Personal Lines Insurance Cheat Sheet.
The night-before summary, built like the exam.

Focus on the percentages and limit structures that show up in calculation questions. Know that split limits like 100/300/50 mean $100,000 per person for bodily injury, $300,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $50,000 per accident for property damage. In homeowners policies, Coverage B for other structures is typically 10 percent of Coverage A and Coverage C for personal property is typically 50 percent of Coverage A, and the dwelling should be insured to at least 80 percent of replacement cost to avoid a coinsurance penalty.

The coinsurance formula is the amount of insurance carried divided by the amount required, multiplied by the loss, minus the deductible. Commercial property policies commonly require the insured to carry 80, 90, or 100 percent of the property's value. Practice this calculation until it is automatic, because it is one of the most reliably tested math items on the exam.

The three most tested distinctions are HO-2, HO-3, and HO-5. The HO-2 broad form insures both the dwelling and personal property on a named perils basis, the HO-3 insures the dwelling and other structures on an open perils basis but personal property on a named perils basis, and the HO-5 comprehensive form insures both on an open perils basis for the broadest coverage. Also memorize the six coverage parts: A dwelling, B other structures, C personal property, D loss of use, E personal liability, and F medical payments to others.

The exam loves near-identical terms that differ in one detail. Collision pays for impact with another vehicle or object or overturn, while comprehensive pays for losses like fire, theft, vandalism, glass breakage, flood, and hitting an animal. Uninsured motorists coverage applies when the at-fault driver has no insurance or is a hit-and-run driver, while underinsured motorists coverage applies when the at-fault driver has insurance with limits too low to cover the loss. Also watch burden of proof: in a named perils policy the insured must prove a covered peril caused the loss, while an open perils policy shifts the burden to the insurer to prove an exclusion applies.

Use it as a final-pass memory check, not as a first exposure to the material. Read through it once slowly, then cover each section and try to recite the key items from memory, like the coinsurance formula, the homeowners coverage parts, and the moral versus morale hazard distinction, where a moral hazard is a dishonest tendency such as intentionally causing a loss and a morale hazard is carelessness because insurance exists. Anything you cannot recall cleanly is what you review one more time before bed.

The cheat sheet condenses the highest-yield rules, but it is a supplement, not a substitute for complete preparation. It cannot teach you to apply concepts like subrogation, where the insurer pursues the responsible third party after paying a claim, or the principle of indemnity, which limits recovery to the actual amount of the loss, in the scenario-style questions the exam favors. Pair it with a full run of practice questions so you learn to recognize these rules inside realistic claim situations.