17 Free Kansas Life Insurance Exam Practice Questions (2026)

The life questions in this set draw on the life general knowledge sections of Pearson VUE's content outline for the combined KS Life and Accident & Health Producer exam (12-KS-05): Types of Policies at 15, Life Provisions, Riders, Options and Exclusions at 15, Completing the Application, Underwriting and Delivering the Policy at 12, and Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts at 8. On that exam they sit beside five accident and health general knowledge sections and the three sections of Kansas law. The exam is 154 items, 140 scored plus 14 unscored pretest, in 150 minutes for $64, with one score for the whole exam and a pass mark of 70 percent. A candidate who wants only the Life line can book the single-line Life exam (12-KS-01) instead: 95 items, 84 scored plus 11 pretest, in 90 minutes for $57, with the same 70 percent standard. Either exam is taken in person at a Pearson VUE test center. Kansas requires no pre-licensing course, and initial resident applicants are fingerprinted for a criminal history check as a standard step of the application.

The 17 questions are drawn from Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of LanePrep's Kansas Life & Health quiz bank, and none repeats a question from the free 25-question sample across the whole exam: 5 on life policy types and annuities (Chapter 2), 5 on life provisions, riders, options and exclusions (Chapter 3), and 7 on life underwriting, policy delivery and retirement concepts (Chapter 4). On the combined exam those chapters are worth 15, 15 and 20 of the 140 scored items. The grouping is LanePrep's own, not Pearson VUE's: Chapter 4 teaches the application and underwriting section together with the retirement and other insurance concepts section. The Kansas law questions are in the free 25-question set. Every question is labeled with its chapter, so each miss points you to the audio lesson to replay.

For context, the NAIC reports pass rates for the combined exam, the exam this course follows, of 56.8 percent in 2024 and 58.8 percent in 2025, counting all candidates and both testing modes together.

Answer each one before you open the explanation. The explanation is folded underneath every question. A guess you have to defend is worth more than an answer you only agree with.

Chapter 2 opens the Life set with term life and annuities: the feature that lets a term policy continue without a new medical exam, the annuity for a retiree who wants a fixed interest rate and unchanging income, and what happens to the premium when a term policy is converted to whole life. Two annuity questions follow: what happens to accumulation units when a variable annuity is annuitized, and the payout that pays for exactly a set number of years whether or not the annuitant lives. Chapter 3 begins with what the policyowner gives as consideration in a life insurance contract.

Chapter 3 continues with dividend options, exclusions and riders: the option that uses a participating policy's dividend to buy more permanent insurance, how a war exclusion that turns on the result of the death treats a service member killed in combat, what a Cost of Living rider does when the Consumer Price Index rises, and which rights a policyowner keeps when the beneficiary is revocable. Chapter 4 then opens with underwriting and retirement: how a substandard classification affects the policy, and what makes a retirement plan qualified.

Chapter 4 closes the Life set with business uses, group plans, underwriting and compliance. It asks how the death benefit of a key person policy is taxed when a corporation owns it on its CEO, what makes a group life plan contributory, and how to classify an applicant with a history of skydiving and scuba diving whom the underwriter accepts at a higher rate. The last two questions cover the right a consumer has under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act when an insurer plans to share medical history with a third party, and the scheme in which investors pay a healthy senior to apply for a large policy and name them beneficiaries.

Mixing up renewable and convertible term. A renewable term policy continues at the end of its term without a new medical exam or proof of insurability, although the renewal premium is higher because of the insured's increased age. That is the feature in question 1. Convertibility is different: it lets the owner exchange the term policy for permanent coverage without proof of insurability, and in question 3 the new premium increases because permanent coverage costs more and because it reflects the insured's attained age. It does not fall, stay the same or turn into a single lump sum. Reinstatement revives a lapsed policy, and a paid-up option ends premiums in exchange for reduced coverage. Neither continues a term policy past its term.

Confusing the annuity types, phases and payouts. A Fixed Annuity guarantees principal, a guaranteed interest rate during accumulation and fixed income payments once annuitized, which is why it fits a risk-averse retiree who wants unchanging income. A Variable Annuity does not guarantee the payments, an Indexed Annuity ties growth to an index, and Deferred describes the timing of payments, not an interest guarantee. When a variable annuity moves from accumulation to annuitization, the accumulation units convert into a fixed number of annuity units. The number stays fixed while the value of each unit rises and falls with the separate account, so the units are not cashed out at once, held until a stated age or moved to the insurer's general account. For income over exactly a set number of years no matter how long the annuitant lives, with the remaining payments going to beneficiaries after an early death, the payout is Fixed Period Installment. Life Income with Period Certain, Straight Life Income and Joint and Survivor all pay for as long as one or two people live, not for a set number of years.

