Life and Health Insurance Producer Licensing Exam
State insurance departments (Pearson VUE, PSI, Prometric)
Complete guide to passing the Life and Health Insurance Producer Licensing Exam exam on your first attempt.
$44-$49 exam fee, plus $50-$188 licence fee
~55% (Texas first-time takers, July 2026)
2-year licence term with continuing education
USA
State insurance departments (Pearson VUE, PSI, Prometric)
$60k-$138k (BLS 2024 medians)
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Complete Overview
The US life and health insurance producer licensing exam is a state examination that you must pass before a state insurance department will issue you a licence to sell life, accident, and health insurance, and the exam fee runs from $44 in Florida to $49 in Texas, with separate licence fees on top. There is no national life and health producer exam. Each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia sets its own content outline, question count, time limit, passing score, prelicensing education requirement, retake rule, and fee, then contracts delivery to a testing vendor. Pearson VUE administers the exam for Texas and Florida, PSI administers it for California, and Prometric holds contracts in other states. The structure is consistent even though the numbers are not. Every state exam splits into a general knowledge section covering life and health products that behave the same everywhere, and a state-specific section covering that state's insurance code and administrative rules. Florida's Health and Life exam, including annuities and variable contracts, has 150 scored questions plus 15 pretest questions with a 2.75-hour limit, and Florida publishes percentage weights in which state statutes, rules, and regulations account for 33 percent. Texas's General Lines Life, Accident and Health exam has 130 scored questions plus 15 pretest questions with a 150-minute limit, and Texas publishes scored question counts instead of percentages, with 30 of the 130 on Texas statutes and rules. California's Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam has 150 questions with a 3-hour limit. Passing scores diverge. Florida and Texas both require 70, though Florida computes a percentage of questions answered correctly while Texas reports a scaled score from 0 to 100 with 70 as the cut. California requires 60 percent for all producer licence examinations and reserves 70 percent for adjuster and bail examinations. Prelicensing education diverges further. Florida requires a 60-hour course for the 2-15 licence. California requires a 12-hour course on ethics and the California Insurance Code that includes one hour on insurance fraud. Texas requires no prelicensing education at all. A sponsored applicant may instead work under a non-renewable temporary 180-day licence, which carries its own condition: 40 hours of training from the appointing company or agency within 30 days of applying, and the exam passed inside 180 days. Retake rules diverge as well: Texas lets a failed candidate schedule a new exam within one day with no cap on attempts, while Florida limits candidates to five attempts on the same exam type in a 12-month period. Pearson VUE publishes monthly Texas pass rate reports on behalf of the Texas Department of Insurance. In July 2026, 2,280 first-time takers sat the English General Lines Life, Accident and Health exam and 1,246 passed, a first-time pass rate of 55 percent. Most states then require a fingerprint background check, a licence application, and renewal every two years with continuing education. Texas requires 24 hours of continuing education every two years including three ethics hours, and California requires 24 hours per two-year term including three hours of ethics with one hour on insurance fraud.
Why Get Life and Health Insurance Producer Licensing Exam Certified?
A licence is legally required: the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that insurance agents must be licensed in the states where they work, and there were 568,800 insurance sales agent jobs in 2024.
The exam fee is $44 in Florida and $49 in Texas, among the cheapest entry examinations for a regulated profession.
No degree is needed. BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for insurance sales agents.
Texas requires no prelicensing education, so a candidate there can go from zero to booked exam without completing a single mandated course hour.
BLS projects about 47,000 openings for insurance sales agents each year on average over the 2024 to 2034 decade.
The general knowledge portion transfers across states, so a second state licence usually means learning only that state's law section, which is 33 percent of the Florida exam and 30 of 130 scored questions in Texas.
Texas publishes monthly pass rate data through Pearson VUE, so you can check the current first-time pass rate before committing.
Exam Format & Structure
Duration
Varies by state. Florida allows 2.75 hours for the Health and Life exam, Texas allows 150 minutes for General Lines Life, Accident and Health, and California allows 3 hours for Life, Accident and Health or Sickness.
Questions
Varies by state. Florida: 150 scored plus 15 pretest, 165 items in total. Texas: 130 scored plus 15 pretest, 145 items in total, made up of 100 scored general knowledge and 30 scored state-specific. California: 150 questions.
Passing Score
Varies by state. Florida requires 70 percent, which the candidate handbook defines as the number of questions answered correctly divided by the total number of examination questions. Texas requires a scaled score of 70 on a 0 to 100 scale. California requires 60 percent for all producer licence examinations.
