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Washington Public Adjuster Practice Exam

20 exam-style questions drawn from the same bank as our full Washington Public Adjuster course (Washington Public Adjuster — Exam Prep). Answer all 20, then grade yourself — most state exams require 70% to pass. Explanations for every question are part of the full course.

1. Which of the following is NOT one of the four elements of a negligent act?
Proximate cause linking the breach to the harmA written demand for compensation from the claimantActual damages recognized by lawA legal duty owed to the injured party
2. Which statement correctly distinguishes a partial release from an advance payment?
Both discharge a stated portion of the claim in exchange for considerationA partial release keeps the claim open, while an advance payment closes itA partial release permanently ends a stated portion; an advance ends nothingNeither is enforceable unless the mortgagee also signs the same document
3. Wind and an excluded peril combine to cause a loss. The policy contains an anti-concurrent-causation (ACC) clause. How does the ACC clause differ in effect from the efficient proximate cause doctrine?
Efficient proximate cause requires the insured to physically segregate the damage caused by each peril, while the ACC clause never imposes any such segregation requirementThe ACC clause always covers the loss whenever any covered peril contributes to it, while the efficient proximate cause doctrine denies coverage in that same situationBoth doctrines always produce exactly identical coverage outcomes, so the choice between them never actually changes whether a combined-peril loss is paid or deniedEfficient proximate cause covers the loss if a covered peril was the dominant initiating cause; the ACC clause purports to exclude the loss whenever an excluded peril contributes in any sequence
4. Joisted masonry and masonry non combustible differ from each other in:
Whether the building carries a one hour fire resistance ratingWhether the exterior walls are masonry or combustible materialWhether the floors and roof are combustible or non combustibleThe thickness required of the exterior masonry walls
5. A tornado destroys eleven customer vehicles at a body shop whose garagekeepers coverage is written on the legal-liability basis, and the shop was not negligent. For a customer whose car carried no physical damage coverage of its own, the result is:
Full recovery from the shop's garagekeepers coverage, because garagekeepers written on any basis responds to a tornado that destroys customer vehicles in the shop's care whether or not the shop was negligentRecovery on an excess basis sitting over the customer's own physical damage coverage, so the shop's garagekeepers form pays only the balance left after that primary coverage is fully exhaustedNo recovery from the shop's garagekeepers coverage — legal-liability garagekeepers pays only on the shop's legal liability, and an act of nature without negligence creates none; a direct-basis policy would have paidRecovery instead from the shop's commercial general liability policy, which steps in to pay for physical damage to customer vehicles whenever the garagekeepers form does not respond to the loss at all
6. An adjusting firm knowingly assigns claims to an adjuster it knows was convicted of felony embezzlement and has no regulatory consent to work in insurance. Under 18 USC 1033 the firm:
Faces no exposure, because the prohibition applies only to the convicted individualIs exposed only to state license discipline, not federal consequencesIs protected if the adjuster discloses the conviction to each insuredHas itself committed a federal offense by willfully permitting his participation
7. On a claims-made CGL form, the retroactive date establishes:
The date after which claims must be reported to the insurerThe final day of the extended reporting periodThe date the aggregate limit begins to erodeThe earliest injury date the policy will cover
8. When a specific provision and a general provision in the same policy conflict, the structural priority rule provides that:
The two provisions cancel each other out, voiding bothThe general provision controls because it applies more broadlyThe provision printed earlier in the form controlsThe specific provision controls over the general provision
9. An insured driving for a ride-hailing app, logged in and carrying a paying passenger, causes an accident. The unendorsed PAP will most likely:
Pay, because the insured owns the covered autoPay half the loss and subrogate for the restDeny under the public or livery conveyance exclusionDeny under the regular-use exclusion
10. Garagekeepers exposures, damage to customers' autos left in the insured's care for service, are addressed by:
The personal auto policy Part DThe auto dealers coverage formThe CGL's premises coverageThe unendorsed business auto form's liability coverage
11. A staff adjuster owes the insured:
No duty of any kind, because the insured is not the adjuster's principalThe duties of an agent, including loyalty to the insured's financial interestThe same fiduciary duty a public adjuster owes to a clientThe good faith the insurer itself owes, without representing the insured
12. An insured hits a deer at highway speed ($9,400 damage), then loses control and strikes a guardrail ($6,200 more). The OTC deductible is $250 and the collision deductible is $1,000. What is the strongest position for the policyholder?
Argue the animal strike proximately caused the whole continuous sequence, making it one OTC loss subject to the single $250 deductibleDemand the carrier waive both deductibles altogether, arguing the deer was an unavoidable act of nature that no driver could have preventedClassify the whole continuous sequence as collision, because the guardrail impact was the final event and set the larger $1,000 deductibleConcede two entirely separate losses — OTC for the deer at $250 and collision for the guardrail at $1,000 — and pay both deductibles in full
13. Which of the following is one of the four recognized sources of a supplement?
Code required work the building official imposes when a permit is pulledThe insured's dissatisfaction with the adjuster assigned to the claimA change in the policy limits at the renewal following the date of lossThe carrier's failure to acknowledge the notice of loss promptly
14. Which statement correctly distinguishes salvage from abandonment?
Abandonment lets the insurer take property it paid for; salvage does notSalvage is the insurer taking property it has paid for; abandonment is barredBoth allow the insured to force damaged property on the insurerSalvage is barred by the policy, while abandonment is an insurer right
15. An insured gives notice well after the loss. In many states the insurer may not deny on that ground unless it first:
Sends the insured a written demand for a sworn proof of lossProves the insured also failed to protect the property from further damageShows that it was prejudiced by the delay in receiving noticeShows the insured acted with an intent to mislead the insurer
16. The insured's duties after a loss are found in which part of the policy?
The declarations page, which states the limits and the deductibleThe insuring agreement, which states the perils the form coversThe conditions, which the insurer's obligation to pay depends onThe definitions, which fix the meaning of the terms used elsewhere
17. The DP-3 Special Form (DP 00 03) provides:
Open perils on all coverages, including personal propertyNamed perils on all coveragesOpen perils on Coverages A and B, named perils on Coverage COpen perils on Coverage C only
18. A delivery van owned by the insured injures a pedestrian while making deliveries. The CGL does not respond because:
Coverage A applies only to accidents occurring on the insured's own scheduled premisesThe auto exclusion places licensed motor vehicle liability in the commercial auto policyThe pedestrian is not an insured under the policyDelivery operations fall outside the products hazard
19. Which of the following is a policy CONDITION rather than an exclusion or a declaration?
The dollar limit shown on the dec for Coverage AThe named insured's exact full legal name and addressThe insured's duty to submit a sworn proof of lossThe policy's carve-out for any loss caused by flood
20. While her $80,000 property claim is pending, a client wants to accept $15,000 from the negligent contractor who caused the loss and sign a general release. The main danger is that signing the release could:
Obligate the contractor's liability insurer to pay the entire remaining $65,000 of the lossAutomatically reduce the pending property claim by exactly the $15,000 accepted from the contractorConvert the first-party property claim into a third-party liability claim against the contractorImpair the carrier's subrogation rights and give the carrier a defense to the property claim

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