenses.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: Adding Casualty or Personal Lines later does not increase the hours — Connecticut's 24 attach to the license, not the line.
24 hours every two years, including 3 hours of Connecticut insurance law and regulations or ethics, due by the last day of your birth month. The hours attach to your license, so adding Casualty or Personal Lines later leaves the number unchanged at 24.
Connecticut defines the CE biennium as the two years ending on your license expiration date, so CE and renewal share one clock — and up to 24 excess hours carry into the next biennium, following the 13 January 2022 amendment to RCSA § 38a-782a-10.
There is no long-service or age-based exemption; CID states expressly that Connecticut offers no grandfathering. The P&C guide covers renewal, the one-year late window and reinstatement in detail.
Quick Reference
Official Links
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