Kansas Life & Health Exam Overview

How the Kansas L&H Exam Is Built

The Kansas Life & Health (L&H) producer exam is delivered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the Kansas Insurance Department (KID), the state agency headed by the elected Commissioner of Insurance. You can sit for a single combined Life, Accident & Health exam or two separate single-line exams (Life only; Accident & Health only). The combined exam is the common path because most candidates want both lines of authority.

Every Kansas L&H exam is split into two scored bodies of knowledge: a large national/general portion that tests insurance principles applicable in any state, and a smaller Kansas state-law portion drawn directly from the Kansas Insurance Statutes (K.S.A. Chapter 40) and the Kansas Administrative Regulations (K.A.R. Article 74). You must answer enough questions correctly to reach 70% overall; there is no separate sub-score you can fail independently, but a weak state-law section can sink an otherwise strong national score.

Approximate blueprint weighting

Common trap: candidates over-study glamorous product math (cash value, dividends) and under-study the Kansas regulatory section and the plain definitions (insurable interest, indemnity, adverse selection, representations vs. warranties). The state and definitions sections are pure memorization points you cannot afford to leave on the table.

Questions are four-option multiple choice with one best answer; there is no penalty beyond a wrong answer, so never leave a blank — guess if unsure. Expect scenario items ("A producer does X; which law is violated?") in addition to recall items. The exam is closed-book and proctored, available in person at Kansas test centers or via online proctoring with a webcam and a clear workspace.

Exam tip: Kansas waives pre-licensing education, but "not required" is not "not needed." The national content is identical in difficulty to states that require 20-40 hours of classroom prep. Plan roughly 40-60 hours of self-study across products, provisions, and Kansas rules.

Scoring, Fees, and the Retake Clock

The passing score is 70% for both the combined and single-line exams. Pearson VUE scores the test instantly and hands you a printed score report showing Pass or Fail; failing reports include diagnostic percentages by content area so you know where to focus a retake.

Exam and licensing fees (2026)

A realistic all-in cost for a first-time resident applicant taking the combined exam is roughly $160-$170, before any optional prep course.

Retake policy and the score-validity clock

• If you fail, you may register and pay for a new attempt; each retake requires a fresh reservation and the full exam fee again.
• Kansas candidate materials require a short mandatory waiting period between attempts before you may re-sit — schedule your next appointment for a date after that window rather than the same day.
• There is no cap on the number of attempts, but you pay the exam fee each time, so a $54-$67 charge recurs with every sitting.
• A passing result is not open-ended either: your passing exam score is valid for 2 years, and you must complete the license application within that window or the score expires and you must re-test.

Worked example: You fail the combined exam and immediately want to re-book. Pearson VUE will not let you sit again the same day; you reschedule for a later date and pay the $67 fee a second time. If instead you pass but then delay your NIPR application for more than two years, the passing score lapses and you are back to square one — a costly, avoidable mistake that has nothing to do with how well you tested.

Trap: Two different clocks get confused. One is the short wait between failed attempts before you can re-sit; the other is the 2-year validity of a passing score for application purposes. The exam and candidate handbook treat these as separate rules.

Because each attempt costs $54-$67, the cheapest strategy is to over-prepare once rather than treat the first sitting as a diagnostic. Use the failing-score diagnostic categories printed on your score report to target your weakest domain, then re-sit after the mandatory wait — and once you pass, file the NIPR application well inside the 2-year score-validity window.

From Application to License: The KID Workflow

Kansas uses an exam-first, fingerprint, then license sequence run through Pearson VUE for testing and NIPR (National Insurance Producer Registry) for the license application.

Step-by-step

1. Study the national L&H content plus Kansas statutes and rules (no mandatory course, but strongly advised).
2. Register and pay for the exam at Pearson VUE ($67 combined / $54 single line).
3. Pass the exam at 70%+; keep your score report.
4. Complete fingerprinting ($60) for the state and national criminal-history background check, available at the Pearson VUE sites in Overland Park, Topeka, and Wichita.
5. Apply through NIPR, paying the $30 application fee plus the $5.60 transaction fee.
6. KID reviews the application and background results, then issues the resident producer license.

Background check and honesty

Kansas requires fingerprint-based state and national criminal-history checks for previously unlicensed applicants. Disclose all prior administrative actions, criminal history, and license actions in other states honestly — a material misrepresentation on the application is itself grounds for denial under the Kansas Unfair Trade Practices framework, often worse than the underlying issue. The federal Violent Crime Control Act (18 U.S.C. 1033/1034) separately bars anyone convicted of a felony involving dishonesty or breach of trust from working in insurance without written consent from the Commissioner (a 1033 waiver).

What KID can do

The Commissioner of Insurance may deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a license, and may levy civil penalties, for violations such as fraud, misrepresentation, commingling premiums, or failing to respond to a department inquiry. Producers must report administrative actions and criminal prosecutions to KID within 30 days, and must keep KID informed of address and name changes.

Memory hook: Test → Print → Touch (fingerprints) → File (NIPR) → License. The order matters on the exam — you cannot file the NIPR application meaningfully until you have passed and been fingerprinted.

Keeping the License: Renewal, CE, and Annuity Training

Kansas resident producer licenses renew every two years on a birth-month cycle: you renew before the last day of your birth month, in either an even or odd year matching the year you were born. So a producer born in March of an odd-numbered year renews each odd year by March 31. You may renew up to 90 days early if your CE is already complete.

Continuing education (CE)

Kansas's 18-hour requirement is on the lighter end nationally, but the rules are strict: excess hours do not carry forward, and repeating a course earns no second credit within the same renewal period. Complete CE before the renewal deadline — a lapse can require reinstatement and additional fees.

Annuity suitability — a separate, one-time hurdle

Before you may solicit, negotiate, or sell any annuity in Kansas, you must complete a one-time 4-hour Annuity Suitability Certification training course. This is in addition to the 18-hour biennial CE and does not satisfy or count toward it. Selling an annuity without this certification is a regulatory violation regardless of how clean your CE record is.

Worked example: A producer renews in October (birth month) of an even year with 16 general hours and 3 ethics hours logged. Because only 15 of the 16 general hours count (15 general + 3 ethics = 18), the extra general hour is wasted — it cannot carry into the next cycle. If that producer also wants to sell a fixed annuity, they need the separate 4-hour annuity course on file first.

Trap: Test items pair "18 hours" with the wrong ethics figure (2 or 4). The correct split is 15 general + 3 ethics = 18 total, and annuity training is extra.