- AZAPC Exam Structure: How the 9 Domains Fit Together
- Domain 1: Insurance Regulation (6%)
- Domain 2: Insurance Basics (21%)
- Domain 3: Adjusting Losses (30%)
- Domain 4: Dwelling ('02) Policy (5%)
- Domain 5: Homeowners ('11) Policy (10%)
- Domain 6: Auto Insurance (12%)
- Domain 7: Commercial Package Policy (7%)
- Domain 8: Businessowners ('10) Policy (7%)
- Domain 9: Other Coverages and Options (2%)
- Allocating Study Time by Domain Weight
- FAQ
- Adjusting Losses is the largest domain at 30% - master claims handling before anything else.
- Insurance Basics (21%) and Adjusting Losses (30%) together make up more than half the exam.
- The exam is 150 questions in 2 hours 30 minutes, delivered via PSI at a test center or online-proctored.
- Policy-specific domains (Dwelling, Homeowners, Auto, CPP, Businessowners) together account for 41% of scored content.
AZAPC Exam Structure: How the 9 Domains Fit Together
The Arizona Adjuster (Property & Casualty) Exam, administered through PSI Series 13-36 on behalf of the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, is built from nine content domains. Each domain represents a percentage of the 150 scored questions you'll see during your 2-hour, 30-minute testing session. Understanding how those percentages break down is the single most useful thing you can do before opening a textbook - it tells you exactly where your study hours will pay off and where they won't.
Unlike exams that spread content evenly, the AZAPC weighting is lopsided on purpose. Two domains - Adjusting Losses (30%) and Insurance Basics (21%) - account for slightly more than half of everything you'll be tested on. The remaining seven domains cover specific policy forms and regulatory knowledge in smaller, more targeted slices. This guide walks through all nine domains in the order PSI lists them, with the concrete topics candidates most often underestimate.
Domain 1: Insurance Regulation (6%)
This domain covers how the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions licenses, regulates, and disciplines adjusters. It's a small slice of the exam, but it's foundational because it explains the rules you'll operate under for your entire career.
Insurance Regulation
Expect questions on licensing authority, unfair claims practices, and the state's oversight role.
- Producer and adjuster licensing requirements under Arizona statute
- Grounds for license denial, suspension, or revocation
- Unfair claims settlement practices and prohibited conduct
- The role and authority of the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions
For a deeper look at how licensing mechanics tie into this domain - including fees and renewal cycles - see our AZAPC requirements guide.
Domain 2: Insurance Basics (21%)
Insurance Basics is the second-largest domain and the conceptual foundation everything else is built on. If you're weak here, every policy-specific domain later in the exam becomes harder to reason through.
Insurance Basics
Core insurance principles that apply across every line of coverage.
- Insurable interest, indemnity, and subrogation
- Policy structure: declarations, insuring agreements, conditions, exclusions
- Types of losses and cause-of-loss forms
- Contract law fundamentals as applied to insurance policies
Key Takeaway
Treat Insurance Basics as prerequisite knowledge - study it first, even before Adjusting Losses, because its vocabulary and concepts appear embedded inside every other domain's questions.
Domain 3: Adjusting Losses (30%)
This is the domain the exam is built around. At 30% of scored content, Adjusting Losses alone can determine whether you pass or fail, and it's the domain most candidates find hardest to study for because it's less about memorizing definitions and more about applying judgment to claim scenarios.
Adjusting Losses
The practical, scenario-heavy core of the exam - how a claim moves from first notice of loss to settlement.
- Claim investigation steps and documentation requirements
- Determining coverage, evaluating damages, and calculating loss settlement amounts
- Deductibles, coinsurance, and how they affect payout
- Property valuation methods: actual cash value vs. replacement cost
- Handling disputes, appraisal clauses, and bad-faith exposure
Because this domain carries the most weight and involves applied reasoning rather than recall, it deserves a disproportionate share of your practice time. Our AZAPC study guide breaks down how to sequence practice questions specifically for this domain, and if you want a sense of how tough the scenario-based items tend to be, read how hard the AZAPC exam actually is.
Domain 4: Dwelling ('02) Policy (5%)
The Dwelling Policy domain tests the ISO Dwelling Policy ('02 edition), typically used for residential rental properties, seasonal homes, and dwellings that don't qualify for a standard homeowners form.
Dwelling ('02) Policy
A smaller but distinct policy form candidates must not confuse with Homeowners.
- Forms DP-1, DP-2, and DP-3 and what each covers
- Coverage A through D and how they differ from homeowners forms
- Named perils vs. open perils distinctions across the three forms
- Typical exclusions unique to dwelling policies
Because this domain is only 5%, don't let it consume study time better spent on Adjusting Losses or Insurance Basics - but do learn to distinguish it quickly from the Homeowners ('11) form, since exam writers often test that contrast directly.
Domain 5: Homeowners ('11) Policy (10%)
The Homeowners ('11) Policy domain is the largest of the individual policy-form domains outside of Dwelling and Auto. Homeowners claims are among the most common an adjuster handles, so this material has real-world staying power beyond the exam.
Homeowners ('11) Policy
The standard ISO homeowners forms and their coverage structure.