Question Types
- Multiple choice with four options
- Pretest questions mixed in with scored questions and not identified
Delivery Method
Physical test centre in most states. Florida withdrew OnVUE online proctoring for new insurance reservations, so Florida candidates must attend a test centre. California offers remote online proctoring through PSI Bridge for a $43 convenience fee, the same fee charged for testing at a PSI site.
- Pretest questions collect statistics for future exam construction and do not affect your score. Texas mixes 15 into the Life, Accident and Health exam and does not identify them.
- Texas requires two forms of current signature identification, with a government-issued photo-bearing primary ID and a secondary ID carrying a valid signature, both in English.
- Florida requires one form of current unexpired signature identification that is government issued and photo-bearing.
- Florida test centres do not permit personal calculators but will supply one from centre staff on request.
- In Florida a passing score is valid for one year from the date it was earned. Miss that window and you retake the exam.
- In Texas you must submit a completed licence application within 12 months of passing or retake the examination.
How scoring works
Score scale
Varies by state. Texas reports a scaled score from 0 to 100. Florida reports a straight percentage of scored questions answered correctly.
Score needed to pass
70 in Florida and Texas; 60 percent in California for producer licence examinations
Roughly what that means raw
Not published in Florida. The handbook gives the formula but never states the raw count that reaches 70 percent, and it does not say whether the 15 pretest items sit inside or outside its denominator. In Texas, not published, because the raw number required varies with the difficulty of the form you receive.
When results arrive
At the test centre, at the end of the session
How the scale is built
Florida states only that the score is the number of questions answered correctly divided by the total number of examination questions; it does not publish the raw number of correct answers that reaches 70 percent. Texas converts raw scores to a scaled score so that different forms report the same standard: the handbook's own example has 30 correct on one form and 28 correct on another both mapping to the same scaled pass mark. Pretest questions never count.
- Texas mixes 15 pretest questions into the Life, Accident and Health exam and does not identify them; responses to pretest questions do not affect the score.
- Florida includes 15 pretest questions alongside 150 scored questions on its Health and Life exam.
- A Texas score below 70 indicates how close the candidate came to passing rather than the raw count of correct answers.
- Pearson VUE reserves the right to question any examination score whose validity is in doubt and refers such cases to the Texas Department of Insurance, which makes the final decision on cancelling a score.
- In Florida, no retake is permitted where an exam was revoked for candidate misconduct; a revocation caused by a technical issue can be overridden after investigation.
Pacing and time budget
Varies by state; 165 items in Florida, 145 in Texas, 150 in California questions in Varies by state; 165 minutes in Florida, 150 in Texas, 180 in California minutes gives you 60 seconds in Florida, 62 seconds in Texas, 72 seconds in California per question.
| At this point | You should have answered |
|---|---|
| 40 min | 40 |
| 80 min | 80 |
| 120 min | 120 |
| 150 min | 155 |
- The checkpoints above are set against the Florida paper, which allows 165 minutes for 165 items. Recalculate them against your own state's limit before your first timed practice run.
- Texas is the tightest of the three at 150 minutes for 145 items, so a Texas candidate has roughly ten fewer seconds per question than a California candidate.
- State law questions read shorter than product scenario questions, so expect to bank time in the law block and spend it on disability and medical expense scenarios.
- Leave the final ten minutes for questions you flagged. Pretest items are mixed in unmarked, so an item that resists you may carry no marks at all.
- Do not spend time recalculating percentages during the exam. Florida divides correct answers by its published denominator and Texas scales the raw score, and neither figure is visible to you while you test.
