North Carolina Life & Health Exam Overview
Key Takeaways
The NC Life and Accident & Health producer exams are delivered by Pearson VUE: 55 scored questions plus 5 unscored pretest items, 75 minutes, and a passing scaled score of 70 (a 0-100 scale that is neither a percentage nor a count of correct answers).
Effective October 1, 2025, House Bill 737 eliminated mandatory pre-licensing education for Life, Accident & Health, Property, Casualty, and Personal Lines candidates - you may go straight to the exam.
The standard examination fee is $45 per attempt (per line), payable to Pearson VUE; reschedule or cancel at least 48 hours ahead or forfeit the fee.
Resident licenses require you to be at least 18, apply and pay all fees through NIPR before scheduling, pass the exam, and complete a fingerprint-based criminal background check; the license is issued once all items are received.
Keeping the license requires 24 hours of continuing education every two years including 3 hours of ethics; Prometric administers NC's CE, and the compliance date is the last day of the birth month in the compliance year.
About the North Carolina Life & Health Exams
Welcome to OpenExamPrep's FREE North Carolina Life & Health prep guide. North Carolina licenses Life and Accident & Health (A&H) as two separate lines of authority, each with its own exam delivered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI). Many candidates sit both on the same day to earn a combined Life & Health producer license, but each line is scored independently - passing one does not pass the other.
Each exam blends two content domains: general (national) insurance knowledge - policy types, riders, provisions, underwriting, taxation - and North Carolina state law drawn from General Statutes (G.S.) Chapter 58 and Title 11 of the NC Administrative Code. The exam is closed-book; no notes, phones, or calculators of your own are allowed (an on-screen calculator is provided).
Exam Blueprint
| Component | Life exam | Accident & Health exam |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Pearson VUE | Pearson VUE |
| Scored questions | 55 | 55 |
| Unscored pretest items | 5 | 5 |
| Time limit | 75 minutes | 75 minutes |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 70 | Scaled score of 70 |
| Format | 4-option multiple choice | 4-option multiple choice |
| Fee | $45 per attempt | $45 per attempt |
The 5 pretest items are mixed invisibly among the 55 scored questions; you cannot tell which is which, so answer every question. The passing standard is a scaled score of 70; Pearson VUE says the scaled score is neither the number nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly. Results are pass/fail and printed at the test center the moment you finish - a numeric diagnostic by content area prints for failing candidates only.
Common traps
- "60 questions": candidates often quote 60 - that is the total shown on screen (55 scored + 5 pretest). Only 55 count.
- Combined exam: there is no single "Life & Health" test - Life and A&H are scored separately; failing A&H does not erase a Life pass.
- State-law weight: NC questions are not a footnote - free-look periods, replacement rules, and the Guaranty Association appear repeatedly.
Pre-Licensing, Eligibility, and the Application Path
HB 737 - pre-licensing is no longer mandatory
Effective October 1, 2025, North Carolina House Bill 737 eliminated the mandatory pre-licensing education (PLE) requirement for Life, Accident & Health, Property, Casualty, and Personal Lines. Previously, Life required 20 classroom hours, A&H 20 hours, and combined Life & Health 40 hours. Today you may schedule the exam directly with no certificate required if you apply on or after October 1, 2025.
One timing nuance: candidates who submitted their NIPR application before October 1, 2025 must still present a PLE completion certificate at the Pearson VUE center. NCDOI continues to strongly recommend prep courses because NC-specific statutes and national concepts are dense - removing the mandate did not make the exam easier.
Basic eligibility
| Requirement | Standard |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 18 years old |
| Residency | NC resident for a resident license |
| Exam | Pass the relevant line with a scaled score of 70 or higher |
| Background | Fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal background check |
| Character | Disclose all prior crimes; certain felonies require a 1033 waiver |
Step-by-step license process
- Prepare - study national L&H principles plus this NC guide (G.S. Chapter 58).
- Download the Candidate Handbook free from Pearson VUE (publication 123400, March 2026 revision).
- Apply through NIPR first - complete the resident producer application at NIPR and pay all fees before you book an exam; the application stays open for six months.
