Top 5 Mistakes in Preparing for Your Insurance License Test

By on  | Insurance Pre-Licensing Licensing Tutorials Resident Licensing

Confusion about insurance license exam

Trying to find the time in our busy lives to prepare for an insurance license test can be, at best, limited.  Because of this, you will want to be efficient in preparing for your insurance exam.  In addition, if you want to be successful in passing your insurance license test, you will want to avoid these common mistakes:

1. Focusing too much on practice exams

A common temptation students may have is to read the course lessons or manual only once, and then take practice exams over and over.  Practice exams are intended to reinforce the material that is learned within the lessons and manual.  By repeatedly taking exams and ignoring the course material, you miss the connectivity between concepts and their full meaning.  While our courses offer hundreds of exam questions, and while each exam randomizes questions being presented, shuffles the order of questions and possible answers, over time your mind is storing these to memory instead of fully grasping a concept.  Practice exams should always be secondary to the course material. Read More

Best Study Techniques in Preparing for Your Insurance Exam

By on  | Insurance Pre-Licensing Licensing Tutorials Resident Licensing

Insurance-Education-Techniques

Preparing for your state insurance exam might feel a bit overwhelming.  For many of us, years have passed since our last exam in college or high school, and as a result, some essential study habits may have been forgotten.  To help you prepare for your state insurance exam, let’s review some basic, yet important study tips.

Remove Distractions

Distractions are one of the biggest obstacles that disrupt the learning process.  How many times have you found yourself reading something online, and before you know it, you are browsing items on amazon.com or flipped back to your Facebook or Twitter page without even remembering how you got there?  This happens to all of us, even while writing this post, it just happens.  For your brain to absorb new ideas, it’s crucial that you avoid multitasking and stay focused on only the task in front of you.  Below are some common distractions that will slow your progress in preparing for your exam:

  • TV – Even with it on in the background, the noise is still a disturbance
  • Cell phone – Switch your phone to vibrate.  Tell your family & friends your study times and ask that they do not disturb you unless it is absolutely necessary.  This includes texting as well
  • Multiple browser windows – Close all other browser windows except for the page in which you are studying.  This will help prevent the temptation to browse other sites
  • Instant Messenger – Mute or completely close out your Instant Messenger until after you have finished studying
  • Children – Study after your kids leave for school or once they have gone to sleep
  • Music – Listening to music while learning is still a form of multi-tasking

In addition to removing external distractions from your study area, you will also want to free yourself from internal distractions.  In order to remain focused on the task at hand, you must prepare yourself mentally and maintain interest in what you are learning.

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Knowing When to Schedule Your State Insurance Exam

By on  | Insurance Pre-Licensing Insurance School News Resident Licensing

With the amount of information you need to know in order to be prepared for your insurance license exam, it is common to question whether or not you have spent enough time studying to take the next step and schedule your state exam.  To alleviate this anxiety and help guide you through your online course, we developed an individualized Pass Report to gauge your readiness for the state exam.

Your Pass Report is similar to a personal instructor, guiding you through the course by illustrating the areas that need additional study time, as well as tracking and reporting your progress as you move through the course.  Your Pass Report allows you to see how much time you have spent in each lesson within the course, your final exam, exam simulator results and your overall preparation for the state exam. Read More

How to Streamline Your Insurance Exam Preparation

By on  | Insurance Pre-Licensing Licensing Tutorials Resident Licensing

The state insurance exam consists of various concepts that educate individuals on the insurance industry and how insurance products work so that they may properly advise clients when selling insurance.  Topics covered on the exam include basic and advanced insurance concepts and principles, an overview of the insurance industry, agent responsibilities, and state insurance laws and regulations.

While each concept is important to understand in order to pass the insurance exam, some concepts will be more heavily questioned on the exam than others.

In preparing for the insurance exam, every state provides an ‘Examination Content Outline’ which lists the number of questions on the exam, the time limit in which the exam must be completed and the insurance concepts and topics tested on during the exam.

The Exam Content Outline also illustrates the percentage, or number of questions, of each section of the exam.  For example, questions about Social Security might only total 2% of the insurance exam, while questions regarding state-specific laws and regulations may total 10% of the exam.  This is significant because it acknowledges the sections of the outline that contain more questions, allowing you to streamline your insurance exam preparation in a more efficient manner.

Let’s review a few exam outlines to see how the process works: Read More

Top Insurance License Exam Tips

By on  | Insurance Pre-Licensing Insurance School News Licensing Tutorials Resident Licensing

Insurance-Exam-Tips

Are you a good test taker? Or, like many, do you cringe at the thought of having to pass an exam? Most people would agree that it can be stressful, takes time to study and prepare for the exam, and quite frankly, something they would rather not have to undergo.