Where the marks are
| Topic | Weight | Why it scores |
|---|---|---|
| State statutes, rules, and regulations | 33% on the Florida exam; 30 of 130 scored questions in Texas | The single largest block on both exams and the only one a generic study guide cannot cover. Florida splits it 13 percent all lines, 10 percent life including variable products, and 10 percent health. Texas splits its 30 questions 14 common, 6 life, 7 accident and health, and 3 on health maintenance organisations. |
| Types of health policies | 11% on the Florida exam | The largest general knowledge block. It spans disability income, medical expense, Medicare supplement, long-term care, and the managed care structures, and every one of those product families reappears in the provisions block. |
| Types of life policies and features | 10% on the Florida exam | Whole life, universal, variable, indexed, term, and annuities are the vocabulary that the riders, taxation, and field underwriting blocks all assume. Weak product knowledge here costs marks in three other sections. |
| Life policy riders, provisions, options, and exclusions | 10% on the Florida exam | Pure recall with fixed answers: entire contract, free look, grace period, reinstatement, incontestability, non-forfeiture options, dividend options, beneficiary designations. Nothing on the exam converts study hours into marks more reliably. |
| Health policy provisions, clauses, and riders | 10% on the Florida exam | The uniform provisions come with specific time periods attached, and the four renewability categories each change what the insurer may do. Both are memorisable lists that examiners test with direct questions. |
| Completing the application, underwriting, and delivering the policy | 8% on the Florida exam | Conditional receipts and replacement notices generate questions with one defensible answer, and the same material underpins the field underwriting block worth a further 5 percent. |
| Retirement and other life insurance concepts | 5% on the Florida exam | Buy-sell, key person, executive bonus, and split dollar arrangements plus the taxation of death benefits and policy loans. A small block with unambiguous answers that candidates routinely skip and then lose. |
| Social insurance | 4% on the Florida exam | Roughly six scored questions on the Florida paper drawn from a finite list: Medicare Parts A through D, the Social Security disability definition and elimination period, and Medicaid eligibility. High marks per hour studied. |
The numbers
55 percent in July 2026, from 2,280 first-time takers graded and 1,246 passed
First-time pass rate, Texas General Lines Life, Accident and Health (English)
Source: Pearson VUE Examination Pass Rates report for the Texas Department of Insurance, 1 to 31 July 2026
$44 in Florida, $49 in Texas, plus a $43 convenience fee in California for a PSI site or remote proctoring
Examination fee
Source: Pearson VUE Florida and Texas insurance licensing candidate handbooks; California Department of Insurance Exam Info page
70 in Florida and Texas, 60 percent in California for producer licence examinations
Passing score
Source: Pearson VUE Florida candidate handbook; Texas Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook; California Department of Insurance examination time limits page
165 items in 2.75 hours in Florida, 145 items in 150 minutes in Texas, 150 questions in 3 hours in California
Exam length
Source: Pearson VUE Florida and Texas examination content outlines; California Department of Insurance examination time limits and question counts table
568,800 jobs in 2024, median annual wage $60,370 in May 2024, projected 4 percent growth 2024 to 2034
Employment and pay for insurance sales agents
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Insurance Sales Agents
24 hours every two years in Texas and 24 hours per two-year term in California, including three ethics hours in California with one hour on insurance fraud
Continuing education
Source: Texas Department of Insurance agent licensing pages; California Department of Insurance prelicensing and continuing education FAQ
If you fail
Wait before retaking
Varies by state. Texas allows a failed candidate to schedule a new exam within one day. Other states impose their own waiting periods, so check your candidate handbook.
Attempt limit
Varies by state. Texas sets no limit on the number of attempts at the same exam. Florida limits candidates to five examination attempts on the same exam type in a 12-month period.
Retake fee
The full examination fee at every attempt: $44 in Florida, $49 in Texas. Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable except under the published change and cancel policy.
Florida candidates who fail must reapply through the Pearson VUE Florida insurance page and pay again. Where a Florida exam was revoked for a technical issue, a retake can be granted after Pearson VUE investigates, but no retake is permitted where the exam was revoked for candidate misconduct. Separately, a passing score expires one year after the test date in Florida and a Texas licence application must be filed within 12 months of passing, so a pass you never act on becomes a retake.
Exam Domains & Topics
Whole life in its ordinary, limited-pay, and single-premium forms, then the interest and market-sensitive family covering universal life, variable whole life, variable universal life, interest-sensitive whole life, and indexed life. Term life splits into level, decreasing, return of premium, and annually renewable, with renewable and convertible features tested separately. Annuities appear here in single, flexible, immediate, and deferred forms.
Key Topics to Master:
- Ordinary, limited-pay, and single-premium whole life
- Universal life, variable whole life, variable universal life, indexed life
- Level, decreasing, return of premium, and annually renewable term
- Renewable and convertible term features
- Single and flexible premium annuities, immediate and deferred
The contract mechanics that examiners test most reliably because the answers are fixed. Waiver of premium, guaranteed insurability, entire contract, insuring clause, free look, consideration, owner rights, beneficiary designations including primary, contingent, revocable, irrevocable, common disaster, and minors, grace period, automatic premium loan, reinstatement, policy loans, non-forfeiture options, dividend options, and incontestability.
