Insurance Licensing
State pre-licensing exams for life, health, and property & casualty insurance.
12 exams · 1,478 free practice questions · Verified against official sources September 9, 2026
- Exams
- 12
- Exam families
- 4
- Free practice questions
- 1,478
- Study guides
- 12
- Cheat sheets
- 12
Which exam are you taking?
Exams are grouped with their close relatives — the other tiers of the same licence, the same exam in other states. Open a group to see each exam with its free practice questions, study guide and cheat sheet.
- Insurance adjuster3 exams328 free questionsState licensing exams for insurance claims adjusters.All-Lines Insurance AdjusterPublic Insurance AdjusterWorkers Compensation AdjusterExplore Insurance adjuster →
- Life & Health insurance licensing4 exams373 free questionsState-mandated pre-licensing for life and health lines.Life InsuranceHealth InsuranceLife-Only InsuranceAccident & Health InsuranceExplore Life & Health insurance licensing →
- Property & Casualty insurance3 exams651 free questionsState pre-licensing for P&C and personal lines producers.Property & Casualty InsurancePersonal Lines InsuranceFlorida P&CExplore Property & Casualty insurance →
- Specialty insurance lines2 exams126 free questionsState licensing for surplus lines and limited-line insurance.Surplus Lines InsuranceLimited Lines InsuranceExplore Specialty insurance lines →
Which insurance licence do you need, and which exam goes with it?
Insurance is regulated by the states, not by Washington. Your licence is issued by the insurance department of the state you live in, that department decides which exam you sit and how many hours of pre-licensing study, if any, come before it, and the exam itself is delivered under contract by a testing company — PSI or Pearson VUE in most states. Fifty-one jurisdictions therefore mean fifty-one rulebooks, but they share a common frame through the NAIC, the association of state insurance commissioners, and most states accept a licence earned in one state as the basis for a non-resident licence in another.
The licence is defined by its line of authority: what you are allowed to sell or handle. Life, and accident and health, are the two lines most new producers start with, often together. Property and casualty covers the insurance on homes, cars and businesses, with a narrower personal-lines authority for the household side alone. Adjusters — the people who investigate and settle claims — hold their own licences, and surplus lines and limited lines cover specialised products with their own, sometimes exam-free, requirements.
Each exam page here is one line of authority. Where a state publishes its own version — Florida's general lines agent exam, for instance — it has its own page. The rest describe the national pattern that the testing companies deliver in most states, with the state-specific section noted where a state adds one.
Start from what you will sell or handle
The exam column links to the exam guide, where the question count, time limit, fee and passing score are verified against the state department or testing-company page.
The life line of authority. Most states pair it with accident and health in one combined exam and licence; a life-only exam exists for producers who want just that line. Variable life and variable annuities are also securities, so selling them adds a FINRA registration on top of the state licence.
The accident and health line, styled slightly differently from state to state. It is a distinct line of authority from life even when the two are tested together, and the exam covers major medical, disability income, long-term care and Medicare-related products.
Property and casualty, the second big producer licence. Florida runs its own general lines agent exam and licence, which is why it has a separate page; most other states deliver the P&C exam through PSI or Pearson VUE with a state-law section attached.
A narrower property and casualty authority limited to non-commercial risks. A shorter exam than full P&C, and the right one if your role will never touch business insurance.
A staff or independent adjuster licence. Texas requires the exam before you apply, delivers it through Pearson VUE, and exempts holders of the AIC or CPCU designation. Workers' compensation adjusting is a narrower authority with its own exam.
The public adjuster licence, regulated separately from company adjusters. The NAIC's Public Adjuster Licensing Model Act is the template most states built their statute on, and the exam covers contract, ethics and the claim process from the insured's side.
Surplus lines: a separate licence layered on a P&C authority in most states. Some states run a pre-licensing course through the surplus lines association; the exam covers the diligent-search rules and the tax and filing duties that come with non-admitted business.
Limited lines. Several of these licences carry a filing fee and no exam at all — California's rental car and portable electronics agent licences are two — while others keep a short exam. The line and the state decide.
From decision to licence
- 01Pick the line of authority and the state. Your resident state's insurance department sets the requirements; the NAIC directory lists every department.
- 02Complete pre-licensing education if your state requires it for that line. Some states mandate a set number of hours per line; others have removed the requirement and go straight to the exam.
- 03Sit the exam through the state's testing contractor — PSI or Pearson VUE — at a test centre or, where the state allows it, by online proctoring. Results are immediate; most states set the pass mark at the same standard across lines.
- 04Apply for the licence, in most states electronically through NIPR, after the exam and any fingerprinting or background screening the state requires.
- 05Keep it: licences renew on a cycle, usually every two years, with continuing-education hours due each period. Add non-resident licences through NIPR under reciprocity once the resident licence is in hand.