I cringe at the thought of taking an exam!!

Preparing for the Test

Though it may seem somewhat overwhelming at first, preparing for and taking the state health and life insurance exam is NOT that difficult. In fact, most agents who take the exam admit that it was easier than they imagined. The reason was that they were prepared for the exam by learning and understanding the basic concepts of health and life insurance.

The concepts in health and life insurance are universal throughout the United States, even though each state enacts laws that govern it’s own insurance regulations.  Having an understanding of the basic concepts allows you to answer questions logically.

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How to Renew an Insurance License

By on  | Licensing Tutorials Resident Licensing

Need to renew your insurance license?  As a multiple state licensing and renewal provider, Sircon offers online licensing renewal services that allows you to electronically submit renewal applications to each state you need to renew.

Step 1

Visit Sircon.com, and click on “Learn more about our products for agents” located in the red “Individual Agents” box.Sircon Online

 

Click on the link “Renew your license” on the left side of the page located under the Quick Links menu. Read More

How to Apply for an Insurance License

By on  | Insurance Pre-Licensing Licensing Tutorials Resident Licensing

Applying for an insurance license has become easier to do as most states now provide for online licensing.  As a multiple state licensing provider, Sircon  offers online licensing services that provides you with a quick and efficient online application process in order to obtain your insurance license.

Step 1

Visit Sircon.com, and click on “Learn more about our products for agents” located in the red “Individual Agents” box.insurance application

 

Once there, click on “Apply for a license” located on the left side of the page under the Quick Links menu. Read More

How to get Insurance Referrals

By on  | Industry News Insurance Agent

Insurance Referrals

As a licensed insurance agent, I often asked myself

How do I ensure long-term success in the insurance industry?

Very simple…If you ask for referrals, you will receive them. This may seem simple, but often times it is the least favorite and most forgotten task to accomplish when selling insurance. Some may think that asking for referrals is intrusive or uncomfortable, others have no problem asking, but are quick to blow it off when they hear any version of “no.” Whatever the case, these individuals often times end their insurance careers prematurely because they just can’t find enough customers to keep selling…and there in lies the dilemma with a successful insurance career. Read More

Selling the Correct Amount of Insurance

By on  | Industry News

When selling life insurance, it is important to understand the client’s needs for protection against financial loss.  One of the primary purposes of life insurance is to provide a stream of income for the surviving family beneficiaries if and when the insured breadwinner dies during the policy’s term.  As such, knowing the correct amount of life insurance to fulfill the family’s living needs is vital to providing the necessary funds to maintain the family’s lifestyle and future financial security.

While we would all love to have multi-million dollar life insurance policies to give to our loved ones when we pass away, the premium costs involved would be quite expensive and unrealistic.  In contrast, not providing financial protection for our families in the event of our premature death is not a situation in which we would ever want to put our family.

So, how does a life insurance agent know what amount of life insurance is necessary to satisfy the client’s financial needs?

While everyone has different lifestyles and respective financial needs, several general factors should be considered when providing a client with a financial assessment and respective life insurance recommendation.

The following financial factors should be considered:

  • Medical bills and final expense costs (burial) of the deceased insured
  • Home mortgage and estate or property taxes (these payment don’t stop when the breadwinner dies!)
  • Ongoing utilities and other home maintenance costs
  • Any debts incurred by the deceased breadwinner or surviving family (car loans, college loans)
  • Cost-of-living needs including food, clothing, and home supplies, health and life insurance payments for the surviving family, medical bills, schooling costs, and any other common ongoing family expenses

In addition to providing financial security to surviving members’ cost-of-living expenses, an insurance agent should also assess the family’s long-term financial needs such as: Read More

Job Opportunities for Licensed Insurance Agents

By on  | Industry News

Obtaining an insurance license is the first step towards a career in a robust and growing American industry.  While the current U.S. economy is trying to recover from our recent recession, the insurance industry has remained unscathed.  In fact, quiet the contrary.  The  employment rate for licensed insurance agents is projected to increase 12% over the next 7 years and will be in demand as the population continues to increase in size, as well as age.

A Health and Life Insurance sales agent, as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is often

The first contact a consumer has with an insurance company.  The purpose of the agent is to help individuals, families, and businesses select insurance policies that provide the best protection for their lives, health, and property.

In short, an insurance agent, also known as a ‘producer’ is the key person between the applicant and insurer.  How well the agent interacts with the potential client, the depth and professionalism of the presentation, and the accuracy in collecting health information and filing a complete application all determine the outcome of the insurer’s relationship with the general public.  Acting as a fiduciary, the agent plays a vital role in the success of the insurance company.

A licensed agent has many options from which to choose when searching for employment in the insurance industry.  Let’s examine several of the opportunities available to licensed insurance agents.

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