How to Use Certena: A Complete Guide to Preparing for Your III & IC-38 Exams
If you are preparing for an IRDAI IC-38 agent exam or an Insurance Institute of India professional paper (Licentiate, Associateship or Fellowship), it is easy to drown in scattered PDFs and half-finished notes. Certena is built to replace all of that with one clear loop: learn, practise, test yourself, and revise — with the app always telling you what to do next. This guide walks through the whole app end to end.
1. Create a free account
Head to certena.in and sign up — no card required. On the free plan you can practise unlimited questions across every subject, read chapter notes, and take one full mock exam per subject, so you can get real value before ever paying anything. If you already have an account, just sign in.
2. Choose your path
The first thing Certena asks is which certification you are working toward. If you are an aspiring agent, that is the IC-38 program. If you are a professional, pick your III level — Licentiate, Associateship or Fellowship — and your stream (life or general). This one choice tailors everything: the subjects you see, the credit maths, and the study plan. Not sure how the levels differ? See our guide to the difference between Licentiate, Associateship and Fellowship.
3. Practise, chapter by chapter
Open the Practice tab and pick a subject. You can do quick untimed practice to learn a topic, or timed practice to build speed. Every question comes with a clear explanation, so a wrong answer becomes a lesson instead of a mystery. Practice is unlimited and free on every subject — the more you do, the more accurate your readiness score becomes. New to a paper? Start with the fundamentals, for example IC-01 Principles of Insurance or, for agents, the IC-38 syllabus and pass marks.
4. Take a full mock exam
When you want to know if you are actually ready, take a full-length mock. Certena's mocks mirror the real exam — timed, exam-style, with an explanation for every question afterwards. The timer is wall-clock, so closing the tab does not pause it, exactly like the real thing. Your free plan includes one full mock per subject; Pro unlocks unlimited mocks so you can keep testing until you consistently pass. For the strategy side, read how to use mock tests to pass on your first attempt and how to manage your time in the online exam.
5. Track your readiness and weak areas
After a few quizzes, your Home screen fills in: a readiness ring against the pass mark, your recent scores, and your weak areas — the subjects where you score below passing. This is the single most useful screen in the app, because it tells you exactly where to spend your next study hour instead of guessing.
6. Revise what you are about to forget
Certena's Revision tab uses spaced repetition to bring back the exact facts you got wrong, right before you would naturally forget them. A few minutes a day keeps hard-won knowledge from leaking away. We go deep on this in how to use spaced-repetition revision on Certena.
7. Follow a study plan paced to your exam date
Finally, set a target date and let the Study Plan turn everything above into a week-by-week roadmap. It covers your compulsory papers first, paces you toward your date, and adjusts as you clear subjects. See how to build a study plan with Certena's planner.
The loop, in one line
Sign up → pick your path → practise → mock → check weak areas → revise → repeat, paced by your plan. Do that consistently and exam day stops being a gamble.
Ready? Start free on Certena and take your first mock today.
Certena is an independent study app and is not affiliated with the Insurance Institute of India or IRDAI. Always confirm current exam rules on the official websites.