CIC Life & Health

The exam is a two-hour, proctored, essay-style final exam. You must score 70% or better to earn designation credit for the course. In the classroom format the exam follows two days of instruction and is optional, but passing it is required if you want the course to count toward the designation.

You must successfully complete five CIC courses and pass five exams within five calendar years of passing your first CIC exam. Alternatives exist: four CIC courses plus one CRM or CPRM course and exam, or four CIC courses plus an eligible cross-designation credit in place of a fifth.

Yes, one substitution is allowed: four CIC courses and exams plus one CRM or CPRM course and exam. This alternative pathway can be used only once and toward a single designation. If you use it to earn the CIC, cross-designation credit cannot then be applied toward another designation.

Self-paced online courses are accessible 24/7 by computer, tablet, or cell phone, with a 120-day period to complete. Sessions are self-directed, so you can stop and start anytime and your place is saved. Note that notebooks and other documents are currently not optimized for reading on a phone.

All three formats deliver the same curriculum and 16 hours of instruction. Classroom is two days with expert faculty, notebooks, and scenarios. Instructor-led webinars run 16 hours over two to four weeks with quizzes, optional reading, exercises, and discussion boards. Self-paced suits candidates who need scheduling flexibility.

It is an essay exam, so difficulty comes less from recall than from organizing coverage concepts and applying them in written answers under a two-hour limit. Candidates with at least two years of full-time insurance or risk management experience, as the Alliance recommends, generally find the material more manageable.

The source material does not state a retake policy, fee, or waiting period, so confirm directly with the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance. What it does state is the passing standard: 70% or better on the two-hour essay exam. Plan your five-course sequence within the five-calendar-year window measured from your first passed exam.

Once earned, no further examinations are required. To maintain the CIC you must complete an approved update course and meet attendance requirements by the end of your birth month each year, with membership dues required. Options include Ruble, PROFocus, and MEGA seminars, Dynamics courses, and RiskPRO courses.

The course covers life and annuity policies, business life concepts, and health insurance and employee benefits concepts. It examines the basic characteristics, provisions, and riders found in most life, health, and retirement contracts and how to target those financial products to meet a client's personal and business needs.

The source does not prescribe a sequence, so choose based on your practice. Candidates whose work centers on life, health, and benefits often take Life & Health early to build momentum, then add courses such as Agency Management or Insurance Company Operations for management-focused material. Keep all five exams inside the five-year window.