The Importance of Insurance

Helpful Tips To Successfully Pass Your Insurance Licensing Exam: It's All About Learning Style

16 June 2015

Katrina Terry

Roughly 80% of the recruits of one insurance agency did not become agents in 2010. The reason? Most of them failed their licensing exams. Based on this statistic, many recruits are concerned about passing their insurance licensing exams. If this sounds like you, you'll want to study, of course, but it's a good idea to learn exactly how to study. To do this, you'll first need to figure out what type of learning style you are best suited for.

Determine your learning style

Knowing your learning style can help you focus on exactly what your brain needs to comprehend and retain important information so you will be able to successfully pass the insurance licensing exam on the first try.

Here are the 3 main learning styles: As you read through them, think back to the last time you were in a classroom environment and how you interacted with your educator.

• Sight – visual learner who needs to see information to understand it. They prefer studying diagrams and watching videos. They tend to make charts and graphs of the information they are given so they can process it better mentally. During lectures from their educators, they feel the need to interpret facial expressions and body language so they can understand what is being taught. Classroom discussions do very little to help them learn, unless the students are providing visual concepts through role playing.
• Sound – auditory learner who uses speech and all the parts of it (tone, voice, pitch, and speed) to interpret what is most important in the lesson. They tend to have difficulty when their educator asks the class to read silently to themselves. These are the students you will see with tape recorders on their desks in lecture halls. They use mnemonics and come up with musical jingles to help with memorization. They like listening to discussions but may not participate.
• Touch – tactile learner who does better when he or she is able to take a hands-on approach to learning. These students are typically the first ones to raise their hands when their educators ask for volunteers for demonstration purposes. They generally would rather learn through trial-and-error rather than watching someone else do it, reading the material, or hearing a lecture. They are typically vocal and participate during group discussions, but often work out their thoughts while speaking rather than waiting to speak until they've figured out what to say.

If you have difficulty determining which learning style you prefer, you can take a learning style test online or ask an educator who you've worked with in the past, such as your favorite teacher from high school.

Coping strategies when your learning style is different from the style taught

By knowing which style of learning works best for you, you can develop strategies to cope with educators who do not teach according to your preferred learning style. For example, if your educator doesn't allow for classroom discussions amongst the students, you may have difficulty if you prefer learning by sound or touch.

• Sight – During the course and while studying for your licensing exam, keep a tablet of paper on your desk so you can use it to draw pictures, graphs or charts. For example, create a diagram of the various insurance policies your future clients may need at various stages in their lives. Ask your educator if they have or can recommend any recordings of industry-specific videos you can watch.
• Sound – Ask your educator or an insurance agent to sit down and discuss the industry with you. Form a debate team or a study group with other students in your insurance licensing exam course.
• Touch – Develop various scenarios and work the financial aspects out on paper. Role play with family members and/or friends to practice developing insurance policies for future clients.

Studying is important, but you cannot study effectively if you don't know how to learn. Take the time to develop studying habits based on your learning style so you can pass your licensing exam and become an insurance agent.

For more information about insurance licensing exams and preparation, visit http://www.examadvantage.com/. 

 

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