HI-PC Certification

What Is the HI-PC Certification?

The HI-PC certification refers to the Hawaii Property and Casualty Insurance Producer Exam, the state licensing test that authorizes an individual to sell, solicit, or negotiate property and casualty insurance in Hawaii. It is not a voluntary professional designation you add to a resume after years of experience - it is the mandatory gateway exam candidates must pass before the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) Insurance Division will issue a resident producer license. If you've searched for what this credential actually involves, start with our overview of What Is HI-PC? or the plain-language breakdown in HI-PC Meaning.

Hawaii treats Property and Casualty as two separate lines of authority, each with its own exam. This article's primary reference point is the Property Producer exam, since that is the version most first-time candidates encounter, but the Casualty exam runs on a parallel track with its own question count and timing. Understanding both versions - and knowing which one (or both) your career path requires - is the first real decision point in this process.

Who Administers the Exam

The exam is administered on behalf of the Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division by Pearson VUE, the testing vendor that manages scheduling, delivery, and score reporting. Candidates take the exam either at a physical Pearson VUE test center or remotely through OnVUE, Pearson's online proctoring platform. One scheduling nuance worth flagging early: Pearson allows candidates to sit for two exams in a single test-center session, but that flexibility does not extend to OnVUE, where only one exam can be scheduled per session. If you're planning to knock out both the Property and Casualty exams close together, this detail affects how you build your testing calendar - a topic covered in more depth in HI-PC Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Exam Format, Timing, and Fees

The Property Producer exam consists of 93 total multiple-choice questions, broken down into 83 scored items and 10 unscored pretest items. Candidates are given 120 minutes to complete it, and the fee is $75. The pretest questions are mixed in with scored content and are not identifiable during the test, so every question should be treated as though it counts.

The companion Casualty exam is structured similarly but is longer: 103 total questions (91 scored, 12 pretest) with 135 minutes allotted, also at a $75 fee. Both exams are delivered as closed-book, computer-based tests - no reference materials, calculators, or notes are permitted at the workstation.

For a full cost breakdown that accounts for prep materials and any retake scenarios, see HI-PC Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

The Six HI-PC Exam Domains

Hawaii's published outline, effective January 1, 2026, organizes Property exam content into six weighted domains. Notably, the Property section of the outline accounts for 81 of the 83 scored Property questions - meaning nearly the entire scored exam maps directly to these six areas, with only a small remainder falling outside the itemized breakdown. Candidates who want the deepest dive into each domain's subtopics should read HI-PC Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 6 Content Areas.

Eligibility Requirements

Hawaii keeps the entry requirements for this exam relatively lean. Applicants must be at least 18 years old, and there is no mandated prelicensing education program required before sitting for the test. That doesn't mean the exam is easy to walk into cold - it means the burden of preparation shifts entirely to the candidate rather than being satisfied by a course completion certificate. For the complete rundown of who can sit for the exam and any documentation needed at registration, see HI-PC Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

Registration and Scheduling

Because Pearson VUE administers the exam, registration and scheduling happen directly through their system. Candidates choose between an in-person test center or the OnVUE remote-proctoring option. As noted earlier, the two-exams-per-session allowance only applies at physical test centers, which matters if you intend to sit for both the Property and Casualty exams back to back rather than scheduling separate remote sessions. Before you book, it's worth reviewing testing windows and scheduling logistics so you're not caught off guard by session limits or availability at your preferred location.

Passing Score

Hawaii uses a scaled passing score of 70 on the Property Producer exam. A scaled score is not a raw percentage of questions answered correctly - it's a converted score designed to account for slight variations in question difficulty across different exam forms. Candidates sometimes assume 70 means "70% of questions correct," but that assumption can be misleading given how scaled scoring works. For a precise explanation of how the scaling functions and what it means for your study target, read HI-PC Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

License Renewal and Continuing Education

Passing the HI-PC exam is only the entry point - maintaining an active license requires ongoing continuing education. A producer licensed solely for Property and Casualty must complete 24 total CE credits per renewal cycle, made up of 21 P&C-specific credits and 3 credits in ethics and/or Hawaii law and rules. This CE structure reinforces just how central Hawaii-specific law is to this license - it shows up as a dedicated exam domain and again as a standing renewal requirement.

Who Hires Licensed Property & Casualty Producers

Once licensed, HI-PC-qualified producers typically find work with independent insurance agencies, captive agency networks tied to national carriers, direct-write insurers operating in Hawaii, and brokerages that place commercial or personal lines coverage. Some producers work independently once experienced, building their own book of business, while others start on salaried or commission-hybrid tracks inside larger agencies. If you're trying to understand realistic career paths and how earnings tend to be structured in this field, review HI-PC Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and browse current openings discussed in HI-PC Jobs. For a broader look at whether the licensing investment pays off relative to the effort involved, see Is the HI-PC Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.

Mapping a Study Plan to the Outline

Because the exam outline is weighted so unevenly - Domain 4 alone carries 27.7%, while Domain 5 carries just 4.8% - an effective study plan allocates time proportionally rather than spending equal hours on every domain. A generic weekly template only works here if it's built around these specific weights.

For a structured, day-by-day version of this approach along with recommended resources, see HI-PC Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. If you want a quick-reference summary to review in the final days before your test date, the HI-PC Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts condenses the highest-yield facts into one page. And if you're still calibrating how much time to budget overall, How Hard Is the HI-PC Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 walks through what makes this particular exam challenging for first-time candidates.

Throughout your preparation, running full-length timed simulations on our practice test platform is one of the most direct ways to gauge readiness against the actual 120-minute Property exam format. Repeating timed practice on the practice site also helps desensitize you to the pressure of a closed-book, proctored environment before test day arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions