The Arizona life and health insurance exam is the state licensing test you must pass to sell life insurance, health insurance, or both products in Arizona. Whether you're starting a new career in insurance or adding lines of authority to an existing license, understanding what the exam covers, how it's administered, and what it takes to pass makes your preparation much more focused and efficient.
This guide covers everything relevant to the Arizona life and health insurance exam: the state-specific requirements, exam content, the licensing process, and how to study effectively.
The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI) oversees insurance licensing in the state. Arizona uses Pearson VUE as its testing vendor for insurance licensing exams. The exams are computer-based and offered at Pearson VUE testing centers throughout Arizona, or via remote proctored testing.
Arizona offers the following life and health insurance license lines:
Most candidates pursuing a career in life insurance sales or financial services take the combined exam (Life and A&H) rather than separate exams for each line. The combined exam is longer but more practical if you plan to sell products from both lines.
Before sitting the Arizona life and health insurance exam, you must:
Arizona does not require a background check before taking the exam. The background check happens when you apply for the license after passing — which is important to know because any criminal history or prior regulatory issues are better addressed with an attorney before you invest in exam fees and pre-licensing education.
The Life and Accident & Health exam in Arizona covers two major content areas: general insurance concepts (federal regulations, ethics, general product knowledge) and Arizona-specific insurance law. The Pearson VUE exam content outline specifies the exact topic weightings, but broadly:
Life Insurance topics include:
Health Insurance topics include:
Arizona-specific law topics include:
The combined life and health exam typically has around 150 questions, with 130 scored and 20 pretest questions. Pretest questions don't count toward your score but aren't identified — answer every question as if it counts. You have approximately 2.5 hours to complete the exam.
Arizona requires a minimum passing score of 70% on the life and health insurance exam. The passing score is applied to the scored questions only (the pretest questions are excluded from the calculation). So on a 130-question scored exam, you need to answer at least 91 questions correctly.
Your score is reported immediately at the testing center. If you pass, you'll receive a score report confirming your pass status. You can then proceed to apply for your license through DIFI's licensing portal (Sircon or NIPR). If you fail, your score report will show which content domains you underperformed in, which is useful information for targeted re-study.
The exam fee for the Arizona life and health insurance exam is approximately $40–$50 per attempt through Pearson VUE (fees can change, verify on Pearson VUE's website before registering). If you fail, you can retake the exam after a waiting period.
Arizona's retake policy allows you to retake the exam after 24 hours following a failure. After three consecutive failures, you must complete an additional 20 hours of approved pre-licensing education before being eligible to retake. This additional requirement underscores the importance of serious preparation before your first attempt — not just completing the pre-licensing hours but actually learning the material.
Passing the exam is step one. Getting your license requires additional steps:
Processing times for Arizona insurance license applications vary. Allow 2–4 weeks for standard processing, though some applications are processed faster when submitted electronically without complications.
The pre-licensing course is your foundation, but passing the exam requires going deeper than just completing the required hours. Here's what works:
Don't just complete the pre-licensing course — master the content. Many pre-licensing courses are designed to be completable, not necessarily memorable. As you go through the material, take notes, flag topics you don't fully understand, and go back to re-read sections that are unclear. The most commonly failed topics — types of annuities, disability income policy provisions, Medicare supplement plans — are worth extra attention.
Learn the Arizona-specific content separately. The Arizona law section is tested specifically and covers state-specific rules that aren't in most generic insurance textbooks. Make sure your pre-licensing course or study materials include the Arizona insurance code content, not just the general national content.
Use practice exams under timed conditions. Simulate the actual test experience — 150 questions in 2.5 hours means about one minute per question. If you're consistently scoring above 75% on realistic practice exams, you're well-positioned for the real thing.
Focus on policy provisions. Across both life and health sections, policy provision questions — free look periods, grace periods, reinstatement provisions, incontestability clauses, exclusions — appear frequently. These are specific, testable details that reward careful memorization.
Know the difference between policy types within each line. The exam tests whether you understand how term life differs from whole life, how an HMO differs from a PPO, what makes a disability policy "own-occupation" versus "any-occupation." Conceptual clarity on these distinctions helps with both factual and scenario questions.
Based on the content areas where candidates most frequently lose points:
Confusing similar-sounding terms. "Waiver of premium" and "premium waiver rider" sound the same and work similarly but have specific definitions in the context of exam questions. The same is true for "participating" vs. "non-participating" policies, "contributory" vs. "non-contributory" group plans, and dozens of other paired terms.
Guessing on the Arizona law section. Candidates who focus heavily on the general insurance content and underprep on Arizona-specific rules often lose points there. If your pre-licensing course is light on Arizona law, supplement it with the Arizona insurance code directly.
Spending too long on hard questions. With about one minute per question, flag anything that's taking too long and come back after completing the questions you're confident about. An unanswered question at the end costs you a point; flagged questions you can return to might not.
The Arizona life and health insurance exam is a real barrier to entry — it requires genuine knowledge of insurance products, policy provisions, and state regulations. But it's a manageable exam for anyone who prepares with focus and purpose.
Complete your pre-licensing hours with actual engagement, not just clock-watching. Study the Arizona law section as seriously as the general insurance content. Practice with realistic exam questions under timed conditions. Walk in knowing that 70% is your target and that careful preparation gets most people there.
Start with free practice questions to gauge your current knowledge level, then build your study plan around the gaps you find. The sooner you identify what you don't know, the more efficiently you can fix it before exam day.