Key Topics to Master:
- Waiver of premium and guaranteed insurability riders
- Entire contract, insuring clause, free look, consideration
- Beneficiary designations: primary, contingent, revocable, irrevocable, common disaster, minors, class
- Grace period, reinstatement, automatic premium loan
- Non-forfeiture options, dividend options, incontestability
The procedural block. Filling in the application accurately, obtaining signatures, collecting the initial premium and issuing a conditional receipt, the effect of the receipt on when coverage begins, underwriting sources including MIB and medical examinations, replacement rules, and what constitutes proper policy delivery along with the statements the producer must make at delivery.
Key Topics to Master:
- Completing and signing the application, and required disclosures
- Conditional receipts and when coverage attaches
- Underwriting information sources and medical examinations
- Replacement rules and required replacement notices
- Policy delivery, effective date, and statement of good health
Third-party ownership, group life, and the tax and business-use questions that examiners like because the rules are crisp. Buy-sell agreements, key person coverage, executive bonus plans, split dollar arrangements, qualified and non-qualified plans, and the income tax treatment of death benefits, cash value growth, and policy loans.
Key Topics to Master:
- Third-party ownership and insurable interest at issue
- Buy-sell agreements, key person, executive bonus, split dollar
- Qualified and non-qualified plan basics
- Taxation of death benefits, cash value, and policy loans
- Group life insurance and conversion rights
The single largest general knowledge block on the Florida exam. Disability income and related insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, medical expense insurance, medicare supplements, long-term care, group plans, dental, vision, and the managed care structures including HMO, PPO, and point of service arrangements alongside limited benefit and specified disease policies.
Key Topics to Master:
- Disability income, business overhead expense, and disability buy-out
- Accidental death and dismemberment
- Major medical, HMO, PPO, and point of service plans
- Medicare supplement and Medicare Advantage basics
- Long-term care, dental, vision, and specified disease policies
The uniform provisions and the numbers attached to them. Time limit on certain defences, grace periods, reinstatement, notice of claim, claim forms, proof of loss, time of payment of claims, physical examination and autopsy, legal actions, plus coinsurance, deductibles, copayments, preexisting condition rules, elimination periods, and rights of renewability from noncancelable through optionally renewable.
Key Topics to Master:
- Mandatory and optional uniform provisions
- Time limit on certain defences and incontestability
- Notice of claim, proof of loss, and time of payment of claims
- Coinsurance, deductibles, copayments, and benefit maximums
- Renewability: noncancelable, guaranteed renewable, conditionally renewable, optionally renewable
A small block with a high hit rate because the content is finite. Social Security disability definitions and waiting periods, the parts of Medicare and what each covers, Medicaid eligibility principles, and workers compensation as it interacts with health coverage. Questions here usually turn on a specific eligibility rule rather than on judgement.
Key Topics to Master:
- Social Security disability definition and elimination period
- Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D coverage boundaries
- Medicaid eligibility principles
- Workers compensation interaction with health policies
- Coordination between social insurance and private coverage
Total, partial, recurrent, and presumptive disability definitions, own occupation against any occupation tests, the tax treatment of premiums and benefits for individual, group, and business disability coverage, managed care cost controls, and the effect of a change in occupation on benefits payable under a disability policy.
Key Topics to Master:
- Total, partial, recurrent, and presumptive disability
- Own occupation against any occupation definitions
- Taxation of individual, group, and business health premiums and benefits
- Managed care cost containment features
- Change of occupation clauses
What the producer personally must do. Assessing the applicant's needs, completing the application without misrepresentation, explaining sources of insurability information, delivering the policy, and the disclosure obligations attached to HIPAA privacy rules and to warm-up questions on replacement. Errors here are treated as producer conduct issues rather than product knowledge.
Key Topics to Master:
- Personal and business insurance needs analysis
- Accurate application completion and avoiding misrepresentation
- Explaining sources of insurability information to the applicant
- HIPAA privacy notices and disclosure duties
- Policy delivery obligations and required explanations
The section that changes completely when you cross a state line. Florida splits this into 13 percent common to all lines, 10 percent pertinent to life including variable products, and 10 percent pertinent to health. Texas instead publishes 30 scored questions split 14 common, 6 life only, 7 accident and health only, and 3 on health maintenance organisations.