- Schedule and pay - wait for Pearson VUE's authorization email with your reserved NPN, then book an NC Pearson VUE test center; $45 per line.
- Test day - arrive 30 minutes early with a valid government photo ID whose name matches your registration exactly; Pearson VUE sends your result to NIPR to match your pending application.
- Fingerprints - take the forms from your NIPR email to a local law enforcement office that does Live Scan, then upload the signed forms to the NIPR Attachment Warehouse.
- License issued once the exam result, fingerprints and criminal history check are all received and approved.
Estimated cost
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Prep course (optional) | Set by the provider |
| Exam fee | $45 per line |
| NIPR application | $44 processing fee per application plus $50 per line, plus a $5 NIPR transaction fee |
| Fingerprint fee | $38 (first producer license) |
| Total for one line (without a course) | $182 |
Reschedule or cancel through Pearson VUE at least 48 hours before your appointment or you forfeit the $45 fee.
Keeping the License: Continuing Education and Renewal
CE requirements
North Carolina producers must complete 24 hours of continuing education every 24 months, including a mandatory 3 hours of ethics. The CE administrator is Prometric (not NCDOI directly and not Pearson VUE), which approves courses, processes rosters, and calculates compliance.
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total CE | 24 hours / 2 years |
| Ethics | 3 of the 24 hours |
| Renewal date | Last day of your birth month |
| Year parity | Odd birth year renews in odd years; even birth year in even years |
| Carryover | Excess hours carry to the next period as general hours only |
Product-specific training (one-time and recurring)
| Training | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Annuity suitability | One-time 4-hour Best Interest course before soliciting annuities |
| Long-term care - initial | One-time 8-hour course before selling LTC/partnership policies |
| Long-term care - ongoing | 4-hour refresher every 24 months |
| Flood insurance | 3-hour course first compliance period, then every 4 years (property lines) |
If you miss your CE deadline
- The license expires if minimum hours are not met by the birth-month deadline.
- You then have 4 months to complete CE and reinstate with a $75 reinstatement fee.
- If the hours are still not met after 4 months, the license becomes inactive.
Key contacts
| Resource | Detail |
|---|---|
| NCDOI website | www.ncdoi.gov |
| NCDOI Agent Services | (919) 807-6800 |
| Consumer hotline | (855) 408-1212 |
| Pearson VUE | www.pearsonvue.com |
How to use this guide
This study guide covers NC state-specific law only. Complete the national L&H foundation first, then study these chapters: (1) NC regulation & licensing and G.S. Chapter 58; (2) NC life insurance rules, replacement, and the Guaranty Association; (3) NC health and long-term care rules; (4) NC ethics, unfair trade practices, and consumer protection. Memorize these anchors: scaled score of 70 to pass, 55 scored questions in 75 minutes, no PLE since 10/1/2025, 24 CE hours / 2 years with 3 ethics, and Prometric as CE administrator. Good luck on exam day.
How many questions on the North Carolina Life exam actually count toward your score, and how long do you have?
60 scored questions in 90 minutes
55 scored questions in 120 minutes
50 scored questions in 60 minutes
55 scored questions (plus 5 unscored pretest) in 75 minutes
What changed for North Carolina insurance candidates on October 1, 2025?
The passing score rose from a scaled 70 to a scaled 75
Pearson VUE was replaced by Prometric for testing
The exam fee was doubled to $90 per line
Mandatory pre-licensing education was eliminated under House Bill 737
Which agency administers continuing education for North Carolina insurance licensees?
Prometric
Pearson VUE
NIPR
The NC Department of Insurance directly
A North Carolina producer must complete continuing education on what schedule?
30 hours annually, all general
40 hours every 4 years including 6 hours of ethics
12 hours every year including 2 hours of ethics
24 hours every 2 years including 3 hours of ethics
Before a North Carolina producer can solicit annuities, what one-time training is required?
An 8-hour long-term care course
A 3-hour flood insurance course
No additional training is required
A 4-hour annuity Best Interest suitability course
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.