Available FAQs

  • Associate in General Insurance (AINS) FAQs

"Professional development with The Institutes opens up doors and expands the horizon of opportunities available to you. Institute designation programs and courses teach you how to think more broadly and in the process help you gain recognition from your peers and management. With any industry, the more you learn, the better you can perform on the job, and the insurance and risk management industries are no different."

Randall Clinger, CPCU, ARe
Vice President, Head of Marketing Communications
Swiss Re America Holding Corporation

Did you know that by completing INS courses you also gain credit toward the following designation programs:

Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)®

Associate in Claims (AIC)

Associate in Commercial Underwriting (AU)

Associate in Personal Insurance (API)

Accredited Adviser in Insurance (AAI)®

Associate in Insurance Services (AIS)

NEW! The Program in General Insurance is now the
Associate in General Insurance (AINS) Designation Program

Built upon the proven and popular INS certificate program, the new Associate in General Insurance (AINS) designation provides a solid foundation to help you accelerate your career in insurance. The INS courses provide you with a comprehensive knowledge of insurance principles, practices, policies, and coverages, while the optional electives allow you to focus on areas relevant to your professional goals.

AINS Designation Pre-Qualifiers: There are those who are pre-qualified to earn the AINS designation because they have already earned the Certificate in General Insurance or passed a combination of the necessary exams. Click the Program tab for information.

Earning the AINS Designation
The new AINS designation program has a flexible structure that combines our popular INS courses with a wide variety of electives. The ethics study component provides you with a solid foundation in professionalism.

  • INS Courses. The INS courses provide you with a comprehensive knowledge of insurance principles, practices, policies, and coverages.
  • Elective Courses. You can tailor the AINS program to match your personal and professional needs.
  • Ethics. The free Ethical Guidelines for Insurance Professionals is the online ethics study component.
Click the Course tab above for information about all courses in the AINS designation program.

We Recommend AINS For: People in all functional areas of property-casualty insurance, managers or supervisors, customer service representatives, call center staff, and administrative and support staff.

Free Bonus: As a special bonus to anyone who earns the AINS designation, The Institutes are giving a free 60-day trial of a special business acumen suite of online courses. Designation completers will receive access information for the free trial upon completion of their last exam in the AINS program.

Program Options: The Associate in General Insurance (AINS) is available as a self-study program via printed text books and course guides. All INS courses are also offered as self-study online courses. INS online courses are offered in a segmented format, which breaks each course into three pieces. See individual elective course listings for program options related to them.

Print or Online, it’s your choice. Regardless of study method (online or text-based), INS 21, 22, and 23 exams can be taken either as full length course exams or as three segmented exams per course.

Course Sequence: It is best to take INS 21 prior to taking INS 22 or INS 23. Ethics 311 can be taken at any time.

Exam Information: INS 21, 22, and 23 exams are offered at Institutes approved on–site testing locations and Prometric Testing Centers. If you prefer, you can approach your studies in a modular format consisting of a series of shorter study segments. You can do this in traditional print or using our new online delivery. After studying each segment, you can take the corresponding exam at all Prometric Testing Centers and at selected Institutes approved on–site testing locations. Contact your education coordinator for further information about on–site testing availability.

Full length INS exams consist of 85 objective questions and examinees have two hours to complete the exam. Segmented INS exams consist of 15 to 50 objective questions depending on the course and segment, and examinees have 60 minutes to complete the exam.

Click the Course tab above and follow the links for exam information about the various AINS electives.

Choose one of the following completion options to earn the AINS designation:
Courses in the Program in General Insurance + Elective Course + Mandatory Ethics Requirement Waives in the CPCU program

INS 21, INS 22, and
INS 23

None Required

Ethics 311 - Ethical Guidelines for Insurance Professionals

CPCU 553
or 557

INS 21 and INS 22

Pass the exam for any course in the list of electives below, except: CPCU 555

CPCU 553

INS 21 and INS 23

Pass the exam for any course in the list of electives below, except: AAI 82, APA 92, CPCU 551, CPCU 552

CPCU 557

 

INS 21—Property and Liability Insurance Principles: What Insurance Is, Who Provides Insurance, How Insurance Is Regulated, Measuring the Financial Performance of Insurers, Marketing, Underwriting, Claims, Insurance Contracts, Property Loss Exposures and Policy Provisions, Liability Loss Exposures and Policy Provisions, and Risk Management

INS 22—Personal Insurance: Personal Insurance Overview; Automobile Insurance and Society ; Personal Auto Policy: Liability, Medical Payments, and UM Coverage; Personal Auto Policy: Physical Damages, Duties After an Accident, and Endorsements; Homeowners Property Coverage; Homeowners Liability Coverage; Homeowners Coverage Forms and Endorsements; Other Residential Insurance; Other Personal Property and Liability Insurance; Life Insurance Planning; Retirement Planning; Disability and Health Insurance Planning

INS 23—Commercial Insurance: Commercial Property, Business Income, Commercial Crime, Equipment Breakdown, Inland and Ocean Marine, Commercial General Liability, Commercial Auto, Businessowners, Farm, Workers Compensation and Employers Liability, and Miscellaneous Coverages

INS 21, 22, and 23 are presented in print and online in a segmented format that breaks each course into three portions.

