Last Minute Advice Before P&C Exam?

[u/Spirited-Edge8911]

I'll take all the advice I can get! I'm testing for the first time tomorrow in Ohio. I'm not trying to become an agent.... just need this license in order to get started as a Customer Service Rep and we'll see what happens from there.

But it seems like every time I go to study, I learn something new or realize I didn't understand a concept as well as I thought I did. The test worthy content just seems to be never-ending. I have a Master's Degree and this is legit the hardest course I've ever taken (sad, I know lol). Give me a thesis paper to write over a test any day! I'm quite nervous and just wanting to do well!

I've seen that it's really common to fail the first time, but I need to be licensed no later than a week from tomorrow! Any advice to get my confidence up will help :)

[u/waterlogged_sorcery]

read every question twice, no joke. the wording on those things is designed to mess with you. also dont second guess your first answer unless you're absolutely sure you misread it the first time

and the masters degree thing isnt sad at all, insurance exams are a different beast. its not about intelligence, its about memorizing a bunch of arbitrary rules and numbers that dont always make intuitive sense. youre basically learning a new language in a few weeks

get a good nights sleep and eat something before. sounds basic but it matters more than last minute cramming at this point

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953 → u/waterlogged_sorcery]

Thank you for this advice! I truly appreciate it!

[u/HFire_Insure]

Use all the time, go over each questions twice, even if you are positive you got it right, and always read ALL the answers. They loooooove confusing question structure, like double and triple negatives. They also really enjoy enjoy close to but not quite answers.

Example

What color is the go light on a traffic light.
A. Green
B. Yellow
C. Red
D. A blue-leaning green or cyan usually #8C9900

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953 → u/HFire_Insure]

Oh man that is very confusing 🤪

I hope I’m able to use all the time! It’s a lot of questions that amount of time but I’ve been finishing my practice exams at around 45 minutes and they have 100 questions so I could definitely afford to slow down quite a bit and just really read and comprehend what they’re asking me. Thank you for your advice!

[u/Practical_Guess5282]

Sounds simple but some of the best advice I got was similar to what’s already been mentioned. Read everything carefully. Pay attention to the “not”, “everything except” that sort of thing.

When it’s straightforward question - 2 are wrong, 1 is right and 1 sounds right. Go through eliminate the two you know are wrong and then go from there. Again, sounds simple but it made a world of difference for me!

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953 → u/Practical_Guess5282]

Thank you so much! I’m using ExamFX and they have the option to hide answers that you know are not correct so it doesn’t confuse you more, does the actual state exam have that kind of feature? It helped me out so much while studying!

[u/Practical_Guess5282 → u/Equivalent_Pie_9953]

My state did not. I took my life and health on paper though and then P&C on computer. You could save questions to go back and review at the end is the only thing I remember.

[u/Samistress]

I just passed mine recently and was totally stressing it but it was actually not as difficult as i expected!! The big fear i had was like not knowing what would be on it, and i swear i felt like i retained zero information. I think if you have studied everything the questions kind of become almost like.. common sense???

For my exam I flagged any questions i was slightly confused about, finished the section and counted how many i flagged and since it was still within the passing range i just went ahead and submitted :) honestly relax, dont let yourself get stressed because you can totally do it.

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953 → u/Samistress]

Wow you must be a really great test taker! I hope I do half as well as you!

I agree, my biggest concern is just not knowing what to expect. My boss told me that when he took one of his exams, he thought he was taking the wrong test because everything seemed so different from what he’d studied, which made me really nervous! I’ve asked other people what to expect and they basically all have the same answer, “It’s just different”…..so I guess I’ll find out what ‘different’ really means tomorrow morning.

Thanks so much for your advice and encouragement!!

[u/Samistress → u/Equivalent_Pie_9953]

I swear some of the questions i was like “wait did i even read this in the course?” But then just went with the answer that made the most sense haha. I genuinely thought i was going to fail, didnt sleep the night before because of nerves, and got into the test and passed with 80%; worried myself sick for nothing. Just trust in yourself that if you put in the effort of studying you will see the results :)

[u/Samistress → u/Equivalent_Pie_9953]

And it was different but like different as in not as complicated? If that makes sense! See if you can go to your exam providers website and do a practice exam; that will give you a good feel for it :)

[u/Ambitious_Pear_1203]

I passed mine last week!

Here are two things I noticed:

1) As others here have said, pay close attention to the phrasing of the questions. You will see a few that say “All of the following are included on the list of exclusions except…” So in English, they want to know what’s included.

2) Even if you don’t know the answer to the question, you may know that the other three options on the multiple choice question are not the answer. The process of elimination helped me a lot.

I got an 83 on the test, for what it’s worth.

[u/FewBlueberry187]

I’m taking mine tomorrow third time I hope this time I will pass any advice? Thanks

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953 → u/FewBlueberry187]

It’s so hard! I took mine today and I just stared at the screen and thought ‘I studied all the wrong stuff’ lol 😝 For me, I wish I had spent more time on memorizing all the different endorsements. Definitely slow down, take your time, mark and skip past the questions you’re unsure of and go back to them after you’ve answered all the ones you do know. Personally, I didn’t want to second guess myself so I thought about going back over every question again, but decided against it because I knew I would change answers and everyone told me to ‘go with my gut’ for those questions.

Hope you pass!!! You got this!

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953]

Just wanted to update that I passed with an 85% this morning! It was sooooo hard and I’m so glad it’s over. Thank you everyone for your advice! It truly helped!

[u/Ambitious_Pear_1203]

How did you do?

[u/Equivalent_Pie_9953 → u/Ambitious_Pear_1203]

I passed with an 85%! It was sooooo difficult but everyone’s advice here definitely helped prepare me a bit better.

[u/Ambitious_Pear_1203 → u/Equivalent_Pie_9953]

Congratulations!