Is the Virginia Life, Annuities & Health Exam Hard? Pass Rates and Difficulty (2026)

The Virginia Life, Annuities and Health exam is demanding rather than brutal, and the published numbers show it. For first-time candidates in 2025, the combined exam (Prometric Series 11-01) had a pass rate of 70.4%, the Life and Annuities exam 67.6% and the Health exam 71.0%. The figures come from the NAIC's compiled pass-rate workbooks and cover English-language, first-time candidates, in-person and remote testing combined.

The material is not exotic. The exam is hard because it is long (150 minutes on the combined exam), broad (life insurance, annuities, taxation and health insurance in one sitting) and partly Virginia law, which generic national study material covers thinly. Candidates who prepare against the real outline pass. Candidates who hope for the best are the ones who retake.

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

Exam	2024 candidates	2024 passed	2024 pass rate	2025 candidates	2025 passed	2025 pass rate
Life, Annuities and Health (combined)	4,664	2,746	58.9%	3,917	2,758	70.4%
Life and Annuities	3,463	1,946	56.2%	2,748	1,858	67.6%
Health	958	654	68.3%	856	608	71.0%

Read the jump with care. Between 2024 and 2025, candidate volume fell on every row (Life and Annuities by 21%, the combined exam by 16%, Health by 11%) while every pass rate rose: Life and Annuities by 11.4 points, the combined exam by 11.5 points. A pattern like that can be a real improvement, but it can also come from a change in how first-time candidates were counted between the two NAIC compilations. We cannot rule that out, so do not read the 2025 numbers as proof that the exam got easier.

NAIC does not publish repeat-taker rates for Virginia, so there is no official number for how candidates do on a second or third attempt.

Length and breadth. The combined exam has 140 scored questions plus 10 pretest questions in 150 minutes. The content outline has 16 sections, from Insurance Regulation to Dental Insurance, so you are switching subjects constantly.

A few heavy blocks. The outline is not flat. Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders (11%, 16 items), Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions (11%, 16 items) and Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals (11%, 15 items) are the three largest. Insurance Regulation (10%, 14 items) and Life Insurance Policies (10%, 14 items) follow.

Virginia law is written into the outline. Prometric's Series 11-01 outline cites the Code of Virginia (Title 38.2) and the Virginia Administrative Code (14VAC5 chapters on replacement, advertising, annuity suitability, accelerated benefits, individual health policy provisions, Medicare supplement, long-term care and HMOs) directly. Questions can ask what Virginia requires, not just how a policy works in general.

The small blocks are small. Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities, Qualified Plans and Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance are 2% each (3 items each), and Dental Insurance is 1% (2 items). Spending days on them is poor value.

The NAIC data tells you how many candidates pass, not why the others do not, so anything about causes is inference from how the exam is built. Three patterns follow from the outline itself:

• Studying a national text and ignoring the state sections. Regulation, replacement, suitability and the health provisions all carry Virginia citations.
• Memorising definitions without scenario practice. Many items give a client situation and ask which provision, option or rule applies.
• Uneven coverage. A candidate who is strong on life insurance and weak on health, or the other way round, meets the combined exam's full breadth.

Virginia also lets you choose: the combined exam, or the Life and Annuities exam (Series 11-05) and the Health exam (Series 11-06) separately, each 120 minutes. If you only need one line, or want to split the studying, the single-line route is real. See how many questions are on each exam for the format.

• Study to the weights. Start with the 10-11% sections and give the 1-2% sections a quick pass, not a week.
• Learn the Virginia layer on purpose. After each general topic, ask what the Virginia-specific rule is.
• Practise in scenarios. Our free question sets are built from the same kind of situations: see the free Virginia practice questions.
• Listen on the move. LanePrep is audio-first, so commute time becomes study time. Try the LanePrep Virginia course preview.
• Know what a retry costs. Each attempt is $35, and a third consecutive failure triggers a 30-calendar-day wait. Details in the retake rules.

For a step-by-step plan, read how to pass the Virginia exam on the first try. No pre-licensing course stands between you and the exam, as this guide explains.