Fee, format and passing standard
All 12 exams on this page. Each figure is that exam's verified fact, cited to the regulator's page on the exam guide it links to. A blank cell means the regulator publishes no fixed figure.
| Exam | Fee | Questions | Time | Passing | Written by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life Insurance | — | — | — | Varies by state | State DOI |
| Health Insurance | $50 | — | — | 70% | State DOI |
| Life-Only Insurance | $39 | 80 | 2h | 70% (60% in CA) | State DOI |
| Accident & Health Insurance | $55 | 75 | 1h 45m | 60% (CA) / 70% typical | State DOI |
| Property & Casualty Insurance | $49 | 130 | 2h 30m | 70% (varies by state) | State DOI |
| Personal Lines Insurance | $39 | 100 | 2h | 70% (varies by state) | State DOI |
| Florida P&C | $44 | 175 | 3h | 70% | Florida Department of Financial Services |
| All-Lines Insurance Adjuster | $49 | 150 | 2h 30m | 70% | State DOI |
| Public Insurance Adjuster | $39 | 100 | 2h | 70% | State DOI |
| Workers Compensation Adjuster | $29 | — | 1h | 70% | State DOI |
| Surplus Lines Insurance | $29 | 60 | 1h | 70% | State DOI |
| Limited Lines Insurance | $29 | — | 1h | 70% | State DOI |
Who writes these exams
- Your state's insurance department
- Issues the licence, sets pre-licensing and continuing-education rules, chooses the testing contractor and defines each line of authority. Fifty states, the District of Columbia and five territories each have one.
- NAIC
- The National Association of Insurance Commissioners — the regulators' own association. It publishes the model acts and the State Licensing Handbook that keep the fifty-one systems broadly compatible, including the public adjuster model most states adopted.
- NIPR
- The National Insurance Producer Registry runs the electronic system through which producers apply for, renew and maintain resident and non-resident licences across states.
- PSI and Pearson VUE
- Testing companies contracted by state departments to write the state-specific sections and deliver the exams at test centres or by online proctoring. They set the schedule and the day-of rules, not the licensing requirements.
Official pages this section is drawn from
- NAIC · Producer Licensing
- NAIC · State Insurance Department Directory
- NAIC · State Licensing Handbook
- NAIC · Public Adjuster Licensing Model Act (#228)
- National Insurance Producer Registry · NIPR Producer Licensing
- National Insurance Producer Registry · Texas Resident Licensing (Individual)
- California Department of Insurance · Individual Resident License Requirements
- Florida Department of Financial Services · Florida Insurance License Qualifications
- Illinois Department of Insurance · How to Become a Resident Producer
- Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance · Get a Resident Insurance Agent License
- Michigan DIFS · Examination Information
Frequently asked questions
Pick your line — life & health or property & casualty — complete any pre-licensing hours your state requires, pass the state exam, then submit the application with fingerprints where required. Each state and line page here lists the specifics.
The dense policy-form and state-law detail is what trips candidates up. Expect scenario questions on coverage forms, exclusions, and state rules — drilling exam-style questions is the highest-yield preparation.
Two separate licenses with separate exams. Life & health covers life policies, annuities, and health plans; property & casualty covers home, auto, and commercial lines. Agencies often want both eventually — start with the line your job needs.
Yes — every line and state here has a free practice exam with answer explanations, a study guide, and a cheat sheet. No signup.
Official sources
Every exam number on this page traces to a document published by the body that sets or administers the exam. These are the primary publishers cited across Insurance Licensing.
- Texas DOI / Pearson VUEtdi.texas.govcited by 9 exams
- NAICcontent.naic.orgcited by 7 exams
- Florida Department of Financial Serviceshome.pearsonvue.comcited by 6 exams
- National Insurance Producer Registrynipr.comcited by 6 exams
- California Department of Insuranceinsurance.ca.govcited by 5 exams
- PSI Servicespsiexams.comcited by 5 exams
- California Legislature (Insurance Code)leginfo.legislature.ca.govcited by 1 exam
- Texas Department of Insuranceagate.tdi.texas.govcited by 1 exam
Last verified against these documents:
What you'll find on every Insurance Licensing exam
Each exam has up to four pages, one per job to be done: practice the questions, understand the exam, study the outline, or revise the morning of. Flashcards and glossary terms sit inside the study guide rather than on pages of their own.
- Practice tests12
- Free question banks with a worked explanation on every answer.
- Exam guides12
- Cost, format, eligibility and difficulty, straight from the official outline.
- Study guides12
- Full outline coverage, plus the exam's flashcards and glossary terms.
- Cheat sheets12
- One-page summaries built for the last review, with a PDF download.