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

The Pennsylvania Life, Accident and Health examination (PSI Series 16-03) is one combined test delivered by PSI Services at its test centers and by remote proctoring. It has 150 scored multiple-choice questions and you get 170 minutes to answer them — about 68 seconds per question, which is tighter than it sounds once you count the questions you flag and come back to.

The passing score is 70% raw, so 105 correct answers out of 150 is a pass. PSI may add 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions to your exam; the time to answer them is built into the 170 minutes, you will not be told which ones they are, and they do not count toward your result. The practical consequence is that a question which seems to come from nowhere may simply be a trial item. Answer it and move on.

Your score is displayed on screen at the end of the exam and a score report is emailed to you. If you fail, the emailed report includes a diagnostic breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses by examination type — the first thing to read before deciding how much more work the next attempt needs.

Because the exam covers both the Life content and the Accident & Health content, a single pass supports an application for both lines of authority. Pennsylvania also offers the two halves on their own — Life (Series 16-01) and Accident and Health (Series 16-02) at $45 each — but the combined exam costs $55, and most candidates who intend to sell both lines take it once.

For years Pennsylvania required applicants to complete a 24-credit-hour pre-licensing education course before they could sit the producer exam. Act 142 of 2024 (Senate Bill 1241, signed October 31, 2024) deleted that requirement from the Insurance Department Act of 1921, and the change took effect 180 days later, on April 29, 2025. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department's licensing portal states it plainly: effective April 29, 2025, the pre-licensing education requirement has been removed.

What remains, according to the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, is a short list. A resident applicant must be 18 or older, live in Pennsylvania, be able to read and write English, pass the examination required under 40 P.S. §310.5, and submit fingerprints for an FBI background check. There is no education item on that list, and — unlike some states — no separate ethics course stands between the exam and the license.

In practice that means you can create a PSI account today, pay the $55 and sit the exam as soon as you are ready. The exam has not become easier; the pass rates below make that clear. What changed is that you now decide how to prepare, instead of paying for a seat-time requirement.

If a study guide or provider still tells you that a 24-hour course is required before you can take the Pennsylvania exam, that information is out of date. The PID portal notice and Act 142 of 2024 are the primary sources.

The NAIC compiles pass rates for every state's producer exams. For first-time candidates on the English-language Pennsylvania Life, Accident and Health exam (Series 16-03):

• 2024: 64.5% — 4,762 first-time candidates
• 2025: 61.1% — 5,035 first-time candidates (61.2% at test centers, 60.9% by remote proctor)

Two things follow from those numbers. First, between a third and four in ten people who walk in for the first time fail. The exam is not a formality. Second, the rate fell in 2025, the year the course requirement went away. Whatever the reason, nothing in the data suggests the exam is getting easier.

Pennsylvania does not publish repeat-taker pass rates, so there is no second-attempt figure to quote. What is published is instructive anyway: the Life-only exam (Series 16-01) had a first-time pass rate of about 55% across 2024 and 2025, lower than the combined exam. Candidates who assume the half exam is the easy option should look at that number first.

The cheapest path through this exam is therefore to treat the first attempt as the only one. Every retake costs the $55 PSI fee again — exam fees are not refundable or transferable — plus the days until a new seat and the weeks you are not yet licensed. The full cost breakdown shows what a retake does to the total.

PSI publishes a content outline for Series 16-03, in force from March 1, 2026. It lists thirteen sections with a percentage weight and an item count for each. Those counts tell you where to spend your time.

• Insurance Regulation — licensing, disciplinary actions, state and federal regulation, unfair insurance practices, replacement, privacy, fraud: 21% (31–32 questions)
• General Insurance Concepts — risk, insurers, contracts, agency: 7% (10–11)
• Life, Accident and Health Basics — insurable interest, underwriting, classes of policies, producer responsibilities: 14% (21)
• Types of Life Insurance Policies: 8% (12)
• Life Policy Provisions, Options and Riders: 13% (19–20)
• Annuities: 9% (13–14)
• Individual Accident & Health Policy Provisions: 7% (10–11)
• Disability Income and Related Insurance: 4% (6)
• Medical Plans: 4% (6)
• Group Health Insurance: 3% (4–5)
• Dental Insurance: 1% (1–2)
• Senior Citizens and Special Needs — Medicare, Medigap, long-term care: 7% (10–11)
• Federal Tax Considerations: 2% (3)

Read the list as three blocks and the shape of the exam is clear. Insurance Regulation on its own is the single largest section at 31 or 32 questions — more than all of the health sections from Individual A&H Provisions through Dental put together. Regulation, Basics and Life Provisions are 48% of the exam, roughly 72 questions. The three life-product sections (Types of Policies, Provisions and Riders, Annuities) are 30%. The six health sections are 26%, and within them Senior Citizens and Special Needs is the biggest at 7%. Dental is one or two questions and Federal Tax is three; they are worth knowing, but a pass is not decided there.

One feature of the Pennsylvania outline catches candidates who have only studied generic national material. Pennsylvania law is not a separate section. It is woven into Regulation, Basics, Life Provisions, A&H Provisions, Medical Plans and the Seniors section — the standard life provisions under 40 P.S. §510, the A&H free look under §752, replacement under 40 P.S. §625 and 31 Pa. Code Chapter 81, the Unfair Insurance Practices Act, Medigap and long-term care rules in 31 Pa. Code. Those rules have to be learned alongside the general material, not left for the end.