Key Topics to Master:
- Powers and duties of the commissioner or chief financial officer
- Licensing, appointment, and renewal requirements
- Unfair trade practices: misrepresentation, twisting, rebating, defamation, coercion, unfair discrimination, commingling
- Marketing and solicitation rules, advertising, illustrations, and buyer's guides
- State guaranty association, replacement law, and nonforfeiture law
Recommended Study Plan
- 1Download your state's official content outline from the testing vendor's site
- 2Write down your state's question count, time limit, passing score, and pretest count
- 3Check whether prelicensing education is mandatory and how many hours
- 4Check the retake rule and whether attempts are capped in a 12-month window
- 5Register for a prelicensing course if your state mandates one, because you cannot book without the completion certificate
- 1Build one table covering ordinary, limited-pay, and single-premium whole life
- 2Add universal life, variable whole life, variable universal life, interest-sensitive, and indexed life to the same table
- 3Add level, decreasing, return of premium, and annually renewable term
- 4Write down which products build cash value and which do not
- 5Draft 20 flashcards on annuity types: single, flexible, immediate, deferred
- 1Memorise the standard provisions: entire contract, insuring clause, free look, consideration, grace period, reinstatement, incontestability
- 2Learn all beneficiary designation types including common disaster and minor beneficiaries
- 3Learn the non-forfeiture options and the dividend options as two separate lists
- 4Learn waiver of premium and guaranteed insurability rider triggers
- 5Do 50 practice questions on this block alone
- 1Learn when coverage attaches under a conditional receipt against no receipt
- 2Learn the replacement notice requirements and who must sign what
- 3Learn buy-sell, key person, executive bonus, and split dollar arrangements
- 4Learn the tax treatment of death benefits, cash value growth, and policy loans
- 5Do 40 practice questions covering underwriting and delivery
- 1Separate disability income from medical expense insurance in your notes and never merge them again
- 2Learn HMO against PPO against point of service on network, referral, and out-of-network cost
- 3Learn Medicare supplement plan structure and what it does not cover
- 4Learn long-term care benefit triggers and elimination periods
- 5Do 50 practice questions on health product types
- 1Memorise the mandatory uniform provisions with their attached time periods
- 2Learn the four renewability categories and what the insurer can change under each
- 3Learn Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D coverage boundaries
- 4Learn the Social Security disability definition and elimination period
- 5Do 50 practice questions across provisions and social insurance
- 1Read your state's law section of the content outline line by line and turn each bullet into a question
- 2Learn the powers and duties of the commissioner or chief financial officer
- 3Learn the licensing, appointment, renewal, and reporting requirements
- 4Learn every unfair trade practice by name: misrepresentation, twisting, rebating, defamation, coercion, unfair discrimination, commingling
- 5Do 40 state-law practice questions
- 1Learn your state's advertising, illustration, and buyer's guide rules
- 2Learn the state guaranty association's coverage limits and funding
- 3Learn the state replacement law and the producer's duties under it
- 4Learn the nonforfeiture law and its application to your state's policies
- 5Do a further 40 state-law questions and score them separately
- 1Sit a full-length practice exam under your state's exact time limit
- 2Score each of the ten content blocks separately and rank them
- 3Rebuild the two weakest blocks from the content outline rather than from a summary
- 4Repeat every question you got wrong, writing out why the correct answer is correct
- 5Confirm your fingerprint appointment is booked if your state requires one
- 1Sit a second full-length timed practice exam and aim to clear your state's cut by ten points
- 2Re-read the state law outline one final time, because it is 33 percent in Florida and 30 of 130 scored questions in Texas
- 3Check your test centre's identification rule: Texas needs two forms, Florida needs one
- 4Verify that your booking name exactly matches your government-issued identification
- 5Book the exam and, if your state permits, book a same-week backup slot
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Best Study Resources
Texas Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook
Official candidate handbookPearson VUE's handbook for the Texas Department of Insurance. Contains the $49 exam fee, the 150-minute limit, the scaled score explanation with 70 as the cut, the two-form identification rule, and the retake policy allowing a new booking within one day.
Free
Texas Insurance Examination Content Outlines
Official content outlineEffective 1 December 2025. Gives the exact scored question count for every block of the General Lines Life, Accident and Health exam: 100 general knowledge plus 30 Texas-specific, with a further 15 pretest questions.
Free
Florida Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook
Official candidate handbookPearson VUE's handbook for the Florida Department of Financial Services. States the $44 exam fee, the 70 percent passing score and the formula behind it, the one-form identification rule, and the calculator policy.
Free
Florida Insurance Examination Content Outlines
Official content outlinePublishes the percentage weight of every block on the Health and Life exam, including 33 percent on Florida statutes, rules, and regulations, together with the 150 scored plus 15 pretest structure and the 2.75-hour limit.
Free
California Department of Insurance examination time limits and question counts
Official regulator pageThe CDI table listing 150 questions and 3 hours for the Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam, and the statement that all producer licence examinations require 60 percent to pass while adjuster and bail examinations require 70 percent.
