- NH-PC is Series 12-64, the New Hampshire Property & Casualty Insurance Producer Exam administered by PSI.
- The exam has 150 scored items plus up to 10 unscored pretest items, with a 2-hour-30-minute limit and a $72 fee.
- No prelicensing course is required before sitting for the exam in New Hampshire.
- Property and Casualty Insurance Basics is the single largest domain at 17% of the exam.
What Is a NH-PC, Exactly?
NH-PC stands for the New Hampshire Property & Casualty Insurance Producer Exam, officially designated Series 12-64. It is the state licensing exam that anyone who wants to sell, solicit, or negotiate property and casualty insurance in New Hampshire must pass. This is not a voluntary professional designation you add to a resume for prestige - it is the legal gateway to holding a resident or non-resident P&C producer license in the state, overseen by the New Hampshire Insurance Department.
If you have landed on this page confused because "NH-PC" also shows up attached to other, completely unrelated credentials elsewhere online, set that aside. On this site, and in every fact below, NH-PC refers exclusively to Series 12-64 as defined in the current PSI candidate bulletin. For a deeper breakdown of the acronym itself, see NH-PC Meaning and What Does NH-PC Stand For?.
Who Administers the NH-PC Exam?
The New Hampshire Insurance Department sets the licensing rules, but the actual exam delivery is outsourced to PSI, a national testing vendor. PSI publishes the candidate bulletin, staffs the testing centers, and scores the exam. When people search "what is NH-PC certification," they are really asking about this PSI-delivered Series 12-64 exam rather than a certification issued by a private credentialing board - there is no separate certifying body handing out a "NH-PC certificate." Passing the exam is one step in a state licensing process, not a standalone credential you renew independently.
For a plain-language answer built around this same distinction, check out What Is NH-PC? and What Does NH-PC Mean?, which tackle the identity question from slightly different angles.
Exam Format, Fee, and Timing
Series 12-64 is a fixed, well-documented format:
- 150 scored questions, the number that determines your pass/fail result.
- 5 to 10 additional unscored experimental items that PSI may mix in without telling you which ones they are - treat every question as if it counts.
- 2 hours and 30 minutes total time limit to complete the exam.
- $72 exam fee, paid at registration.
- No prelicensing course requirement - New Hampshire does not mandate a specific hours-based course before you can sit for the exam, unlike many other states.
You can sit for the exam at a physical PSI test center or through remote proctoring. One nuance worth flagging: a July 2026 remote-testing cutoff has been discussed in the industry, but it applies specifically to the Life and combined Life, Accident and Health producer exams - it does not apply to Series 12-64. If you are prepping for the P&C exam, remote testing availability is a separate conversation from what Life-line candidates are dealing with.
Key Takeaway
Budget $72 for the exam itself and plan for a full 150-minute session. Because experimental items are unlabeled, pace yourself as though every one of the roughly 155-160 questions on screen is scored.
For a full cost breakdown that goes beyond just the exam fee - including application costs and other line items - see NH-PC Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. And if you want the exact numeric threshold you need to clear on test day, read NH-PC Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
The 13 NH-PC Content Domains
Series 12-64 is built from 13 domains, each weighted differently. Knowing the weights tells you where to spend your study hours.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Insurance Regulation | 13% |
| 2. Federal Laws and Regulations | 2% |
| 3. General Insurance Concepts | 14% |
| 4. Property and Casualty Insurance Basics | 17% |
| 5. Dwelling Policy Concepts | 3% |
| 6. Homeowners Policy Concepts | 10% |
| 7. Personal Automobile Policy | 11% |
| 8. Commercial Automobile Policy | 3% |
| 9. Commercial Property Policies | 9% |
| 10. Commercial General Liability | 9% |
| 11. Businessowners Policy | 4% |
| 12. Other Types of Property and Casualty Insurance | 3% |
| 13. Workers' Compensation Laws | 2% |
Domain 4: Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (17%)
This is the single largest domain on the exam, so it deserves proportionally more of your prep time. It covers foundational concepts underlying every P&C policy type - how coverage is triggered, how policies are structured, and the basic terminology that later domains (Homeowners, Auto, Commercial Property) all assume you already know.
- Master this domain first; weaker domains become easier once the basics click.
Domain 3: General Insurance Concepts (14%)
The second-heaviest domain, testing broad concepts like insurable interest, indemnity, and policy provisions that apply across property and casualty lines rather than to one product.
- Expect scenario-based questions rather than pure definition recall.
Combined, Domains 3 and 4 alone make up 31% of the scored exam - meaning nearly a third of your result rides on foundational concepts rather than product-specific rules. For the complete walk-through of every domain with example question styles, see NH-PC Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 13 Content Areas.
