Failed Life and Health Insurance Producer Licensing Exam? Here's Your Recovery Plan

Pro tip: 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 Where a Florida exam was revoked for a technical issue, a retake can be granted after Pearson VUE investigates, but no retake is permitted where the exam was revoked for candidate misconduct.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.

• 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.

• Download your own state's content outline first
• State law is 33 percent of the Florida exam and 30 of the 130 scored questions in Texas, so never treat it as an afterthought
• Check whether your state mandates prelicensing hours: Florida requires 60 for the 2-15, California requires a 12-hour ethics and code course, Texas requires none
• Passing scores differ: Florida and Texas set 70, California sets 60 percent for producer examinations
• Texas lets you rebook the next day with no attempt cap; Florida caps you at five attempts per exam type in 12 months
• In Florida a passing score expires one year after the test date if you have not completed licensing