How to Pass the Maryland Life & Health Exam on the First Try (2026)

Maryland does not force every Life and Health candidate through the same exam. You choose between two separate single-line exams — the Life Producer exam and the Accident and Health or Sickness Producer exam — or one combined exam that covers both lines in a single sitting. Each single-line exam delivers 80 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest questions mixed in without being labeled, 90 items in total, in 105 minutes. The combined exam delivers 130 scored questions plus the same 10 pretest questions, 140 items in total, in 150 minutes.

Passing any of the three versions takes 70% or higher — Maryland's vendor states the passing mark as a plain percentage, not a scaled score. Every version is delivered by Prometric and costs $62 per attempt, whichever one you sit. General-knowledge content and Maryland-specific content are interleaved in one outline and tested together in one sitting on every version — there is no separate passing mark for the state-law portion.

Sitting the two single-line exams separately costs $124 total ($62 each). Sitting the combined exam once costs $62 total — the combined exam is both the cheaper and the faster path to both lines of authority, since it is one fee and one appointment instead of two. If you already know you want both Life and Accident and Health authority, the combined exam is the straightforward choice.

There is one reason to still consider the two single-line exams: the Life Producer exam has the lowest first-time pass rate of the three versions (see below), so a candidate who only needs the Accident and Health line avoids that harder material entirely by sitting only the 80-question Accident and Health exam rather than the 130-question combined version. If you only need one line of authority, sit only that line's exam — do not pay for the combined exam, or study the other line's content, that you do not need.

Maryland has not required a pre-licensing course since October 1, 2024. Chapter 874 of the Maryland General Assembly's 2024 Regular Session (House Bill 265, companion Senate Bill 336) repealed and reenacted Md. Code Ann., Ins. §§10-104, 10-105, 10-108, 10-109, 10-119(b) and (h), 10-120(a), 10-122(a), and 10-125(d), striking the clause that required an applicant to “complete successfully a program of studies that has been established or approved by the Commissioner” for every license type that requires an exam, including Life and Accident & Health. The Maryland Insurance Administration's own Bulletin 24-19 (dated July 24, 2024) confirms the same effective date and the operational wind-down that went with it.

This is a repeal, not a requirement that never existed: before October 1, 2024, Maryland required a 20-hour pre-licensing study course per line, with waivers available for designation holders (CLU, ChFC, CFP, FLMI, LUTCF for Life; RHU, HIA, CEBS for Health) or FINRA Series 6/7/63 registrants. Skipping a now-repealed course does not mean skipping preparation — see the pass rates below.

NAIC compiles first-time, English-language pass rates by state and exam. For Maryland: Life Producer — 51.1% in 2024 (4,351 candidates, 2,224 passed) and 50.7% in 2025 (5,416 candidates, 2,744 passed). Accident and Health or Sickness Producer — 66.8% in 2024 (636 candidates, 425 passed) and 71.3% in 2025 (687 candidates, 490 passed). Combined exam — 66.2% in 2025 (4,165 candidates, 2,757 passed); Maryland's 2024 NAIC workbook did not report a separate row for the combined exam.

Read plainly: the Life Producer exam is the hardest of the three by a wide margin — roughly half of first-time Life candidates do not pass, against roughly seven in ten candidates who do pass the Accident and Health exam. If you are preparing for the combined exam or for Life authority specifically, treat Life Insurance Basics, Life Insurance Policies, and Policy Provisions, Options and Riders as seriously as you treat Insurance Regulation — a candidate who drills Maryland law and treats the life-product sections as an afterthought is studying against the wrong failure mode.

Prometric's content outlines, filename-dated September 21, 2021 and still in force, list exactly how each exam's scored questions divide across sections. The one constant across all three versions: Insurance Regulation is 30% of every exam — 24 of 80 items on each single-line exam, 39 of 130 on the combined exam. No other section comes close; treat Maryland Insurance Regulation as the single highest-leverage topic regardless of which exam you sit.

Life Producer (80 scored, 8 sections):

• Insurance Regulation: 30% (24 items)
• General Insurance: 10% (8 items)
• Life Insurance Basics: 18% (14 items)
• Life Insurance Policies: 10% (8 items)
• Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders: 14% (11 items)
• Annuities: 9% (7 items)
• Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities: 8% (6 items)
• Qualified Plans: 3% (2 items)

Accident and Health or Sickness Producer (80 scored, 10 sections):

• Insurance Regulation: 30% (24 items)
• General Insurance: 9% (7 items)
• Health Insurance Basics: 11% (9 items)
• Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions: 8% (6 items)
• Disability Income and Related Insurance: 9% (7 items)
• Medical Plans: 14% (11 items)
• Group Health Insurance: 5% (4 items)
• Dental Insurance: 1% (1 item)
• Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals: 9% (7 items)
• Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance: 5% (4 items)

The combined exam merges both outlines into 16 sections — the shared Insurance Regulation and General Insurance sections counted once, not twice — and reweights them: Insurance Regulation 30% (39 items), General Insurance 5% (7), Life Insurance Basics 9% (12), Life Insurance Policies 5% (7), Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders 8% (10), Annuities 5% (6), Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities 4% (5), Qualified Plans 2% (2), Health Insurance Basics 7% (9), Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions 2% (3), Disability Income and Related Insurance 5% (6), Medical Plans 8% (10), Group Health Insurance 2% (3), Dental Insurance 1% (1), Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals 5% (7), Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance 2% (3) — 130 items exactly.

