III IC-85

No. IC-38 is the insurance agent pre-recruitment examination, and the Institute publishes a separate IC-38 study material and model question bank for agents, corporate agents, marketing firms and web aggregators. IC-85 sits in the professional examination series, which is a different stream with its own syllabus, study material and fee structure. Confirm the stream on the syllabus page before you buy anything.

The Institute states that the slot booking window for the December 2026 online examination is available from 05-11-2026 to 11-11-2026. That is a narrow window, so plan to book early rather than late on the closing date. Slot booking is separate from applying for the examination, so check both steps in the examination section.

Use the current edition. The Institute advertises new and revised study course materials from September 2026 for the online examination, and separately notes the introduction of revised study course materials from the June 2026 online examination. Older editions may not match the revised syllabus. Check the study material list for your paper code and any addendum before you start.

The Institute states that professional examination fees were revised with effect from 1st April 2026, but the home page does not publish the amounts. The fee structure page and the study material price list carry the figures, and e-books attract 5% GST from 20.03.2026. Do not budget from memory or from older forum posts, because those predate the revision.

The Institute operates a credits-for-prior-learning and exemption route, with a published exemption fee structure. For the December 2026 session the exemption application link becomes available from 1st December 2026. Eligibility depends on your prior qualifications and passed papers, so read the exemption regulations before assuming a paper can be skipped.

The Institute publishes no pass rate, so difficulty claims are anecdotal. The recurring failure pattern is studying from an outdated edition after a syllabus revision, then answering according to withdrawn wording. The second is skipping the regulations and fee pages and missing a booking or exemption deadline. The third is treating a technical paper as pure recall when the questions ask you to apply the concept.

The Institute structures the professional examinations as Licentiate, Associateship and Fellowship, with specialised diplomas and jointly offered courses alongside. Study the compulsory papers at your current level before the optional ones, because later papers assume the vocabulary and principles from earlier ones. Check the regulations page for the paper combinations that count toward your target designation.

The home page does not state a missed-slot or rescheduling policy, so this needs checking on the examination regulations and help manual pages, which are linked from the examinations menu. Treat a booked slot as fixed until you have read that policy. The next session's booking window is the fallback, and it may be months away.

No. This is independent study material written for candidates preparing for the Institute's examinations. It is not produced, reviewed or endorsed by the Insurance Institute of India, and it is not a substitute for the official syllabus, regulations or study material. Always confirm examinable content against the Institute's own published documents.