I realize it's the law, but that is an interesting question. I'm a page-at-a-glance reader (not to brag) and sitting in front of something for 52 hours would make me feel like a character from "Harrison Bergeron".
The 52 hours is meant to be spent exploring inside of an LMS (Learning Management System). You aren't simply reading a manual, but rather going through lessons, taking quizzes on them, working through different scenarios, etc. It's supposed to be an interactive process where you're familiarizing yourself with the information, learning to identify how to handle different situations, learning what "gotchas" to watch out for, and generally reinforcing your recall of the rules and regulations around the industry.
The LMS has the actual license exam locked until you've clocked 52 hours inside of it, so the macro just ran out that timer until the broker could get directly to the exam. Scraping by an 80% on that license exam (especially with all of your colleagues around that have taken it already) is ridiculously easy.
Insurance companies are sticklers for technicalities and love to deny claims, so as a consumer I'd consider the 52 hours / 6.5 work days worth of required training to be an absolute necessity for an insurance broker.
Disclaimer: My current company got our insurance royally screwed up in the short period of time we used Zenefits thanks to their corner cutting, so I'm a bit jaded.
