- AR-PC stands for Arkansas Property & Casualty Insurance Producer Exam, administered by PSI Services LLC for the Arkansas Insurance Department.
- The exam has 150 scored questions plus 10 pretest questions in 210 minutes, split into 125 general and 25 Arkansas-specific questions.
- A 70% score is required to pass, and the exam fee is $50 per attempt.
- Candidates get a 90-day permit allowing three attempts before a four-week wait and re-approval process kicks in.
What AR-PC Stands For
AR-PC stands for the Arkansas Property & Casualty Insurance Producer Exam - the state licensing exam that anyone who wants to sell property and casualty insurance products in Arkansas must pass. It's not a designation you earn after years of experience, and it isn't a voluntary professional certification you add to a resume for prestige. It's the mandatory gatekeeping exam that turns a prelicensing-course graduate into a licensed Arkansas producer authorized to sell auto, homeowners, commercial liability, workers' compensation, and related P&C coverage lines.
If you've searched other sites and found conflicting information about what AR-PC means, that's because the same letters get reused across unrelated industries. On this site, and in this article specifically, AR-PC refers only to the Arkansas insurance producer licensing exam described in the AR-PC requirements and administered under the state's regulatory framework. For a deeper dive into the terminology itself, see AR-PC Meaning and What Is AR-PC?.
Who Oversees the AR-PC Exam
The Arkansas Insurance Department sets the licensing rules, education requirements, and passing standards for the exam. Day-to-day exam delivery, however, is handled by PSI Services LLC, the third-party testing vendor that operates test centers and remote-proctoring options for Arkansas candidates. Understanding this split matters: the Department decides what you need to know and how education hours are structured, while PSI controls how and where you actually sit for the test.
Candidates can take the exam either at a physical PSI test center or through remote online proctoring, giving some flexibility around scheduling. For a breakdown of testing windows and how far in advance to book, check out AR-PC Exam Dates 2026.
Exam Structure and Format
The AR-PC exam is built around 150 scored multiple-choice questions plus 10 additional pretest (unscored) questions that PSI uses to evaluate future exam content - you won't know which questions are pretest items, so every question should be treated as if it counts. You have 210 minutes to complete the exam, and a 70% score is required to pass.
What makes the AR-PC format distinct from many other state exams is the clean split between general and state-specific content:
- 125 questions cover general property and casualty insurance concepts that apply broadly across the industry.
- 25 questions focus specifically on Arkansas insurance law, regulations, and state-specific producer requirements.
This means roughly one-sixth of your scored questions are Arkansas-specific, even though that content often gets underestimated by candidates who focus only on generic P&C study material. For a full breakdown of exactly how many points you need and how scoring works, read AR-PC Passing Score 2026.
Key Takeaway
Don't treat the Arkansas-specific 25-question portion as an afterthought. It's a fixed, non-negotiable chunk of your score, and many candidates lose points here simply because they spent all their prep time on general concepts.
The 13 Domains You'll Be Tested On
The AR-PC exam content outline is organized into 13 domains. These domains represent the actual body of knowledge tested - not arbitrary categories, but the real coverage areas an Arkansas P&C producer needs to master before ever quoting a policy.
Domain 1: Multi-Line (P&C) Arkansas Specific Content Outline
This is where the Arkansas-specific 25-question portion lives. Candidates must know state licensing rules, producer duties, and Arkansas insurance law particulars.
- State-specific statutes and regulatory definitions
Domain 2: General Insurance Concepts
Foundational terminology and principles - risk, indemnity, insurable interest, and policy structure - that underpin every other domain.
- Basic contract law as applied to insurance
Domain 3: Property and Casualty Insurance Basics
Covers the mechanics shared across property and liability products, including underwriting basics and common policy provisions.
- Perils, coverage triggers, and exclusions
Domain 4: Dwelling Policy Concepts
Focuses on dwelling fire policies and how they differ from standard homeowners forms.
- Coverage forms DP-1, DP-2, DP-3 distinctions
Domain 5: Homeowners Policy Concepts
Covers the HO policy series, coverage parts, endorsements, and exclusions candidates must recognize on sight.
- Coverage A through F structure
Domain 6: Personal Automobile Policy
Tests understanding of PAP structure, liability limits, and common endorsements for personal auto risks.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist provisions
Domain 7: Commercial Automobile Policy
Extends auto concepts to business-owned vehicles, including symbol designations and covered auto classifications.
- Business auto coverage symbols
Domain 8: Commercial Property Policies
Covers building and personal property coverage forms, causes-of-loss forms, and valuation methods.
- Replacement cost vs. actual cash value
Domain 9: Commercial General Liability
Focuses on CGL coverage structure, occurrence vs. claims-made triggers, and common exclusions.
- Coverage A, B, and C distinctions
Domain 10: Commercial Crime
Covers fidelity and crime coverage forms designed to protect businesses against employee dishonesty and theft.
- Employee theft vs. third-party crime coverage
Domain 11: Businessowners Policy
Tests knowledge of the BOP as a packaged small-business solution combining property and liability coverage.
- Eligibility criteria for BOP qualification
Domain 12: Other Types of Property and Casualty Insurance
Covers purpose and general characteristics of specialty lines outside the core personal and commercial forms.
- Umbrella and excess liability basics
Domain 13: Workers' Compensation Laws
Covers statutory workers' comp requirements, covered injuries, and employer obligations under state law.
