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

The Pennsylvania Life, Accident and Health exam (Series 16-03) has 150 scored questions plus 5-10 unscored experimental items. You get 170 minutes, and you need 70% correct to pass. It is delivered by PSI, at a test center or by remote proctoring, in English only.

The unscored items sit among the scored ones, and you cannot pick them out. They do not count toward your result. Because you cannot tell which they are, answer every question as if it counts.

The passing score is stated as 70% correct. That is a raw percentage of the scored questions, not a scaled score. A strong section does help cover a weak one, so you do not need to be perfect everywhere, but there is no curve to lean on.

The PSI content outline for Series 16-03 splits the scored items into thirteen sections with these weights.

Insurance Regulation is the single biggest block, then Life, Accident and Health Basics, then Life Policy Provisions, Options and Riders. Pennsylvania-specific law does not have its own section. It is woven through sections 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12, so expect state rules inside questions on licensing, provisions, mandated benefits and Medicare-related products.

Weights tell you where the marks are. Insurance Regulation (21%) plus Life, Accident and Health Basics (14%) make up the largest share of the exam, so a candidate who knows those two sections well starts with a real head start. At the other end, Dental Insurance is 1% (1-2 items) and Federal Tax Considerations is 2% (3 items): worth knowing, but not worth losing a week over.

Item counts are given as ranges in the outline for most sections, for example 31-32 or 19-20. Plan on the percentages rather than on an exact count.

Pennsylvania also offers the two lines separately. Life (Series 16-01) and Accident and Health (Series 16-02) each cost $45 per attempt, against $55 for the combined 16-03 exam. The format and weights on this page are for the combined exam, because that is the one the content outline above describes.

Practise to the real shape: long, mixed and timed. Our free course preview lets you try the style of question, and the practice question hub has free topic sets by section. For the difficulty picture, read how hard the exam really is, and for the day itself, the exam-day guide.