Which IIQE Papers Do You Need? The Official Business-Category Table

Last updated 2026-08-09

The usual answer to "how many IIQE papers do I need" is "it depends on what you sell" — which is true and completely unhelpful, because almost nobody reproduces the official table.

Handbook clause 2.1.3 sets it out in full. This page reproduces it and cites the source.

The official mapping

Paper I is compulsory. Papers II, III and V are optional papers corresponding to general business, long term business and investment-linked long term business respectively (clause 2.1.2).

There is also Paper VI: Travel Insurance Agents Examination, which has a separately produced handbook and does not appear in the table above.

How to read the table

Decide what line of business you intend to carry on first, then look up the papers. Not the other way round — the number of papers is an output, not the thing you choose.

The two most common landing points:

• Long term business only, no investment-linked products → Papers I and III. Two papers.
• Investment-linked products (ILAS) → Paper V is added on top.

The boundary of "linked long term business" is worth confirming before you enrol, because it decides whether you sit one extra paper. Ask your firm or the Insurance Authority rather than guessing — the two ways of guessing wrong cost differently: guessing low means another examination cycle; guessing high just wastes money and study time.

Once your papers are settled, the expected-loss breakdown for Paper I and why Paper III has no heavyweight chapter show where the study time should go — both are built on real answering data.

⚠️ About "Paper IV"

Handbook clause 2.1.5: "With effect from 2 May 2013, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Examination, formerly Paper IV, ceased to form part of the Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination."

Paper IV is not missing from the table by oversight — it stopped being part of the IIQE more than a decade ago. The MPF intermediaries examination is now specified by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and has its own separately produced handbook.

The industry still says "Paper IV" out of habit, and it costs candidates in two directions: some sit an examination they do not need, and others assume "the full IIQE set" covers MPF work when it does not.

Duration and question counts

All multiple choice, all questions must be attempted, all set in both Chinese and English. A candidate must score at least 70 marks in each paper to pass.

Sources and currency

The mapping table, question counts, durations and pass mark are taken from the Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination (Paper-and-Pencil and Computer-based Modes) Handbook, applicable from 1 September 2025, retrieved 2026-08-09. The papers available under the remotely invigilated mode come from its separate FAQ (applicable from 1 September 2023).

The handbook is versioned, and both syllabus and paper structure are subject to change. Check the current official version before enrolling. Mange is not an official body. Nothing here is enrolment advice; the official announcements of the Insurance Authority and the PEAK Examination Centre govern.