Free
Texas Insurance Examination Pass Rates
Official statisticsMonthly PDF reports published by Pearson VUE for the Texas Department of Insurance, showing first-time takers graded, passed, failed, and the pass rate for each exam series code. The July 2026 report gives 55 percent for the English Life, Accident and Health exam.
Free
Texas Department of Insurance agent licensing pages
Official regulator pageSets out the $50 licence application fee, the $50 renewal fee with a $25 late fee, the fingerprint background check requirement through IdentoGO, and the 24 hours of continuing education required every two years.
Free
California Department of Insurance prelicensing and continuing education FAQ
Official regulator pageConfirms the $188 filing fee for the Life Agent or Accident and Health or Sickness licence, the 12-hour ethics and California Insurance Code prelicensing course including one hour on insurance fraud, and the 24 hours of CE per two-year term.
Free
National Insurance Producer Registry
Licensing serviceThe industry-owned service used to apply for, renew, and check producer licences across states. Its state requirements pages list what each jurisdiction demands, which matters most when you add a non-resident licence to an existing one.
Application fees vary by state
Pearson VUE insurance practice tests
Practice examPractice tests from the vendor that builds several state exams, covering general life, accident and health, property, and casualty content. They test the general knowledge portion only, so pair them with your state's law outline.
$19.95
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Studying a course written for a different state.
The state law section is 33 percent of the Florida exam and 30 of the 130 scored questions in Texas. A Florida course teaches Florida statutes that appear nowhere on the Texas paper. Confirm that the course names your state on the cover before you buy it.
Assuming the passing score is 70 percent everywhere.
California requires 60 percent for all producer licence examinations and 70 percent only for adjuster and bail examinations. Florida requires 70 percent, defined in its handbook as correct answers divided by the total number of examination questions. Texas requires a scaled score of 70 on a 0 to 100 scale, which is not the same as 70 percent correct.
Confusing a Texas scaled score with a percentage.
The Texas handbook states plainly that the reported scaled score is neither the number of questions you answered correctly nor the percentage you answered correctly. It exists so that a slightly harder form and a slightly easier form report the same standard, which is why the raw pass mark differs between forms.
Booking the exam before completing mandatory prelicensing hours.
Florida requires a 60-hour course for the 2-15 Health and Life licence and California requires a 12-hour course on ethics and the California Insurance Code. Texas requires none. Check your state before assuming you can book.
Treating disability income and medical expense insurance as one topic.
They have separate definitions, separate benefit triggers, separate tax treatment, and separate provisions. On the Florida outline, types of health policies is 11 percent and health policy provisions is a further 10 percent, and both sections test the distinction directly.
Skipping social insurance because it is only 4 percent.
Four percent of 150 scored questions is roughly six questions, and the content is finite: Medicare parts, the Social Security disability definition and elimination period, and Medicaid eligibility. Few topics on the exam convert study hours to marks as efficiently.
Letting a Florida passing score expire.
In Florida a passing score is valid for one year from the date it was earned. If you have not completed licensing within that year, you retake and pass the examination again. Submit the application, the $50 licence fee, the $5 licence identification fee, and fingerprints promptly.
Turning up in Texas with a single form of identification.
Texas requires two forms of current signature identification. The primary must be government issued, photo-bearing, and signed. The secondary must carry a valid signature. Both must be in English and the name must exactly match the registration. Florida, by contrast, requires only one form.
Bringing your own calculator to a Florida test centre.
Personal calculators are not permitted in Florida test centres. The exams do not require one, but candidates may request a calculator from test centre staff. Plan on doing the arithmetic mentally or asking at check-in rather than at question 90.
Running out of attempts in Florida.
Florida limits candidates to five examination attempts on the same exam type in a 12-month period. Texas has no such cap and allows rebooking within one day. If you are testing in Florida, treat each attempt as scarce and only rebook once your practice scores clear 80 percent.
Exam Day Tips
- 1
Check your state's identification rule the night before. Texas requires two forms of signed identification with a government-issued photo primary; Florida requires one unexpired government-issued photo ID with a signature.
- 2
Confirm the name on your booking exactly matches your identification. Both the Texas and Florida vendor pages warn that the name entered appears on the documentation sent to the licensing agency.
- 3
Divide your state's time limit by its total item count before you start. Florida gives 165 minutes for 165 items, so one minute each; Texas gives 150 minutes for 145 items, so slightly over a minute.
- 4
Answer every question. Pretest items are mixed in and unidentified, and no state on this list deducts marks for a wrong answer.
