Do You Need a Pre-Licensing Course for the New Mexico Life & Health Exam? (2026)

No. New Mexico does not require pre-licensing education to sit for the Life exam, the Accident and Health or Sickness exam or the combined Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam, or to hold a producer license in those lines. You can book the exam directly with PSI, the company that administers it, and prepare however you like.

What the Office of Superintendent of Insurance (OSI) does require is a short list of things you do yourself: be at least 18, pass the exam, complete a criminal background check and submit an application with the fees.

PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin states it directly: "OSI does not specify an official study manual, nor are you required to take a pre-licensing study course. You are free to use materials of your own choosing to prepare for the license exam."

The Insurance Code agrees. The licensing articles of Chapter 59A NMSA 1978 (Articles 11, 11A and 12) contain no pre-licensing education requirement, and neither does the resident producer licensing rule, NMAC 13.4.2. The application may ask about "experience or special training or education in the kind of business to be transacted" (NMSA 59A-11-2(B)(3)), but only as background information, not as a prerequisite.

The statute also says what the exam is for: it "shall test the knowledge of the individual concerning the lines of authority for which application is made, the duties and responsibilities of an insurance producer and the insurance laws and rules of this state" (NMSA 59A-11-6(L)). No course or classroom-hour minimum is named.

For a resident applicant, NMSA 59A-12-12 and NMAC 13.4.2.9 require that you:

• are at least 18 years old;
• have committed no act that is a ground for denial;
• pay the fees;
• pass the exam for each line of authority you want; and
• be fingerprinted so the superintendent can run state and federal criminal background checks.

The order matters, and it is not what many candidates expect. OSI's Individual Licensing Instruction puts the exam first:

1. Pass the PSI exam ($75 per attempt).
2. Complete the background check through IdentoGo (nm.state.identogo.com, OSI service code 2BH27J, $67). The report is valid for 90 days from completion and can take 3 to 5 days to reach OSI.
3. Submit the online NIPR license application once you have the report. The original resident producer filing fee is $30, and processing can take up to 30 days.

Fingerprinting is not a pre-exam step. OSI must receive your complete application materials within one year after you pass. Nonresidents who already hold an active home-state license do not need the background check, unless New Mexico will become their home state.

Some training is required, but only after licensing and for specific work.

• Continuing education: 24 credit hours per two-year compliance period, at least 3 of them in ethics. The ethics hours count toward the 24.
• Annuities: a one-time, four-credit annuity training course approved by OSI before you sell annuities (NMAC 13.9.20).
• Long-term care: eight hours of approved long-term care training before an accident and health producer sells long-term care insurance.

LanePrep is exam preparation, not a state-approved pre-licensing course, and New Mexico does not mandate one. Being free to skip a course is not the same as being free to skip preparing: the NAIC's first-time pass rate for the combined exam was only 33.6% in 2024 and 37.0% in 2025.

The course is audio-first: nine chapters built on PSI's outline for the combined exam, including a chapter on New Mexico regulation, licensing and market conduct, plus practice questions. Chapter 1 is free to try. For the costs of getting licensed, see how much a New Mexico Life & Health license costs, and for the exam itself see how many questions are on it.