Registration, NIPR, and Licensing Steps
The path from "I want to sell P&C insurance in New Hampshire" to "I hold a license" runs through a specific sequence:
- Register for and pay the $72 fee for Series 12-64 through PSI, choosing a test center or remote-proctoring session.
- Sit for the exam and pass with the required score on the 150 scored items.
- Submit your producer license application and associated fees electronically through NIPR - the National Insurance Producer Registry - rather than through PSI or a paper form.
- Await approval from the New Hampshire Insurance Department to hold your resident producer license.
Notice that PSI's role ends at exam delivery and scoring. The licensing paperwork itself is a separate NIPR transaction, which trips up candidates who assume passing the exam automatically issues a license. It doesn't - you still have to file.
For a full eligibility checklist before you even schedule the exam, read NH-PC Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify, and for scheduling windows and deadlines specifically, see NH-PC Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Waivers and Alternate Paths
Not everyone has to sit through the full Series 12-64 experience. Two notable exceptions exist:
- CPCU designees may qualify for a shortened, state-law-only route through Series 12-81, which focuses on New Hampshire-specific statutes rather than re-testing general P&C knowledge the CPCU designation already covers.
- Qualifying new residents who held equivalent producer authority in another state within the previous 90 days may be eligible for an outright exam waiver when transferring their license into New Hampshire.
Neither path is available to most first-time candidates, so if you're new to the industry, plan on the standard Series 12-64 exam described throughout this article.
Who Takes the NH-PC and Why
Series 12-64 is taken by people entering - or moving into - property and casualty insurance sales in New Hampshire: independent agents, captive agents joining a carrier, agency staff being licensed to bind coverage, and career-changers moving from adjacent fields like real estate or financial services into insurance sales. Because no prelicensing course is mandated, some candidates self-study entirely, while others go through employer-sponsored or independent test-prep programs before scheduling their PSI appointment.
If you're weighing whether pursuing this license is worth the time and $72 exam fee relative to career payoff, Is the NH-PC Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 lays out the considerations, and NH-PC Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and NH-PC Jobs cover the employment side once you're licensed.
How to Approach Studying by Domain Weight
Rather than studying the 13 domains in the order they're listed in the bulletin, sequence your prep by weight and by dependency - foundational domains first, niche low-weight domains last.
Foundations
- Domain 4: Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (17%)
- Domain 3: General Insurance Concepts (14%)
Regulatory Layer
- Domain 1: Insurance Regulation (13%)
- Domain 2: Federal Laws and Regulations (2%)
- Domain 13: Workers' Compensation Laws (2%)
Personal Lines
- Domain 6: Homeowners Policy Concepts (10%)
- Domain 5: Dwelling Policy Concepts (3%)
- Domain 7: Personal Automobile Policy (11%)
Commercial Lines and Review
- Domain 9: Commercial Property Policies (9%)
- Domain 10: Commercial General Liability (9%)
- Domain 8, 11, 12: Commercial Auto, Businessowners, Other Types
This sequencing works because Domains 3 and 4 supply vocabulary and concepts (indemnity, insurable interest, policy structure) that reappear inside every later domain. Cramming Homeowners or Commercial General Liability before you're solid on the basics usually means re-learning the same foundational term three different times in three different contexts.
For a structured week-by-week study plan built around this exact domain logic, see the NH-PC Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. If you want an honest read on how difficult candidates find each section, How Hard Is the NH-PC Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and NH-PC Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows go deeper into that question. When you're ready for rapid final review, the NH-PC Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts condenses the high-weight domains into a single reference page, and running full-length practice exams on our NH-PC practice test platform is the best way to confirm your timing holds up across all 150 scored questions in the 2-hour-30-minute window.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. NH-PC (Series 12-64) is a state licensing exam administered by PSI for the New Hampshire Insurance Department. Passing it is a step toward holding a P&C producer license, which is subject to New Hampshire's ongoing licensing and renewal rules - it isn't a standalone lifetime credential from a private certifying board.
No. New Hampshire does not require a prelicensing education course before you sit for Series 12-64, unlike many other states. You are still responsible for knowing the material across all 13 domains.
Yes, candidates may test at a PSI center or through remote proctoring. A separate July 2026 remote-testing cutoff applies only to the Life and combined Life, Accident and Health producer exams - it does not affect Series 12-64 remote availability.
You submit your producer license application and fees electronically through NIPR. PSI handles exam delivery and scoring only - the license itself is issued through the NIPR/New Hampshire Insurance Department process.
Two limited paths exist: CPCU designees may qualify for the shorter, state-law-only Series 12-81 exam, and qualifying new residents who held equivalent producer authority within the previous 90 days may receive an outright exam waiver when transferring their license.