South Dakota Life & Health Exam Overview

South Dakota Life & Health Insurance Exam

This guide prepares you for the South Dakota Life and Accident & Health producer licensing examination, delivered by Pearson VUE and authorized by the South Dakota Division of Insurance, a division of the state Department of Labor & Regulation. South Dakota does not split the test into a separate "state law" exam plus a "national" exam the way some jurisdictions do — your single Pearson VUE exam blends general insurance concepts (contract law, policy provisions, underwriting, taxation) with South Dakota statute found in SDCL Title 58 and the administrative rules in ARSD Article 20:06.

About a quarter of items are typically state-specific, so do not treat South Dakota law as an afterthought.

The Three License Paths

You choose what to sit for based on the products you intend to sell. A Life producer license authorizes life insurance and annuities; an Accident & Health (or Sickness) license authorizes health, disability income, Medicare supplement, and long-term care products. Most new producers take the combined exam to obtain both lines at once.

How scoring actually works

South Dakota reports a scaled score, not a raw percentage. Per the Pearson VUE Candidate Handbook, examination scores range from 0 to 100 but should NOT be interpreted as the percentage or number of questions answered correctly — the Division of Insurance sets the passing standard at a scaled 70 through statistical standardization, so a 70 is a calibrated difficulty-adjusted score, not "70% correct." A handful of unscored pretest items are mixed in and are indistinguishable from scored items, so treat every question as if it counts. There is no penalty for guessing, so answer every item.

Pearson VUE delivers an immediate pass/fail score report; failing reports include a numeric score plus diagnostic feedback split between the general and state sections.

Trap: Do not treat the 70 as "answer 70% of the questions." It is a scaled score on a 0-100 scale. A failing report showing, say, a 64 tells you how close you came on the scale, not how many items you missed.

No Pre-Licensing Education Required

South Dakota is one of a minority of states with no mandatory pre-licensing course — no classroom hours, no approved-provider certificate, and no education affidavit to upload. You may schedule the exam directly. That freedom is double-edged: no curriculum forces you through the material, so plan 40–60 study hours and several full-length practice exams before testing.

Registering and Testing with Pearson VUE

Create a Pearson VUE web account at pearsonvue.com/sd/insurance, select your exam, pay by credit/debit card or voucher, and choose a delivery mode:

• Test center — in-person at a Pearson VUE site (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and others).
• OnVUE remote proctoring — take it from home on a compatible computer with webcam, microphone, stable internet, and a private, quiet room cleared of materials.

Identification and check-in

Bring one valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID with a signature whose name exactly matches your registration (driver's license, state ID, passport, passport card, or military ID). Pearson VUE does not recognize a state ID grace period — an ID that expired yesterday counts as expired. Report 15 minutes early to check in; absent or late candidates who did not reschedule per the Change/Cancel policy are not admitted and forfeit the fee. Personal items — phones, notes, smartwatches, bags — are prohibited in the testing room and must be stored. An on-screen calculator and erasable noteboard are provided.

Read the official Candidate Handbook PDF (linked from the Pearson VUE page) for the full content outline and conduct rules.

Tip — eliminate and flag: Watch qualifier words such as NOT, EXCEPT, LEAST, ALWAYS, NEVER. Eliminate clearly wrong choices first, flag hard items, and return to them; pace yourself at roughly one minute per scored question on the combined exam.

From Passing to Licensed

Passing the exam is not a license. Submit your resident producer application within the window below.

The license expires the last day of your birth month on a biennial cycle tied to your birth year (odd/even). Letting it lapse can force re-examination, so calendar your renewal.

Continuing Education and Special Training

South Dakota's CE load is light, but the product-specific training rules are heavily tested:

• Standard CE: 10 hours per 2-year term for a producer holding only Life/Health or only Property/Casualty; 20 hours (with at least 8 in each line) if you hold both L&H and P&C.
• Annuities: a one-time 4-hour Annuity Best Interest training before selling, soliciting, or negotiating annuities.
• Long-Term Care: an initial 8-hour LTC course before selling LTC, plus a 4-hour ongoing LTC course each renewal (effective 1/1/2025).
• Flood: a one-time 3-hour National Flood Insurance Program course for producers selling flood policies.

Complete all CE before filing renewal. Ethics hours count within (not on top of) the total requirement.

South Dakota Division of Insurance

• Regulator: Division of Insurance, Department of Labor & Regulation
• Address: 124 South Euclid Avenue, 2nd Floor, Pierre, SD 57501
• Phone: (605) 773-3563 | Email: sdinsurance@state.sd.us | Web: dlr.sd.gov/insurance

The Division licenses producers, approves policy forms and rates, investigates complaints, and enforces SDCL Title 58. Memorize the renewal cycle, the CE matrix, and the three one-time training rules — these are the most predictable South Dakota-specific exam points. This guide is educational; always confirm current figures with the Division of Insurance, as fees and rules can change.