Failed the North Carolina Life & Health Exam? Retake Rules, Waiting Periods and Fees (2026)

If you fail a North Carolina Life or Accident & Health exam, you can sit it again after a 24-hour wait. Each attempt costs $45. The exam also has to be passed within the application window that the NCDOI candidate guide describes, so read that guide for the exact wording before you plan a long break.

The waiting period between attempts is 24 hours. That is short, and it is not a reason to retest the next morning. A fail means a gap that a day of re-reading will not close.

The Life exam and the Accident & Health exam are two separate exams. Each is its own sitting with its own result and its own fee, so a fail on one does not touch the other.

Every attempt of either exam is $45. A first sitting of both exams is two attempts, and any retake adds another $45 for that exam.

The full budget for a Life and Accident & Health license on one application is $187. That covers the $50 registration fee per line of authority, the $44 application processing fee, the $38 SBI/FBI fingerprint fee (first license only) and the $5 NIPR transaction fee. Add the two exam attempts at $45 each and the all-in figure is $277. Every retake is on top of that.

The license cost guide itemises each line.

The exam is not open-ended. The candidate guide describes a window in which a candidate must pass after applying, and we repeat the rule only as that guide words it. The point for you is practical: a plan that says "I will try again someday" can run into the window. Book the retake while the material is fresh and check the guide's wording against your own dates.

North Carolina does not publish pass rates for people who have failed before. The published numbers cover first-time candidates only: 51.0% on Life and 60.8% on Accident & Health in 2025. Do not read optimism or pessimism into a number that does not exist. What matters is that you change something between attempts.

1. Find the section that cost you. Think back over the outline and match it to the weights: for Life, policy types (17 items) and North Carolina law (14) carry the most; for Accident & Health, policy types (22) and North Carolina law (14).
2. Switch from reading to questions. If you read the book and failed, more reading is the wrong repair. Work practice sets on the weak section and read every explanation.
3. Listen on the move. Audio lessons are a cheap way to add repetitions during a commute.
4. Retest when your practice results are steady, not when the 24 hours are up.

For how hard the exams really are, see the difficulty guide; for the format you will face, see how many questions are on the exam.

Use the North Carolina Life & Health course preview to start a targeted review, and pick a topic set from the free practice question hub for the section where you lost marks.