Insurance License Exam: What It Tests, Passing Scores, and How to Prepare

The insurance license exam is the proctored, multiple-choice test every state requires before it will issue you a producer license, and it is the step that trips up more first-time candidates than any other. There is no national exam. Each state sets its own passing score, contracts its own testing company, and decides how much pre-licensing coursework you must finish before you can sit for it. This guide explains how the exam works across the country, where the states differ, and how to prepare so you pass on your first attempt.

What the insurance license exam tests

The insurance license exam measures two bodies of knowledge at once: general insurance concepts that look much the same in every state, and the insurance law of your own state. You take it on a computer at a test center or under remote proctoring, and your state will not issue a resident producer license until you pass. Federal law leaves insurance regulation to the states, so each state runs its own exam program, and New York's statute is typical in directing the superintendent of Financial Services to require "a personal written examination" of every individual applicant (New York Insurance Law §2103^[1]).

States package the two content areas differently. Some fold the national and state questions into one exam, while Illinois, since August 3, 2021, has split every line into two separate exams, a General examination and a State examination (Illinois Department of Insurance^[2]). Many states also let you combine related lines in a single sitting, such as life with accident and health, or property with casualty.

Who does not have to take the exam

Most states waive the exam for three groups: holders of professional designations, applicants with an insurance degree, and nonresidents already licensed in good standing elsewhere. Florida exempts CLU holders from the life and health exams, exempts CPCU holders from the general lines exams, and waives the general lines exam for applicants with 18 credit hours of insurance instruction from an approved institution (Florida Statutes §626.221^[3]). Texas waives its property and casualty exam for CPCU holders (Texas Department of Insurance^[4]), and most states waive the exam for nonresidents licensed in good standing in a reciprocal home state (NAIC producer requirements chart^[5]).

The "life insurance exam" shoppers search for is a medical exam, not a licensing exam

If you are buying life insurance rather than selling it, the exam in your way is a short medical appointment, not a state test. An insurer arranges for a paramedical examiner to go over your health history with you, and the insurer pays for the visit. Policies sold without this step trade convenience for smaller coverage amounts and higher premiums.

The NASCLA exam is a contractor exam, not an insurance exam

The NASCLA Accredited Examination has nothing to do with insurance licensing. It is a contractors' examination used by state contractor licensing agencies, and passing it eliminates the trade-exam requirement with those agencies only; it is not itself a license or a certification (NASCLA accredited examinations FAQ^[6]). The application fee is $65, applications stay valid for one year, and candidates receive three attempts within that year.

Exam format: questions, sections, and time limits

Most insurance license exams run between one and three hours and ask somewhere between 75 and 150 multiple-choice questions, with the exact count set by your state and license type. California shows how wide the spread can be inside a single state: its combined property and casualty exam is 150 questions in 3 hours, while its single-line property or casualty exams are 75 questions in 1.5 hours (California Department of Insurance examination chart^[7]). Georgia's exams run 1 to 2 hours depending on the license type, and its combined property and casualty exam carries 135 questions, of which 10 are unscored pretest items (Georgia OCI^[8]; Pearson VUE Georgia content outlines^[9]).

Pretest questions are mixed into many exams without being marked or scored. They exist so the testing company can try out questions for future exams, and you cannot tell which ones they are. Answer every question as if it counts toward your score.

Passing scores, difficulty, and retakes

Seventy percent correct is the passing mark in most states, but it is not universal: California's producer exams pass at 60%, while its adjuster and bail exams use 70% (California Department of Insurance examination chart^[7]). The exam is a real hurdle for first-time candidates: preparation providers estimate that only about half to two-thirds of first-time takers pass, and the official evidence is thin because many states do not publish pass rates at all. Pearson VUE posts pass rates for Texas monthly and for Georgia quarterly (Pearson VUE Texas pass rates^[10], Pearson VUE Georgia pass rates^[11]).

If you fail, you pay the exam fee again and book another sitting after the waiting period your state sets; New York, for example, requires a mandatory wait before any retake (PSI New York exam services^[12]). California caps attempts at 10 of the same exam type in any 12-month period and treats a no-show as a failure (California Insurance Code, license qualification examinations^[13]). New Jersey requires its vendor to deliver score reports, with diagnostic detail for failing candidates, within five calendar days of each test date (N.J.A.C. 11:17-3.5^[14]).

A pass also expires. California will not issue a license unless you passed the qualifying exam within the 12 months before issuance (California Insurance Code, license qualification examinations^[13]), Texas gives you one year from your pass date to file the license application (Texas Department of Insurance^[4]), and New York allows up to two years (New York DFS licensing^[15]).

Who administers the exam: Pearson VUE, PSI, and Prometric

Three national testing companies run insurance license exams for most states: Pearson VUE, PSI, and Prometric. Pearson VUE has the largest footprint, administering the exams for Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Colorado, among others (Pearson VUE Texas^[16], Illinois DOI^[2], Colorado DOI^[17]). PSI administers New York's and California's exams (PSI New York^[12], California Department of Insurance exam info^[18]), and Prometric runs Maryland's program (Maryland Insurance Administration bulletin 24-19^[19]). Your state insurance department's licensing page names its vendor, and the vendor's page for your state carries the candidate handbook and the exam content outline you will study from.

