Is the Massachusetts Life & Health Exam Hard? Pass Rates and Difficulty (2026)

The Massachusetts Life & Health license takes two exams, and they are not equally hard. Pass-rate data compiled by the NAIC for first-time English-language candidates (in-person and remote combined) shows that fewer than half of first-time takers passed the Life exam in either of the last two years, while the Accident, Health, or Sickness exam was passed by a little more than half.

That is a real difference, and we will not round it away. The Life exam is the one to respect. Both exams are very passable with structured preparation, but they punish candidates who treat them as a formality.

These are the NAIC figures for Massachusetts, first-time candidates only:

Two cautions. First, a candidate who sits both exams is counted once in each row, so the rows cannot be added together into a single “Life & Health” pass rate. Second, pass rates for repeat takers are not published, so nobody can tell you how retakes compare.

The exams moved to Pearson VUE effective July 22, 2026, and the figures above describe testing before that change. They also describe everyone who sat the exam, including people who barely studied. Read them as a warning about the Life exam, not as a prediction for you.

Each exam delivers 90 items: 80 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest items. Of the 80 scored questions, 50 are general knowledge and 30 are Massachusetts-specific. The general-knowledge and state-law portions are published as separate content outlines, but you sit them together in one session and they are scored together.

The passing mark is a scaled score of 70. That is not 70 percent and not a count of correct answers. The candidate handbook states that the scaled score is neither the number of questions answered correctly nor the percentage answered correctly, so you cannot work out a safe number of misses in advance. The only sound plan is to know the material.

Two exams, two bodies of knowledge. The Life exam covers policy types, riders and provisions, the application and underwriting process, and retirement concepts. The Accident, Health, or Sickness exam covers a different set of products and provisions, plus social insurance and field underwriting. Studying for one does not prepare you for the other, and a candidate who wants both lines sits both.

The Massachusetts-specific section. Thirty scored questions on each exam test state law. The outline names specific statutes and regulations: G.L. c. 175 provisions on licensing and standard policy provisions, the Unfair Trade Practices Act in c. 176D, the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act in c. 175I, and regulations such as 211 CMR 34.01-34.09 on replacement and 211 CMR 95 on variable products. National study material barely touches these.

Precise wording. Many questions turn on telling two similar provisions apart, for example an elimination period from a probationary period, or a waiver of premium from a waiver of the elimination period.

A new vendor and a new outline. The current content outlines are effective July 22, 2026. Study material written before then may be out of date, so check what yours was built from.

We do not have repeat-taker data, so we cannot tell you exactly who fails. The structure of the exams points to four likely causes:

1. Skipping the state-law half. Thirty of 80 scored questions is a large share of a result scaled to a passing mark of 70.
2. Studying only the line you sell. Life agents often neglect the health side and the reverse.
3. Memorizing answers to a question bank. The exam asks about scenarios, and a memorized letter does not transfer.
4. Rushing back. A second attempt costs another fee, and the same preparation tends to produce the same result.

Start with the sections that carry the most items and work outward. On the Life exam, Types of Policies and Policy Riders, Provisions, Options, and Exclusions are 15 items each. On the Accident, Health, or Sickness exam, Types of Policies is 16 items and Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders is 15. Then give the Massachusetts-specific outline its own study block, because that is where outside material is thinnest.

Listening works well for definitions and for the order of provisions, and practice questions work for the scenarios. Our free sets cover every block of both outlines, starting with Life policy riders and provisions and Massachusetts laws and rules for all lines. Read the exam format guide for the section weights, and the retake rules so you know what a miss would cost.

You can try the course in the free preview first.