How Hard Is the Life & Health Insurance Exam? (Pass Rates, 2026)

The Life & Health insurance exam is moderately difficult — first-time pass rates run 60% to 70% in most states. It is not conceptually hard. It is a volume-of-memorization exam, and the candidates who fail almost always fail for the same two reasons.

What the exam looks like

Most states run a combined Life and Health exam of about 150 questions with a 70% passing score and a 2.5 to 3 hour limit. California is the notable outlier at 60% to pass. Florida runs a longer 165-question combined exam.

The content follows the NAIC outline, roughly:

• General insurance concepts — ~10%
• Life insurance basics, policies, and riders — ~25%
• Annuities — ~10%
• Federal tax of life insurance and annuities — ~5%
• Health insurance basics, provisions, and riders — ~20%
• Social insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, OASDI) — ~5%
• Health underwriting — ~5%
• Ethics — ~5%
• State insurance law and regulation — ~15%

Why candidates fail

1. They underestimate the state-law section. That 15% of state-specific law is where most failures happen. A generic national study guide cannot cover your state's code, so candidates walk in strong on national content and lose the exam on the section they never studied. This is why a state-specific question bank matters.

2. They study by reading, not by testing. The exam is recall under time pressure. Re-reading a textbook feels productive but does not build recall. Answering questions, missing them, and learning the explanation does. Spaced repetition on missed questions is the highest-leverage way to study for this exam.

How to make it easier

• Drill questions, not chapters. Start with a free practice exam.
• Treat the state-law section as a separate subject and study it explicitly.
• Track which NAIC topics you miss most and weight your time there.
• Book the exam only once you are consistently scoring above your state's passing line.

For costs and the full process, see the licensing cost breakdown and the step-by-step guide.