- HO-2, HO-3, HO-5, HO-6, and HO-8 form distinctions
- Coverage A-F: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, liability, medical payments
- Perils insured against by form type
- Endorsements commonly added to homeowners policies
Domain 6: Auto Insurance (12%)
Auto Insurance is the third-largest domain, reflecting how frequently adjusters handle vehicle claims in practice. Expect a mix of policy-structure questions and applied claim-handling scenarios.
Auto Insurance
Personal auto policy structure plus Arizona-specific coverage requirements.
- Liability, collision, comprehensive, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
- Medical payments coverage and its interaction with liability claims
- Arizona financial responsibility and minimum coverage requirements
- Total loss valuation and salvage considerations
Domain 7: Commercial Package Policy (CPP) (7%)
The CPP domain moves into commercial lines, testing how multiple coverage parts combine into a single package policy for business clients.
Commercial Package Policy
How commercial coverage parts are bundled and how claims cross between them.
- Common policy conditions that apply across all coverage parts
- Commercial property coverage part basics
- Commercial general liability coverage part basics
- How CPP differs structurally from a monoline commercial policy
Domain 8: Businessowners ('10) Policy (7%)
The Businessowners Policy (BOP) domain covers a package product designed for small and mid-sized businesses that don't need the full complexity of a CPP.
Businessowners ('10) Policy
A simplified commercial package with its own eligibility rules and coverage triggers.
- Eligibility criteria for a BOP versus a full CPP
- Property and liability coverage bundled automatically into the BOP
- Optional coverages and endorsements available on the '10 edition
- Business income and extra expense coverage basics
Candidates often mix up CPP and BOP details on exam day because both domains sit near the same weight (7%) and cover overlapping commercial concepts. Building a simple side-by-side comparison as you study helps lock in the distinctions.
Domain 9: Other Coverages and Options (2%)
The smallest domain on the exam, Other Coverages and Options rounds out the content outline with miscellaneous coverage types and endorsements that don't fit neatly into the other eight domains.
Other Coverages and Options
A catch-all domain - low weight, but still scored.
- Umbrella and excess liability policies
- Inland marine and scheduled personal property coverage
- Miscellaneous endorsements not covered under the major policy-form domains
Allocating Study Time by Domain Weight
Once you know the nine domains, the natural next question is how to divide your preparation time. A practical approach is to let domain weight dictate study hours roughly proportionally, while still giving every domain at least a baseline review pass so nothing on test day is completely unfamiliar.
| Domain | Weight | Relative Study Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusting Losses | 30% | Highest |
| Insurance Basics | 21% | High |
| Auto Insurance | 12% | Moderate-High |
| Homeowners ('11) Policy | 10% | Moderate |
| Commercial Package Policy | 7% | Moderate-Low |
| Businessowners ('10) Policy | 7% | Moderate-Low |
| Insurance Regulation | 6% | Low |
| Dwelling ('02) Policy | 5% | Low |
| Other Coverages and Options | 2% | Lowest |
Insurance Basics + Insurance Regulation
- Build the vocabulary and licensing framework before tackling claim scenarios
Adjusting Losses
- Work through claim-handling scenarios and loss-settlement calculations repeatedly, since this is 30% of the exam
Auto Insurance + Homeowners ('11)
- Cover the two highest-weighted individual policy forms back to back
CPP + BOP + Dwelling ('02)
- Compare commercial forms side by side; finish with the smaller Dwelling domain
Other Coverages and Options + Full Review
- Quick pass on the smallest domain, then take full-length practice tests
For a full walkthrough of pacing this out day by day, see the AZAPC Study Guide 2026. And if you're still deciding whether you're on track to clear the required score, check what passing score you actually need.
Because Arizona doesn't mandate a prelicensing course or continuing education for ordinary renewal, the domain outline above is effectively your entire curriculum - there's no instructor filling gaps for you. Many candidates supplement domain study with full-length practice exams on our practice test platform to simulate the 150-question, timed format before test day. Running through timed practice sets also helps you build the pacing instinct you'll need to answer 150 questions inside 2 hours 30 minutes without rushing the Adjusting Losses scenarios, which tend to take longer to reason through than a straightforward Insurance Basics definition question.
If you're weighing whether pursuing this license fits your career goals in the first place, our ROI analysis and salary guide cover what the credential can lead to. For a look at who typically hires licensed property and casualty adjusters and what day-to-day roles look like, see AZAPC jobs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with Insurance Basics (21%). It establishes the vocabulary and contract concepts - insurable interest, indemnity, policy structure - that show up embedded in questions across every other domain, including the heavily-weighted Adjusting Losses domain.
Adjusting Losses is weighted at 30%, the largest single domain, meaning roughly 45 of the 150 scored questions draw from this content area covering claim investigation, loss valuation, and settlement calculations.
Yes. The Dwelling ('02) Policy domain (5%) and Homeowners ('11) Policy domain (10%) are scored separately and test different ISO forms with distinct coverage structures, even though both apply to residential property.
Not much. At 2% of the exam, it's the smallest domain. A light review pass covering umbrella policies and inland marine basics is generally sufficient; your time is better spent on Adjusting Losses and Insurance Basics.
No. Continuing education is not required for ordinary adjuster license renewal in Arizona. The domain outline matters most for initial exam preparation, since licenses simply renew on a four-year cycle ending the last day of your birth month.