- Exclusive remedy doctrine and covered classes
For a much deeper walkthrough of each domain with sample question angles, see the AR-PC Exam Domains 2026 guide, which breaks down how PSI tends to weight and phrase questions within each area.
Registration, Fees, and Permits
The AR-PC exam costs $50 per attempt, paid directly through PSI's registration process. Candidates aren't given unlimited attempts on a single approval - instead, Arkansas issues a 90-day testing permit that allows up to three attempts within that window.
If a candidate fails all three attempts, or the 90-day permit simply expires before passing, the process doesn't just reset quietly. Candidates must wait four weeks and then repeat the entire approval process before they're eligible to schedule again. This makes the permit window one of the most important logistical details to plan around - not just a study detail but a scheduling constraint that affects when you should actually book your first attempt.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam fee | $50 per attempt |
| Scored questions | 150 (125 general + 25 Arkansas-specific) |
| Pretest questions | 10 (unscored, unidentified) |
| Time allotted | 210 minutes |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Permit window | 90 days, up to 3 attempts |
| Failure/expiration consequence | 4-week wait, repeat approval process |
A full cost breakdown, including prelicensing course fees and any retake costs, is covered in AR-PC Certification Cost 2026.
Prelicensing Education Requirements
Before you can even register to sit for the AR-PC exam, Arkansas requires completion of approved Property and Casualty prelicensing education. Under Rule 31, this means 20 hours per line of study - so candidates pursuing both property and casualty lines should expect a meaningfully larger time commitment than someone licensing for a single line.
There is a notable exemption built into the rule: candidates who have recently completed the state-law and ethics components (through a prior course or license) may not need to repeat those specific segments. This can shave time off the education requirement for producers moving between lines or renewing after a lapse.
Course completion certificates are only valid for two years, so timing matters. If you complete your prelicensing hours and then delay scheduling the exam, you risk your certificate expiring before you sit for the test - which would force you to retake the education requirement. Full eligibility details, including who qualifies for exemptions, are covered in AR-PC Requirements 2026.
Who Actually Takes the AR-PC Exam
The AR-PC exam is taken by anyone seeking to become a licensed property and casualty insurance producer in Arkansas - this includes new entrants hired by independent agencies, captive insurance companies, brokerages, and MGAs operating in the state. It's also taken by producers already licensed in another line who are expanding into property and casualty, and by out-of-state producers establishing Arkansas licensure as part of a multi-state book of business.
Because the exam is a legal requirement rather than an optional add-on, hiring managers at agencies and carriers routinely list "must obtain AR-PC license" as a condition of employment for producer roles. If you're evaluating whether this career path is worth pursuing, Is the AR-PC Certification Worth It? and AR-PC Salary Guide 2026 both look at the practical career outcomes tied to holding this license. Job-seekers can also browse AR-PC Jobs for a sense of what roles typically require this credential.
Preparing for the Content, Not Just the Name
Knowing what AR-PC stands for is the easy part - passing the exam requires actually mastering all 13 domains, with particular attention to the domains most candidates underestimate: Commercial Crime, Businessowners Policy, and Workers' Compensation Laws tend to get less classroom time than Homeowners or Personal Auto, yet they still carry real weight on exam day.
A reasonable way to structure preparation is to sequence your review so that domains build on each other rather than being studied in isolation.
Foundations
- Domain 2 (General Insurance Concepts) and Domain 3 (P&C Basics) - these underpin every later domain
Personal Lines
- Domain 4 (Dwelling), Domain 5 (Homeowners), Domain 6 (Personal Auto)
Commercial Lines
- Domains 7 through 11 - Commercial Auto, Commercial Property, CGL, Commercial Crime, BOP
Specialty and Arkansas-Specific
- Domain 12 (Other P&C Types), Domain 13 (Workers' Comp), and Domain 1 (Arkansas Specific Content)
This isn't a rigid formula - some candidates need more time on commercial lines, others struggle more with state-specific statutes. For a structured walkthrough with practice strategies tailored to each domain, see the AR-PC Study Guide 2026. If you want a candid assessment of how the exam actually feels under timed conditions, How Hard Is the AR-PC Exam? covers the realistic difficulty picture, and AR-PC Pass Rate 2026 looks at what the available data suggests about outcomes.
Once you've worked through the content, running full-length timed practice sessions on our AR-PC practice test platform is one of the most direct ways to simulate the real 210-minute, 150-question format before your permit clock starts ticking. Reviewing missed questions against the actual domain list - rather than generic P&C review material - is what separates focused prep from wasted study hours. You can also keep a condensed AR-PC Cheat Sheet handy for last-minute review of terms and thresholds you tend to forget.
Frequently Asked Questions
AR-PC stands for the Arkansas Property & Casualty Insurance Producer Exam, the state licensing test administered by PSI Services LLC on behalf of the Arkansas Insurance Department.
The exam has 150 scored multiple-choice questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions, for a total of 160 questions, and you're given 210 minutes to complete it.
You need to score at least 70% to pass. The scored portion is divided into 125 general P&C questions and 25 Arkansas-specific questions.
The exam fee is $50 per attempt, separate from any prelicensing education course costs required under Rule 31.
Candidates receive a 90-day permit allowing three attempts. If you fail all three, or the permit expires before you pass, you must wait four weeks and repeat the entire approval process.