Pennsylvania P&C Study Guide
Failed the Pennsylvania P&C exam? There's a good chance it wasn't you.
The most common complaint from people who don't pass isn't the test — it's the study material. And the part they point to most? The state regulations: a few generic, watered-down national pages that looked nothing like the real Pennsylvania exam. TESTivity is built the other way around. Below is a real chapter from the Pennsylvania P&C manual — written for Pennsylvania specifically, not national prep with a state name slapped on the cover. Read it and see the difference for yourself.
Pennsylvania · Property & Casualty Sample chapter
Chapter 10.2.4 Pennsylvania Insurance Regulations
Pennsylvania P&C has one topic that dominates the exam above all others — the Full Tort / Limited Tort choice every Pennsylvania driver makes — plus a cluster of Pennsylvania-only mechanics around stacking, workers’ comp, and unusually protective cancellation rules. Get the tort election cold and you’ve already banked the most-tested points on the test. Let’s work through it.
Licensing — the quick version
Pennsylvania P&C pre-licensing is 24 hours per line (the same light load as its other lines), and CE is 24 hours every 2 years with 3 of ethics. Surplus lines require a separate license and a documented diligent search of the admitted market first.
Auto — the choice no-fault system (MVFRL)
Under Pennsylvania’s Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL), every driver picks one of two worlds:
- Full Tort keeps your unrestricted right to sue for pain and suffering after a crash — any injury, any severity. Higher premium.
- Limited Tort gives up the right to sue for pain and suffering on minor injuries in exchange for a lower premium. You can still recover economic losses (medical bills, lost wages) either way, and you can still sue for pain and suffering if the injury is serious (death, serious impairment of a body function, or permanent serious disfigurement).
The insurer must explain both options and document the driver’s election.
Minimum limits are a low 15/30/5, plus a mandatory $5,000 first-party medical benefit (FPB) — a PIP-style coverage that pays your own medical bills regardless of fault. That mandatory FPB is a Pennsylvania signature.
Stacking — the other Pennsylvania auto concept
Pennsylvania lets you stack UM/UIM limits across multiple insured vehicles — three cars at $50K each could combine to $150K of protection — unless you sign an anti-stacking waiver for a lower premium.
Homeowners and workers’ comp
Pennsylvania homeowners rates are file-and-use, credit scoring is permitted, and there’s no FAIR Plan — high-risk owners use surplus lines. The Act 40 fraud statute drives active prosecution. On workers’ comp, Pennsylvania requires coverage for every employer with even one employee (no threshold), backed by the state fund SWIF as competitor and last resort. The wrinkle the exam reaches for is the IRE:
Key terms so far
- MVFRL / Full Tort / Limited Tort
- Pennsylvania’s choice no-fault auto system and its two tort elections.
- First-party medical benefit (FPB)
- Mandatory $5,000 PIP-style medical coverage on every Pennsylvania auto policy.
- IRE
- Impairment Rating Evaluation after 104 weeks; under 35% converts benefits to partial.
Cancellation and nonrenewal — among the most protective
Pennsylvania is unusually policyholder-friendly. Even in a new policy’s first 60 days, any-reason cancellation needs 30 days notice (most states allow 10). Nonpayment cancellation needs 15 days (most allow 10). And nonrenewal requires a full 60 days notice with a stated reason — longer than most states’ 30-day standard. After the initial 60 days, mid-term cancellation narrows to nonpayment, fraud or material misrepresentation, or a substantial increase in
That's a taste of the real thing.
The full Property & Casualty study manual covers every exam topic in this same plain-English voice — every rule, every memory Hook, every worked example. Want the video course and full exam simulator too? They come with the Platinum study package.