Alabama Life & Health Exam Day: What to Expect at the University of Alabama CELL (2026)

Alabama's producer exams are run by a state university. The Alabama Department of Insurance contracts with the University of Alabama's Continuing Education Lifelong Learning program (CELL) to administer them. The exam is not delivered by a national commercial test vendor, so any instructions you find that point you to one do not apply to Alabama.

Registration, scheduling and questions about your appointment go through CELL. Their insurance testing line is (205) 348-0633, and the email is insurance@ua.edu. The testing page is at training.ua.edu/insurance-testing.

Decide which exam you are taking first: the combined Life & Health exam ($75), or the Life-only or Health-only exam ($50 each). Registration errors, including picking the wrong exam, forfeit the fee with no refund, so check before you pay.

• Book at least 7 days ahead. The exam must be scheduled a week or more in advance.
• Pay for every attempt. The fee is due each time you register and is never refundable, even if you pass.
• Check your waiting period. If you have failed before, make sure you are eligible on the date you choose. Our retake rules guide explains the waiting periods.

CELL lists six ways to sit the exam: five physical test center locations and online remote proctoring.

• In person: Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery (two sites) and Tuscaloosa.
• Online: remote proctoring is available. You need a desktop or laptop computer, and Chromebooks are not allowed.

If you choose remote proctoring, test your computer and your space well before the day, and read CELL's current instructions for the remote session. Choose a test center if you would rather not depend on your own equipment and internet connection for a three-hour exam.

Your name on your identification must match your registration exactly. CELL accepts a valid driver's license or non-driver photo ID, a passport, a military ID or an employee ID card. Check the spelling, middle name and any suffix on your ID against what you typed when you registered. A mismatch is the easiest way to lose an exam fee before you have seen a question.

For anything else, such as what you may bring into the room, what happens at check-in, or whether scratch materials are provided, follow the written instructions CELL sends with your confirmation. Rules for these details can change, and we would rather you read the current ones than rely on our summary.

The combined exam has 150 multiple-choice questions with four options each, and you have 180 minutes. The Life-only exam is 125 questions in 150 minutes, and the Health-only exam is 100 questions in 120 minutes. That works out to about 72 seconds a question on the combined exam.

• Pace yourself. Check your progress at regular points rather than watching the clock constantly.
• Answer everything. Treat every question as one that counts.
• Do not stall. If a question is unfamiliar, make your best choice and move on rather than letting it eat several minutes.

A quiet routine helps. Sleep properly the night before, eat beforehand, and arrive or log in early so that the first minutes of the three hours are not spent on logistics. Do not cram new material in the last hour. Light review of the topics you know least is a better use of that time.

The passing line is a raw count: 105 correct on the combined exam. See the full format guide for the outline.

How and when you receive your result is set by CELL, so check their instructions when you register. If you pass, your examination certificate is valid for one year from the date of completion, so plan your license application within that window. The department recommends getting fingerprinted after you pass, because fingerprint results expire after 30 days.

If you do not pass, read our guide to the retake rules before you rebook. To get ready in the first place, try the Alabama Life & Health preview.