California Life & Health Exam Overview

About the California Life & Health Exam

Welcome to OpenExamPrep's FREE California Life & Health prep guide. The California Life & Health insurance examination is delivered by PSI Services LLC under contract with the California Department of Insurance (CDI) — the regulator headed by an elected Insurance Commissioner. California does NOT merge the lines into one combined credential silently: you choose either the Life-Only Agent license, the Accident & Health (or Sickness) Agent license, or sit the combined Life, Accident & Health exam that covers both lines in one sitting.

The single highest-stakes correction in this guide: the passing score is 60%, not 70%. Older study materials (and even some commercial schools) repeat "70%," but per CDI's official exam-information page, all producer license examinations require a 60 percent score to pass — only adjuster and bail examinations use the 70% bar. Treat 60% as the floor and aim well above it; a 75-question Life-Only exam means you can miss 30 and still pass at exactly 60%, but borderline scores are how most failures happen.

Exam Structure (verified against insurance.ca.gov)

All items are multiple choice, computer-delivered at a PSI test center or via remote online proctoring, with immediate pass/fail results at the screen. You register through PSI at test-takers.psiexams.com/cadi. Budget roughly a $98 exam fee plus a PSI scheduling/convenience charge (about $43) per attempt. A common trap: candidates plan for the combined 150-question exam but only studied for one line — confirm which credential you booked before exam day, because the combined sitting doubles both the question count and the breadth of California code you must recall.

AB 943: The January 1, 2026 Prelicensing Change

Assembly Bill 943 (AB 943), signed by Governor Newsom on October 10, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, repealed the 20-hour line-specific prelicensing education mandate in California Insurance Code section 1749 for most producer lines (life, accident & health, property, casualty, personal/commercial lines, limited-lines automobile). What survives is the long-standing 12-hour Ethics and California Insurance Code course, which still must include 1 hour of insurance fraud instruction.

Before vs. After AB 943

What Changed vs. What Did NOT

• Changed: the 20-hour (per line) product coursework is gone; total prelicensing for L&H drops from 32–52 hours to a flat 12 hours.
• Did NOT change: exam content, the 60% passing score, fingerprinting, the $188 license fee, and continuing-education obligations after licensure.

Sequencing tip: Education is required before the license is issued, not before the exam. You may legally schedule and pass the PSI exam first and complete the 12-hour Ethics & Code course afterward — but the CDI will not issue the license until your certificate is on file. The prelicensing certificate is valid for 3 years from completion.

A frequent exam-day misconception is that AB 943 made California "easier" to pass. It did not touch the test blueprint. The savings are in time and cost to enter, not in exam difficulty. Plan your study around the actual California Insurance Code topics — replacement of insurance, free-look periods, the guarantee association, suitability for seniors — not around the reduced seat-hours, because those topics still appear at full weight on the 75- or 150-question exam.

From Exam to License: The Full Path

Becoming a licensed California producer is a defined sequence. Missing the order — for example, applying before fingerprints clear — is the most common cause of weeks-long delays.

Step-by-Step Licensing Process

1. Register and pass the PSI exam (60%+). You may do this before education.
2. Complete the 12-hour Ethics & California Insurance Code course (includes 1 hour of fraud) from a CDI-approved provider; keep the certificate (valid 3 years).
3. Get fingerprinted (Live Scan) through CDI's contracted vendor Accurate Biometrics (about $58.30: $17 FBI + $32 DOJ + ~$9.30 rolling fee) or at a PSI test center (about $68.95).
4. Apply to the CDI and pay the $188 resident producer license application fee.
5. Receive the license (valid 2 years) and begin transacting insurance.

Retake and Bar Policy

Watch the vendor name: CDI's official Live Scan vendor is Accurate Biometrics, and PSI test centers also offer fingerprinting. Marketing materials sometimes name other "Live Scan" services that are not the CDI-contracted route — using a non-approved channel can mean your prints never reach the DOJ for your application.

After Licensure: Continuing Education

Useful CDI contacts: website insurance.ca.gov; Consumer Hotline 1-800-927-HELP (4357); Producer Licensing 916-492-3051.

Why California Is Distinctive

California is the largest U.S. state insurance market (population ~39 million) and one of the largest in the world, so its consumer-protection rules are unusually strict and heavily tested:

• Elected Insurance Commissioner with prior-approval rate authority over many lines.
• Covered California, the state-run ACA marketplace, with its own agent certification.
• Enhanced senior protections on annuity suitability and long-term-care sales.
• Aggressive anti-fraud enforcement, which is why even the slimmed-down prelicensing keeps a mandatory fraud hour.

This guide focuses on California state-specific content across six chapters — regulation & licensing, life regulations and the California Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association (CLHIGA), health rules and Covered California, ethics and consumer protection, annuities and senior suitability, and long-term care / Medicare supplement. Pair it with national L&H fundamentals for full coverage, then drill practice questions until you consistently clear 80%.