- 5
Do the state law questions carefully rather than quickly. They are 33 percent of the Florida paper and 30 of 130 scored questions in Texas, so they decide the result more often than any product topic.
- 6
Ask test centre staff for a calculator at check-in if you want one in Florida, because personal calculators are not allowed inside.
- 7
Arrive early enough to complete check-in. Candidates who arrive after the permitted window are considered absent and forfeit the examination fee.
- 8
Expect your result at the test centre. Both the Florida and Texas processes report the score at the end of the session rather than days later.
- 9
If you pass in Texas, start the licence application immediately: it must be submitted within 12 months of passing or you retake the exam.
- 10
If you fail in Texas you can book again the next day, but in Florida you have only five attempts on the same exam type in a rolling 12 months, so use the gap to study rather than to re-sit blind.
Career Paths & Salary Ranges
Insurance sales agent
The role the licence directly authorises. BLS counted 568,800 insurance sales agent jobs in 2024 and projects about 47,000 openings each year on average through 2034. Typical entry-level education is a high school diploma or equivalent, with moderate-term on-the-job training.
$60,370 US median (BLS, May 2024)
Claims adjuster, examiner, or investigator
Evaluates insurance claims rather than selling policies. Many states licence adjusters separately, and several set a higher passing score for the adjuster exam than for the producer exam. California requires 70 percent for adjuster and bail examinations against 60 percent for producer examinations.
$76,790 US median (BLS, May 2024)
Insurance underwriter
Evaluates applications and decides whether to approve them. The field underwriting and application blocks of the producer exam cover the same information sources and risk factors from the producer's side of the desk, which makes the licence a common stepping stone into carrier underwriting.
$79,880 US median (BLS, May 2024)
Personal financial advisor
Life licences are frequently paired with securities registrations for advisors who place annuities and variable products. Florida's exam explicitly includes annuities and variable contracts, and California lists variable life and variable annuity authority on the Life Agent licence itself.
$102,140 US median (BLS, May 2024)
Agency sales manager
Runs a producer team and carries responsibility for the agency's compliance with the state unfair trade practice rules the exam tests. Managers usually hold the licence themselves and must keep it current through the same continuing education cycle.
$138,060 US median (BLS sales managers, May 2024)
Prerequisites & Requirements
- You must meet your state's minimum age requirement, which is 18 in most jurisdictions.
- Prelicensing education where mandated: Florida requires 60 hours for the 2-15 Health and Life licence, California requires a 12-hour course on ethics and the California Insurance Code including one hour on insurance fraud, and Texas requires none. A sponsored Texas applicant taking the temporary 180-day licence route instead completes 40 hours of company-provided training within 30 days of applying.
- A government-issued photo identification whose name exactly matches your exam booking. Texas requires a second signed identification as well.
- The examination fee at booking: $44 in Florida, $49 in Texas, plus a $43 convenience fee in California for a PSI site or a remote proctored session.
- A fingerprint background check in most states. Texas routes this through IdentoGO after you start the application on the Texas Department of Insurance portal.
- A licence application and fee after passing: $50 plus a $5 licence identification fee in Florida, $50 in Texas, $188 in California.
- No degree. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for insurance sales agents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there one national life and health insurance producer exam?
No. Every state and the District of Columbia sets its own exam. Each regulator writes its own content outline, sets its own question count, time limit, and passing score, and contracts a testing vendor. Pearson VUE delivers the Texas and Florida exams, PSI delivers the California exams, and Prometric holds contracts in other states.
What does the exam cost?
The examination fee is $44 in Florida and $49 in Texas. California charges a $43 convenience fee for testing at a PSI location or taking a remote proctored examination, on top of the Department's own licence examination fee. Licence fees are separate: $50 plus a $5 licence identification fee in Florida, $50 in Texas, and $188 in California.
What is the passing score?
It depends on the state. Florida requires 70 percent, which the candidate handbook defines as the number of questions answered correctly divided by the total number of examination questions. Texas requires a scaled score of 70 on a 0 to 100 scale, which the handbook states is neither the number nor the percentage of questions answered correctly. California requires 60 percent for all producer licence examinations.
How many questions are on the exam?
It varies. Florida's Health and Life exam, including annuities and variable contracts, has 150 scored questions plus 15 pretest questions. Texas's General Lines Life, Accident and Health exam has 130 scored questions, made up of 100 general knowledge and 30 Texas-specific, plus 15 pretest questions. California's Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam has 150 questions.
How long do I get?
Florida allows 2.75 hours for its Health and Life exam, which is 165 minutes for 165 items. Texas allows 150 minutes for its General Lines Life, Accident and Health exam, which is 145 items. California allows 3 hours for its 150-question Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam, the most generous of the three.