Remembering the Kansas layer on annuities. Product knowledge is only half of selling an annuity in Kansas. Annuity sales must meet the best-interest standard of K.A.R. 40-1-53, effective January 1, 2024, and a producer must complete a one-time four-credit annuity training course approved by the Commissioner of Insurance before selling annuities. A producer who does not sell annuities needs no annuity training to keep the Life line.

Naming the wrong side of the bargain. In a life insurance contract the insurer's consideration is its promise to pay the death benefit. The policyowner's consideration, the answer to question 6, is the statements made in the application and the payment of premiums. The cash value and the nonforfeiture options are policy features, not what the owner gives.

Choosing the wrong dividend option, exclusion, rider or owner right. The Paid-up Additions option uses a dividend to buy additional single-premium whole life insurance, and those additions have their own cash value and raise the total death benefit. One-Year Term buys temporary coverage, Accumulation at Interest leaves the dividend with the insurer to earn interest, and Reduction of Premium lowers the premium. A Results war exclusion applies when death is a direct result of war or combat, so a service member killed by artillery in a combat zone is excluded, and the insurer typically denies the claim and refunds the premiums paid plus interest. It does not pay the face amount because the death was accidental, and it does not pay the cash value. A Cost of Living rider raises the death benefit to match increases in the Consumer Price Index without proof of insurability, usually for an additional premium. It does not lower the premium, pay a cash dividend or lock the interest rate. When the beneficiary is revocable, the beneficiary has no vested interest while the insured is alive, so the policyowner can change the beneficiary, take a policy loan and assign the policy to a bank, all without the beneficiary's consent. That is why question 10 is answered by all of the above.

Treating a rated risk as declined. Questions 11 and 15 describe the same classification from two angles. An applicant who is a higher-than-average risk because of health, occupation or dangerous hobbies such as skydiving and scuba diving is classified as Substandard, also called Rated, and the underwriter issues the policy at a higher premium or with restricted coverage. A Substandard applicant is not Preferred, Standard or Declined, and the classification does not bring a mandatory waiting period for death benefits or automatically turn the policy into a Modified Endowment Contract.

Misdescribing a qualified retirement plan. A qualified plan, such as a 401(k), must follow ERISA guidelines, be non-discriminatory and be approved by the IRS, meeting participation and vesting standards. In return it receives favorable tax treatment, such as deductible employer contributions and tax-deferred growth. That is why the options in question 12 that let it favor highly compensated employees, make employer contributions non-deductible or tax earnings annually as they accrue are wrong.

Misjudging the tax on key person proceeds and the meaning of contributory. Death benefits from a life insurance policy are generally received income tax-free by the beneficiary, whether the beneficiary is an individual or a corporation, so a corporation that collects the proceeds of a key person policy on its CEO receives them tax-free. They are not taxed as ordinary income or as capital gains. In a contributory group plan the employees pay part or all of the premium. An employer that pays the whole premium has a non-contributory plan, which is the one that needs every eligible employee to participate. A contributory plan usually requires only a minimum percentage of eligible employees, and it has nothing to do with covering only the board of directors.

Missing the privacy and insurable-interest traps. Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, an insurer that plans to share a consumer's non-public personal information, such as medical history, with a non-affiliated third party must provide a privacy notice and the opportunity to opt out of the sharing. The right to sue the producer, a premium discount for allowing the data share and a look at the research firm's financial statements are not what the Act requires. Stranger-Owned Life Insurance, or STOLI, is a scheme in which investors induce a senior to take out a new policy and name them as beneficiaries so that they profit from the death, which violates the principle of insurable interest. A legitimate life settlement, Key Person insurance and a charitable gift annuity are different arrangements.

How did you score?

13 or more correct: That is a strong result on the life sections. Take the Health insurance exam set next, then read how to pass the Kansas Life & Health exam on the first try for the full study plan.

9-12 correct: You have a base but not yet a margin. Note which chapter each miss came from and replay that chapter's audio lesson before you retest.

Under 9 correct: Begin with Chapter 2 of the LanePrep Kansas Life & Health course and work through Chapters 3 and 4 before you test yourself again. A free preview is available at /ks/l-and-h/preview.

Want a sample across the whole exam instead? The free practice set has 25 questions.

Exam format, fees and content outline item counts from Pearson VUE's Kansas Insurance Licensing Candidate Handbook (publication 121700, July 2026) and Kansas Insurance Content Outlines (publication 121703, effective March 1, 2025); passing score from K.A.R. 40-7-13; annuity best-interest and training rules from K.A.R. 40-1-53 and the Kansas Department of Insurance's continuing education page; pass rates from the NAIC compiled pass-rate workbooks for 2024 and 2025. Read October 2026.