Most of this material is conceptual. You do not need diagrams to understand how a grace period works or what makes a replacement improper; you need a clear explanation you can hear more than once. That is why the LanePrep Pennsylvania course is nine audio chapters, built chapter by chapter from the Series 16-03 outline, each with a quiz. A commute, a walk or a workout becomes study time, and a chapter you missed can be replayed at the same cost as the first listen.

Three weeks of about an hour a day is enough for most working candidates. The course allocates its chapters by exam weight, so the plan below spends the most days where the most questions are.

Week 1 — Life (Chapters 1–5)

• Days 1–2: Chapter 1 — Insurance Basics, Contracts & the Pennsylvania Marketplace (general concepts, insurable interest, producer responsibilities; 18 of the 150 questions map here)
• Day 3: Chapter 2 — Types of Life Insurance Policies (12 questions)
• Days 4–5: Chapter 3 — Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options & Riders (18 questions)
• Day 6: Chapter 4 — Annuities (14 questions)
• Day 7: Chapter 5 — Federal Tax, Retirement Plans & Underwriting (8 questions), then re-listen to whatever you got wrong on the quizzes

Week 2 — Health and Regulation (Chapters 6–7)

• Days 8–10: Chapter 6 — Health Insurance: Individual A&H Provisions, Disability, Medical Plans, Group & Dental (31 questions, served in two parts)
• Days 11–14: Chapter 7 — Pennsylvania Insurance Regulation & Producer Law (31 questions, two parts). This is the largest block on the exam; give it the full four days.

Week 3 — Pennsylvania policy law and the exam itself (Chapters 8–9)

• Days 15–16: Chapter 8 — Pennsylvania Policy Law: Mandated Benefits, Medigap, Long-Term Care & Seniors (18 questions)
• Day 17: Chapter 9 — Exam Day: PSI, Scoring & Strategy, then a timed run through every chapter quiz in one sitting
• Days 18–21: Re-drill the questions you missed, re-listen to the weakest chapter, and rest the day before

Take the chapter quiz after each listen and write down the question numbers you missed. Two days later, before the next chapter, answer those again. That short loop is where most of the retention comes from; listening alone feels productive but does not test whether anything stuck. When the chapters are done, the timed practice exam tells you whether you are at 70% across the whole outline or only in the chapters you like.

Chapters 1 and 9 are free at /pa/l-and-h/preview — the full audio and the quiz, no signup. Chapter 9 is the one to listen to first if you have already studied elsewhere and only want to check the format and the Pennsylvania-specific rules before you book.

If you fail. There is no limit on the number of attempts and no mandatory waiting period. The only constraint is that PSI cannot book a new appointment on the same day you tested, because scores have to be processed: a candidate who fails on a Wednesday can call on Thursday and retest as soon as Friday, subject to seat availability. Use the diagnostic report on your emailed score report to decide how long to wait. If you were close, two focused weeks on the sections you missed is usually enough; if you were far off, go back through the plan above.

Booking. Schedule through PSI at test-takers.psiexams.com/pain or by phone at 888-818-5822, and pay the $55 when you book. Register under your legal first and last name exactly as it appears on your government ID. Rescheduling or cancelling is free if PSI receives the notice two days before the appointment — for a Monday exam, by the previous Saturday — and it has to be done online or by speaking to a representative; a voicemail or email does not count. A late change, a no-show or arriving after the start time forfeits the fee.

Where to test. You can test at a PSI test center or by remote proctoring from home; the $55 fee is the same either way. In 2025 the two produced almost identical first-time pass rates (61.2% in person, 60.9% remote), so pick the one where you will be least distracted. Note that breaks are not allowed during a remote proctored exam; if you cannot sit for 170 minutes without one, book a test center.

Identification. Bring one valid, unexpired government-issued ID that carries your photo and signature — a state driver's license or ID card, a passport, a military ID, an alien registration card or an employment authorization card all qualify. If the name on the ID does not match your registration, or you forget it, you will not be allowed to test and the fee is not refunded.

On the day. Arrive 30 minutes early for check-in. Answer every question — there is no penalty for a wrong answer and the pass mark is a raw percentage. Flag the ones you are unsure of and come back to them; at 170 minutes for 150 scored questions you have time to do that once, not twice. Change an answer only when you remember a specific fact that makes the first choice wrong. If English is not your primary language, PSI grants time and a half on request with a letter from an instructor or sponsoring company; ask before you book, not on the day.

After a pass, you must submit your license application to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department within one year. The kiosk at the PSI test site lets you apply straight away through sircon.com/pennsylvania or nipr.com, and you can also do it from your own computer. Only then register with IdentoGO for fingerprints — prints submitted before an application exists are destroyed. Keep inside that window and you will not have to sit the exam again.

Exam format, fees and procedures come from the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin for Pennsylvania (effective January 22, 2026) and the PSI Series 16-03 content outline; pass rates from the NAIC compiled pass-rate reports for 2024 and 2025. Read October 2026.