Pre-licensing education before the exam

Some states require a state-approved course before you can sit the exam, and others require none. The spread runs from no requirement at all in Texas to 200 hours of coursework for Florida's general lines license, with 20 hours per line of authority the most common rule among states that require hours (NAIC producer requirements chart^[5]). New York sits near the top, requiring at least 90 hours for property and casualty and at least 40 hours for life and accident & health (New York Insurance Law §2103^[1]).

These requirements change, so check your state's current page before you buy a course. Maryland repealed its pre-licensing education requirement effective October 1, 2024 (Maryland Insurance Administration bulletin 24-19^[19]). California dropped its 20-hour general course effective January 1, 2026 and kept only a 12-hour course on ethics and the California Insurance Code, including one hour on insurance fraud (California Insurance Code §1749^[20]). Georgia cut its property and casualty requirement to 16 hours, 8 of property and 8 of casualty, effective March 25, 2025 (Georgia OCI^[8]). Where a course is required, certificates expire: California's stay valid for three years from the course completion date (California Insurance Code §1749^[20]).

How six states compare on the exam

Three facts differ the most from state to state: who administers the exam, what coursework comes first, and whether you can test from home. The table below shows those three facts for six states, using the property and casualty track for the education column.

Sources: NAIC producer requirements chart^[5], Texas TDI^[4], CDI exam info^[18], Cal. Ins. Code §1749^[20], Pearson VUE Texas^[16], N.Y. Ins. Law §2103^[1], Georgia OCI^[8], Illinois DOI^[2].

Scheduling the exam and what exam day is like

You reserve your seat through the testing company's website or phone line and pay the exam fee when you book. Texas and Florida allow appointments as late as one calendar day before the test date, subject to availability (Pearson VUE Texas^[16], Pearson VUE Florida^[21]). Exam fees sit in a similar range everywhere: Illinois charges $92 per exam, with a $92 discount when the two exams a line requires are ordered together (Illinois DOI^[2]), California adds a $43 convenience fee at PSI locations and for remote testing on top of the state exam fee (CDI exam info^[18]), and New York sets its fee at the documented administrative cost of running the exam, non-refundable (New York Insurance Law §2103^[1]).

Exam-day rules are strict and similar everywhere. Arrive about 30 minutes early for check-in; in California a late arrival forfeits your fee, and you can cancel or reschedule without forfeiting only if you do so at least 48 hours ahead (CDI schedule your exam^[22]). Georgia requires two forms of ID, a government-issued photo ID plus a secondary signature ID, or you forfeit the fee (Georgia OCI^[8]). Florida requires your Social Security Number at registration (Pearson VUE Florida^[21]), and in Texas the name on your exam account must exactly match your government ID (Pearson VUE Texas^[16]). Test centers store personal items and electronics away from your seat, and the room is monitored. Cheating carries real penalties: California punishes willful cheating with a fine up to $10,000, up to one year in county jail, and a five-year bar from exams and licensure (California Insurance Code, license qualification examinations^[13]).

Testing online or at a test center

Whether you can sit the exam from home depends on your state. California offers every licensing exam as a remote online proctored exam through PSI (CDI exam info^[18]), and Colorado makes all of its exam types available online through Pearson VUE's OnVUE platform (Colorado DOI^[17]). Illinois offers online proctored exams as well, though Spanish-language exams must be taken at a test center (Illinois DOI^[2]), and New York candidates may test at a center or online (PSI New York^[12]). Texas went the other direction: its exams are in person only at Pearson VUE test centers, after online proctoring was discontinued in March 2024 (Pearson VUE Texas^[16]), and Massachusetts has ended remote testing too (Pearson VUE Massachusetts^[23]). Remote testing requires a computer with a webcam, reliable internet, and a quiet, private room; Colorado's OnVUE process asks for a headshot, photos of your ID, and photos of the room before the exam begins (Colorado DOI^[17]).

How to prepare: content outlines, study time, and practice tests

The exam content outline in your state's candidate handbook is the most useful document you will download. The testing company publishes it, and it lists every subject your exam covers and how many questions each section carries, so you can spend your study hours where the marks are. The actual exam questions are never published, so the outline is the official map of what will be asked. Most candidates need several weeks of part-time study, weighted toward the sections with the most questions.

Practice tests are the cheapest rehearsal available. Prometric offers free practice tests in life, health, and property/casualty, though the questions are not state specific (Prometric insurance practice tests^[24]). Pearson VUE sells online practice tests for $19.95 each, with 50 general insurance questions plus 25 generic state questions and answer feedback (Pearson VUE insurance practice tests^[25]).

For structured preparation, RealEstateU offers online insurance licensing courses built around each state's exam content outline, so what you study matches what the exam covers.

Getting started

Work through these steps in order. Find your state insurance department's producer licensing page and identify the testing company it uses. Download that vendor's candidate handbook and the content outline for your line. Confirm whether pre-licensing hours apply to your line, and complete any required course. Book the exam, and keep studying the outline until your practice scores sit comfortably above the passing mark. After you pass, submit your license application inside your state's post-exam window, with the fingerprint background check and any other application steps to follow.