How Many Questions Are on the New Mexico Life & Health Exam? Format, Time Limit and Passing Score (2026)

The combined New Mexico Life, Accident and Health or Sickness exam (PSI Series 18-27) has 150 scored items and a 2.5-hour (150-minute) time limit. You need 70% to pass, and the exam fee is $75.

PSI, the company that administers the exam, also says 5 to 10 unscored "experimental" questions may be added, so you can see a few more items than the 150 that count. New Mexico also offers two single-line exams, Life only and Accident and Health or Sickness only, with 100 scored items each.

The three are equal, independently bookable options, not one exam with fallbacks. The combined exam has its own 150-item outline with its own section weights; it is not the two single-line outlines added together. Choose the exam that matches the lines of authority you want on your license. LanePrep's course models the combined exam.

The item counts above are the scored totals. PSI's candidate bulletin adds that "a small number (5 to 10) of 'experimental' questions may be administered" during the exams and that these items will not be scored. That is a range, not a fixed pretest count, and it is not tied to a particular exam series.

In practice: answer every item as though it counts, and do not be thrown if your exam runs a few items past 150.

The passing score is 70% correct, and two sources agree. New Mexico's licensing statute (NMSA 59A-11-6(D)) says "a grade of not less than seventy is a passing grade", and PSI's bulletin says "You must get 70% correct to pass."

It is a raw percentage, not a scaled score. On the combined exam that is 105 of the 150 scored items, so you can miss 45. On either single-line exam it is 70 of 100.

PSI's content outline for Series 18-27, effective July 1, 2026, divides the 150 scored items into thirteen sections. The last column shows which LanePrep chapter covers each one.

The weights add up to 100% and the items to 150. Life, Accident and Health Insurance Basics is the largest section at 16%.

Insurance Regulation is a single block of 15 items (10%). New Mexico does not split state law by line, so the same section applies whichever line you are pursuing, and there is no separate life-only or health-only state-law section to study.

On the licensing side, the outline covers the application process, the types of licensee (producers, brokers, consultants, nonresident and temporary licenses), renewal and continuing education, and disciplinary actions. On the regulation side it covers the superintendent's duties, company regulation (certificates of authority, claims settlement practices, producer appointments), producer duties (shared commissions, fiduciary duties, prohibited charges), unfair trade practices, examination of books and records, the Insurance Fraud Act and consumer information privacy. Each topic carries its own statute or rule citation.

Each single-line exam has its own Insurance Regulation section of 10 items (10% of its 100), citing the same statutes and rules.

On the combined exam, 150 minutes for 150 scored items works out to one minute per item, a little less once experimental items are counted. On a single-line exam, 120 minutes for 100 items is 1.2 minutes per item.

Next, see how hard the exam is in practice and what happens on exam day at PSI. The free practice questions follow these sections, and chapter 1 of LanePrep's New Mexico Life & Health course is free to try.