What to Study for the Life and Health Insurance Exam
Northlight Publishing · Updated September 2026
Every state requires insurance producers to pass a licensing exam before selling life and health products. The exam is administered by testing vendors such as Pearson VUE or Prometric, and while the exact outline varies by state, the content is remarkably consistent: a large national section on products and concepts, plus a smaller state law section.
The topics that carry the most weight
Policy types and provisions dominate the exam. For life insurance, know term versus whole life versus universal life cold, including how cash value grows, what the settlement options are, and what each rider does: waiver of premium, guaranteed insurability, accidental death, and accelerated benefits. For health, focus on disability income policies, long-term care, Medicare and Medigap, and group versus individual coverage.
Underwriting and policy delivery questions test the process: applications, representations versus warranties, the Medical Information Bureau, conditional receipts, and what happens when a policy is delivered. Taxation is the section most candidates find hardest, and it is very learnable: premiums are generally not deductible, death benefits are generally income tax exempt, and cash value grows tax deferred. Learn the exceptions, like the transfer-for-value rule and Modified Endowment Contracts, because the exam loves them.
What trips people up
Three things, reliably. First, lookalike terms: revocable versus irrevocable beneficiaries, participating versus nonparticipating policies, occupational versus nonoccupational coverage. Make comparison tables. Second, the numbers: grace periods, reinstatement windows, incontestability periods (usually two years), and state-specific timeframes. Third, reading too fast: the exam phrases questions as scenarios, and the wrong answers are written to catch skimmers.
A two to three week plan
Week one, learn the products: life first, then health, one product family per evening. Week two, cover underwriting, taxation, and regulations, and start practice questions in batches of 20, reviewing every explanation including the ones you got right. Week three, drill your weak areas and take at least two full-length practice runs under time pressure.
A structured guide keeps this from sprawling. The Life and Health Insurance License Exam Study Guide 2026-2027 follows this exact sequence: plain-language teaching on every tested topic, then exam-style practice questions with explanations that teach the reasoning. Pair it with your state's candidate handbook for the state law portion, since rules like license renewal periods and continuing education hours differ by state.
Exam day
Most state exams run 100 to 150 questions with about 2.5 hours to work. That is more than a minute per question, which is plenty if you flag hard ones and keep moving. Answer everything; there is no penalty for guessing. Most states report a pass or fail on screen immediately, and with the preparation above, first-attempt passes are the norm rather than the exception.