One Agent Exam Prep Company Acquires Another

Training Consultants is now part of ExamFX, which offers money-back guarantees.

ExamFX — an insurance exam prep company — has acquired another financial services exam prep company, Training Consultants.

ExamFX is a Leawood, Kansas-based exam prep company that was founded in 1996 and says it has helped about 7 million people pass insurance exams and other types of financial services licensing and qualifying exams.

The company is known for offering students taking exam prep tests money-back guarantees. It is part of a bigger professional education company, Ascend Learning. Investment funds controlled by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired control of Ascend Learning from another investment company in 2017.

Training Consultants is an Irvine, California-based company that was founded in 1979 as a securities exam prep company.

Like ExamFX, Training Consultants has been offering a full range of insurance and financial services exam prep services, in online and in-person formats.

Insurance agent testing and exam prep programs began attracting more attention than usual in early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional professional training and testing programs.

Executives from some life, health and annuity issuers, including Primerica, talked about training and testing concerns during quarterly earnings calls.

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