Do I have to take a prelicensing course first?
Only in states that mandate it. Florida requires a 60-hour prelicensing course for the 2-15 Health and Life licence. California requires a 12-hour course covering ethics and the California Insurance Code, including one hour on insurance fraud. Texas requires no prelicensing education. A sponsored applicant may take a non-renewable temporary 180-day licence instead, which requires 40 hours of training from the appointing company or agency within 30 days of applying and the exam passed within 180 days.
How soon can I retake if I fail?
In Texas you can schedule a new exam within one day and there is no limit on how many times you may attempt the same exam. Florida limits candidates to five examination attempts on the same exam type within a 12-month period. Rules differ elsewhere, so check your state's candidate handbook rather than assuming.
Do I pay again for a retake?
Yes. Florida candidates who fail must reapply through the Pearson VUE Florida insurance page and pay the examination fee again. Texas charges the examination fee at each reservation, and the fee is non-refundable and non-transferable except under the published change and cancel policy.
What happens if I fail?
You receive your score, you lose the fee, and you book again subject to your state's retake rule. Nothing is reported to your future employer as a disqualification. The practical cost is the fee plus the delay, which is one day in Texas and potentially longer in Florida if you are approaching the five-attempt cap.
What identification do I need?
Texas requires two forms of current signature identification: a government-issued, photo-bearing primary with a signature, and a secondary carrying a valid signature. Both must be in English and the name must exactly match the registration. Florida requires one current unexpired government-issued photo identification with a valid signature.
Can I take the exam online?
It depends on the state. Florida withdrew OnVUE online proctoring for new insurance exam reservations, so Florida candidates must attend a physical test centre. California offers remote online proctoring through PSI Bridge for a $43 convenience fee, the same amount charged for testing at a PSI site. Texas candidates reserve appointments in a physical test centre.
What can I bring into the exam?
Nothing beyond identification. The exam is closed book at every test centre. Florida does not permit personal calculators, though the exams do not require one and candidates may request a calculator from test centre staff. Candidates who arrive outside the permitted check-in window are considered absent and forfeit the examination fee.
How do I request accommodations?
Through the testing vendor, before you book. The Texas handbook directs candidates who need to reschedule or retest under an accommodation to notify Pearson VUE Special Accommodations. Texas also publishes an English as a second language request form alongside its content outlines, and offers the Life, Accident and Health exam in Spanish under a separate exam series code.
When do I get my result?
At the test centre, at the end of your session. Both the Florida and Texas processes report the outcome before you leave. Texas reports a scaled score from 0 to 100; the handbook explains that any score below 70 shows how close the candidate came to passing rather than the raw number correct.
How long is a passing score valid?
In Florida, one year from the date the score was earned. Fail to complete licensing within that year and you retake and pass the examination again. In Texas, candidates must submit a completed licence application within 12 months of passing or retake the examination. Both windows are strict.
Does the licence expire, and what does renewal involve?
Most producer licences run on a two-year term. Texas charges a $50 renewal fee, adds a $25 late fee after the expiration date, and requires 24 hours of continuing education every two years including ethics hours. Texas also fines $50 for each CE hour not completed by the renewal date, capped at $500 per licence.
What continuing education does California require?
Twenty-four hours of continuing education per two-year licence term for the Life Agent licence, the Accident and Health or Sickness licence, or both held together. Three of those hours must be ethics, including one hour on insurance fraud, and the ethics hours count as part of the 24 rather than in addition to them.
Is there extra training for annuities and long-term care?
Yes, in California. A Life or full Life and Accident and Health licensee must complete an initial eight-hour annuity training course before selling annuities, then four hours before each renewal. Long-term care requires eight hours of training in each of the first four 12-month periods of transacting it, then eight hours before each renewal, counted within the 24-hour CE requirement for residents.
What is the pass rate?
Texas publishes monthly figures through Pearson VUE. In July 2026, 2,280 first-time takers sat the English General Lines Life, Accident and Health exam, 1,246 passed and 1,034 failed, giving a 55 percent first-time pass rate. The Spanish version of the same exam recorded 118 first-time takers and 44 passes. Most states do not publish comparable data.
How does the combined life and health exam compare with taking life and health separately?
California illustrates the trade-off. The combined Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam is 150 questions in 3 hours. The separate Life exam and the separate Accident and Health or Sickness exam are each 75 questions in 1.5 hours. The separate route splits the study load into two sittings; the combined route means one appointment, one fee, and one result.
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