Frequently asked questions for RIBO Level 1: exam structure, what it tests, study priorities, and how to use this guide.
Confirm current RIBO rules, providers, and licensing requirements directly with RIBO before booking or applying.
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RIBO states that the Level 1 Entry-Level Broker Exam is a 3-hour multiple-choice exam with 100 scored questions plus 15 pilot questions that do not count toward the final result. RIBO also states that a passing grade is 75%, which is 75 out of 100 scored questions.
RIBO Level 1 tests whether you can identify the real insurance, documentation, and compliance issue in an Ontario broker fact pattern and choose the safest practical next step for a broker working under supervision. Product recall matters, but so do authority limits, client communication, claims handling, and broker conduct.
Start with product knowledge and risk classification. Those two areas give meaning to most of the later advising, coverage, claims, and documentation questions. If you cannot classify the risk correctly, even a familiar coverage answer can still be wrong.
It is both. Product knowledge matters because you need to recognize the coverage issue, but broker conduct matters because many questions turn on disclosure, authority, documentation, referral, and the safest next action for the brokerage as well as the client.
A common mistake is solving only the coverage issue and ignoring the broker-process issue. Stronger answers usually identify the risk, the likely coverage or gap, and the broker’s next compliant action in the same sequence.
RIBO describes passing the exam as only the first step in becoming licensed. The licensing path also requires securing a job with a RIBO-registered brokerage, meeting eligibility and suitability requirements, applying for the licence, and paying the registration fee. The exam alone does not complete the licensing process.
RIBO states that its approved exam service providers for Level 1 are the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario and the Insurance Institute of Canada. Use RIBO’s own exam and licensing pages as the source of truth before registering.
RIBO states that candidates may attempt a RIBO exam twice in any eight-month period per exam service provider. After two failed attempts with the same provider, the candidate must wait eight months from the date of the last attempt before trying again with that same provider. RIBO also states that switching to a different approved provider can avoid that waiting period.
Open it when you can already explain what the broker should do next and why that step is safer for both the client and the brokerage. At that point, timed mixed sets usually help more than another pass through static notes.
Use Official Resources. That page points to the current RIBO exam, licensing, blueprint, and exam-process sources that are most useful for confirming structure, scope, and Ontario broker licensing workflow.