The Insurance Regulation section tested on every version draws on Maryland's Insurance Article: licensing process and qualifications (§§10-103(c)(1), 10-104, 10-105, 10-108, 10-109, 10-118(b)(2), 10-119(b)/(h), 10-120(a), 10-122(a), 10-124(a), 10-125(d) — the same sections Chapter 874 touched), license types and definitions (§1-101(u)(1)), maintenance and renewal (§§10-115, 10-1-05, 10-116(a)(2)(i), 10-211(e)(2)(i)), disciplinary actions (§§1-301, 10-126(e), 27-202), fraud (§§2-401, 27-216(a)(1)(i)), the MIA's own general duties and powers (§§2-101, 2-102(a), 2-103(a)(4), 2-204(b)(1), 16-601), insurer regulation (§§4-101, 12-203(a)(2), 15-204(B), 15-208(A)(1), 15-211(A), 27-501(a)(1)), producer regulation including unlicensed activity and commissions (§§10-105, 27-209, COMAR 31.03.03), unfair trade practices (§§27-213, 27-304, 27-305(a), 27-504(b)(1), COMAR 31.15.02.02, 31.15.02.03(B), 31.15.02.12, 31.15.02.18(A)), and the Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Corporation (§§9-402, 9-405(a)(2), 9-409(b)).

Two short sections apply to only one line. If you sit the Life Producer exam, or the Life portion of the combined exam: policy replacement (COMAR 31.09.05.10) and group life — eligibility, dependent coverage, standard provisions, conversion and assignment (§§17-201(a), 17-202(b), 17-209(a)(2)(i)/(ii)). If you sit the Accident and Health exam, or that portion of the combined exam: nonprofit health service plans under the Health General Article (§§19-701, 19-705), mandated and required benefits (§§15-407, 15-408, 15-409, 15-801, 15-802, 15-804(3), 15-810, 15-838, 15-839, 15-841, COMAR 31.10.06.08(B)(12)), small-employer health insurance (§§15-1201(e), 15-1204, 15-1205, 15-1208(C)), Medicare supplement insurance (§§15-901, 15-906, 15-909, 15-910), and Maryland long-term care rules, including state-income-tax premium deductibility under Tax-General Article §§10-710 through 10-718 and Insurance Article §§18-101, 18-104, 18-105.

The LanePrep Maryland course is nine audio chapters built directly from the outlines above, each with its own quiz. Chapters 1 (General Insurance Concepts) and 8 (Maryland Insurance Regulation) carry content tested on every version; Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are Life-only; Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are Accident and Health-only; Chapter 9 is exam-day strategy with no scored weight.

Sitting only the Life Producer exam (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9): Chapter 1 — General Insurance Concepts (8 items), Chapter 2 — Life Insurance Basics (14 items), Chapter 3 — Life Insurance Policies; Policy Provisions, Options and Riders (19 items), Chapter 4 — Annuities; Federal Tax Considerations; Qualified Plans (15 items), and Chapter 8 — Maryland Insurance Regulation (24 items). Those five chapters cover all 80 items on the Life Producer exam (8+14+19+15+24).

Sitting only the Accident and Health exam (Chapters 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9): Chapter 1 (8 items), Chapter 5 — Health Insurance Basics; Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions (15 items), Chapter 6 — Disability Income; Medical Plans; Group Health Insurance; Dental Insurance (22 items), Chapter 7 — Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals; Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance (11 items), and Chapter 8 (24 items). Those five chapters cover all 80 items on the Accident and Health exam (8+15+22+11+24).

Sitting the combined exam: you need all nine chapters — the combined outline reweights the same material into 130 items rather than testing anything new.

Week 1: Chapter 1, then Chapters 2-4 if you are on the Life path, Chapters 5-7 if you are on the Accident and Health path, or both sets if you are sitting the combined exam. Week 2: Chapter 8 — the single highest-weighted chapter on every version at 24 of 80 (or 39 of 130) items — followed by re-drilling whichever chapter quizzes flagged the most misses. Week 3: Chapter 9 — Exam Day: Prometric, Scoring and Strategy, then a timed run through every chapter quiz you need for your exam in one sitting, then book.

Take the chapter quiz after each listen and write down which questions you missed; two days later, before starting the next chapter, answer those same questions again. That short loop is where the retention comes from — listening alone feels productive but does not tell you what actually stuck. Chapters 1 and 9 are free at /md/l-and-h/preview — full audio and quiz, no signup.

Exam structure, fees and passing score from Prometric's Maryland Insurance Administration candidate bulletins and FAQ (effective October 1, 2024). Content outline weights from the Prometric/MIA Life Producer (20-27), Accident and Health or Sickness Producer (20-24) and Combo (20-30) content outlines (filename-dated September 21, 2021). Pass rates from the NAIC 2024 and 2025 compiled pass-rate reports. Read October 2026.