General insurance certification: BCP, PGI and ComGI

SCI's general insurance certification is three papers: BCP, PGI and ComGI. To sell personal cover such as motor, home and travel insurance you pass BCP and PGI. For business cover you pass BCP and ComGI, and if you'll handle both, you sit all three. Each paper needs 70%, and SCI asks you to take BCP first.

What SCI means by the certification

SCI's full name for it is the Certification in General Insurance, and it has run in modules since 12 June 2002. The three modules combine into two certifications:

• Personal General Insurance Certification: BCP and PGI.
• Commercial General Insurance Certification: BCP and ComGI.

Pass all three and SCI lets you use the designation Cert SCI (General Insurance). The three passes are also the minimum entry requirement for SCI's Diploma and Advanced Diploma in General Insurance and Risk Management, if you want to go further later.

Who needs which papers

SCI's page sets out the rule. MAS requires anyone who sells general insurance, gives sales advice on it, or handles or advises on claims to hold the certification for the lines they deal with. That covers agents, and staff at insurers, brokers, banks and finance companies alike. SCI points to MAS Notices 211 and 502 for the detail. The General Insurance Association and the Singapore Insurance Brokers' Association apply the same requirement to their front-line sales and claims staff.

One overlap with health insurance helps life agents. PGI includes critical illness and hospital cash cover, and SCI's HI page says you can advise on products with only those benefits without the HI paper, provided you've passed BCP and PGI (or M9).

CGI means two different things

This trips people up when they book. SCI uses "CGI" for the whole Certification in General Insurance. The commercial paper itself is ComGI. Some study notes and prep sites call the commercial paper "CGI", so a manager telling you to "take CGI" may mean the commercial paper or the whole set. On SCI's booking page, the commercial paper is listed as ComGI.

Format and pass marks

All three are closed-book, on a computer screen at SCI's centre in Suntec Tower Two, and SCI runs them on weekdays. A wrong answer loses you nothing beyond that mark, so answer every question. Your result shows up as soon as you finish, and SCI hands you a result slip rather than a certificate.

Which order to sit them

SCI says BCP should preferably come first, because the other two build on it. BCP's chapters cover the principles of insurance, contract and agency law, insurance documents and claims. PGI and ComGI then assume you know what indemnity, subrogation and proximate cause mean when a claim question turns on them.

BCP is also the quickest paper. You get 45 minutes for 40 questions, a little over a minute each, so practise it against a clock. After BCP, take PGI or ComGI depending on your role. If you're sitting both, our suggestion is PGI before ComGI, because PGI's policies are ones you've likely bought yourself, while ComGI asks about cover for factories, ships and building sites.

What each paper covers

BCP has 9 chapters: the insurance and reinsurance market, regulation, risk, the principles of insurance, contract and agency law, insurance documents, claims, reinsurance and co-insurance, and ethics with data protection.

PGI has 7: private motor (including motorcycles), personal property, personal accident, travel, personal liability, critical illness and hospital cash, and foreign domestic worker and golfer's insurance.

ComGI is the widest. SCI's contents list runs from property and business interruption through liability and contingency (in two parts), commercial motor, marine and aviation, construction, machinery and bonds, pecuniary insurance and foreign worker insurance, to group personal accident and corporate travel. Each class has its own terms and exclusions, which is where ComGI marks go.

What it costs

SCI's fee table, read the day this guide went up, includes GST. Members and non-members pay the same for these three papers.

The PGI and ComGI fees include a non-refundable registration fee of S$10.90. A retake costs the same as a first attempt, and there's no limit on how many times you can sit. Our CMFAS exam fees guide has the rest of SCI's charges, including what it costs to move your date.

How long to study, and what you get for passing

SCI recommends at least 40 to 50 hours of study for each module, and says the figure depends on your experience. Someone who already handles motor claims will need less for PGI than a career switcher.

SCI doesn't grant exemptions from these papers. A pass earns CPD hours: 0.75 for BCP and 1.25 each for PGI and ComGI. And if you pass BCP with PGI, ComGI or both, the UK's Chartered Insurance Institute will exempt you from its W01 Award in General Insurance unit, worth 15 credits. You apply to the CII yourself, and SCI says those credits are on offer until 31 January 2028.

How to prepare

Work chapter by chapter, answering questions as soon as you finish reading each one, then sit full timed mocks. Our BCP study plan covers the principles chapter in detail, since it feeds the other two papers.

Each paper has its own practice page: BCP, PGI and ComGI, each with a free sample question. Paper Pair's GI Bundle gives you two months of all three, or you can start with BCP on its own.

Sources

• SCI, Certification in General Insurance (BCP, PGI and ComGI) exam details and fees, read 12 October 2026
• SCI, Health Insurance (HI) exam details, read 12 October 2026
• SCI, examination rules and regulations, read 12 October 2026