Both the online version of INS and the text-based study of the course present the same material. Regardless of study method (online or text-based), INS exams can be taken either as full length course exams or as three segmented exams per course.

Ethics
Ethics 311—Ethical Guidelines for Insurance Professionals

Elective Courses
You can tailor the AINS program to match your personal and professional needs. The chart below lists all approved AINS elective courses, arranged by functional area. You can choose from any of the following courses (except for those noted in the table above) to satisfy the AINS elective requirement. To see what options you have to earn the AINS designation, log in to your student account in the Account Manager and select My Progress Tracker under the Resources tab. The chart below offers suggestions that may align with individual career paths:

Functional Area

Elective Course Options

All

CPCU 510, 520, 530, 540, 551, 552, 555, 556, or 560
AIM 40 or 44
AIT 131, 132, or 134
AIAF 111 or 112

Agent/Broker, Customer Service, Call Center

API 28 or 29
AU 65 or 66
AAI 82 or 83
ANFI 205 or 206

Claims

AIC 33, 34, 35, or 36

Reinsurance

ARe 144

Risk Management

ARM 54, 55, or 56
ERM 57

Underwriting

API 28 or 29
AU 65 or 66

Other Specialty

APA 91 or 92
AMIM 121 or 122
AFSB 151, 152, or 153
ASLI 163 or 164
IR 201

Bottom-Line Benefits

  • Enhance ability to build a better book of business through an expanded knowledge of personal and/or commercial coverages and endorsements
  • Improve performance by learning to read an insurance policy, identify loss exposures, and recognize common policy provisions
  • Better meet professional responsibilities with an increased technical knowledge of your functional area

AINS Designation Pre-Qualifiers: There are those who are pre-qualified to earn the AINS designation because they have already earned the Certificate in General Insurance or passed a combination of the necessary exams (click the Course tab above).

  • Complete Ethical Guidelines for Insurance Professionals
    Register for the free online Ethical Guidelines for Insurance Professionals. Upon successfully passing the 50-question exam, you can start using the AINS designation and purchase your AINS diploma.
  • Order Your Diploma
    After successfully completing Ethical Guidelines for Insurance Professionals you may order your official AINS diploma. The cost of the diploma is only a $30 administrative fee. To order please call Customer Service at (800) 644-2101. We anticipate a big response to this new designation; please allow 6 to 8 weeks to receive your diploma after placing your order.
  • Begin Using the Designation
    After you receive a completer e-mail from The Institutes, start using the AINS designation on your business cards, stationary, e-mail signatures and so forth. And don’t forget to tell your colleagues about the new designation.

If you have any questions about whether or not you might be a pre-qualifier, log on to The Institutes’ Account Manager in the Students section above and click on My Progress Tracker.

Cross Credits
INS courses can also help you earn other Institutes credentials.

INS Course(s)

Provides Credit Toward

INS 22

AIC

INS 21 & 22

API, CPCU (see chart in course tab)

INS 21 & 23

CPCU (see chart in course tab)

INS 21, 22, & 23

AAI, AIS

INS 22 & 23

ARe, (ARe 143)

INS 23

AU


The Institutes and LOMA offer a property-casualty track in LOMA’s Associate, Customer Service (ACS) designation program. Earning AINS gives you a head start. Log on to www.LOMA.org for information on how to earn the ACS designation in the property-casualty track.

E-mail: customerservice@TheInstitutes.org

Phone: (800) 644-2101

Fax: (610) 640-9576

Mail: AICPCU/IIA
720 Providence Road
Suite 100
Malvern, PA 19355-3433

Customer Service hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern time.

Order today! Before making your selections, first choose the testing window and the
course from the dropdowns below to ensure you order the correct study materials.
Study Materials:
Please Select Window:

 Click here to view information for this exam.
Important InformationCourse Guides and textbooks are revised periodically. Check with Customer Service (800-644-2101) if you think you might use the study material(s) you ordered for an exam given beyond the date you selected above.

Interested in corporate licensing information, volume discounts, or learning management system (LMS) compatibility? Contact the Institutes’ Regional Sales Executive in your area.

http://www.aicpcu.org/
Quick Links