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

Virginia does not force every Life and Health candidate through one exam. You can sit one combined exam that covers both lines of authority, or two separate single-line exams — whichever path gets you the license you need.

The combined exam, Prometric Series 11-01 (Virginia Life, Annuities, and Health), has 140 scored questions plus 10 pretest questions mixed in without being labeled — 150 items in total — in 150 minutes (2.5 hours), for $35. The two single-line exams — Series 11-05 (Life and Annuities) and Series 11-06 (Health) — each run 120 minutes for $35 per attempt; Prometric's own published materials do not break out a scored-item count for either one, so no question count for the single-line exams appears here or anywhere reliable.

Every version is delivered by Prometric, at any Prometric test center in the United States or through Prometric's Remote Proctored network — your choice, side by side, at no difference in fee.

Virginia's Bureau of Insurance sets the passing standard for the exam. It is not stated as a plain number in the materials LanePrep could verify against a primary source, so this guide does not quote one. What you will see is your score report at the end of the exam, which tells you directly whether you passed.

A candidate who wants both lines of authority can sit the combined exam once for $35, or sit the two single-line exams separately for $35 each — $70 total. The combined exam is exactly half the price of the two-exam path, and it is also one appointment instead of two.

If you only need one line — say, you sell annuities and life insurance but never health business — sit only that line's single-line exam. There is no advantage to paying for the combined exam, or studying content you will never be tested on, if you do not plan to hold both lines.

Because Prometric does not publish a scored-item count for either single-line exam, this guide cannot tell you how the single-line exams compare to the combined exam question-for-question. What is confirmed is the content time (120 minutes each) and the fee ($35 each), and that the combined exam's 140 scored items are drawn from the same 16-section outline either way.

Neither line requires a pre-licensing course. Va. Code § 38.2-1815(A), which governs the life and annuities agent license, conditions licensure on the applicant having "passed an examination in a form and manner prescribed by the Commission" — nothing more. § 38.2-1815.1(A), which governs the health agent license, uses the same construction for the health line.

Virginia's own Bureau of Insurance draws the line explicitly on its fee page: of the five examined agent license types it lists (Life and Annuities, Health, Property and Casualty, Personal Lines, Title), only the Title license carries a stated pre-licensing study-course requirement — a 16-hour course, completed within one year of the exam. No equivalent clause appears for Life and Annuities or Health.

Prometric's own candidate intake asks whether you completed a prep course, but the Bulletin states plainly that the answer is collected purely as voluntary demographic data and has no bearing on your exam result or license eligibility.

NAIC compiles first-time, English-language pass rates by state and exam. Across the two most recent compiled years:

• Combined exam (Series 11-01): 58.9% in 2024 (2,746 of 4,664 candidates) and 70.4% in 2025 (2,758 of 3,917) — roughly 59-70 percent across the two years.
• Life and Annuities (Series 11-05): 56.2% in 2024 (1,946 of 3,463) and 67.6% in 2025 (1,858 of 2,748) — roughly 56-68 percent.
• Health (Series 11-06): 68.3% in 2024 (654 of 958) and 71.0% in 2025 (608 of 856) — roughly 68-71 percent.

Read plainly: on the Life and Annuities exam, between three and four in ten first-time candidates do not pass; on Health and on the combined exam the miss rate is closer to three in ten. This is not a formality to walk into unprepared.

One honest caveat belongs here. Candidate volume fell on every one of these rows from 2024 to 2025 (Life and Annuities down 21 percent, the combined exam down 16 percent, Health down 11 percent) at the same time every pass rate rose substantially. That simultaneous volume-down, pass-rate-up pattern is large enough that it cannot be read cleanly as "the exam got easier" or "candidates got better prepared" — it may also reflect a reporting or counting-window change between the two NAIC compiles. Treat the ranges above, not a single year's number, as the honest picture.

Prometric's Series 11-01 content outline lists 16 sections for the combined exam, each with a stated percentage weight and item count that together total exactly 140 items and 100 percent:

• 1.0 Insurance Regulation — 10% (14 items)
• 2.0 General Insurance — 6% (8)
• 3.0 Life Insurance Basics — 6% (8)
• 4.0 Life Insurance Policies — 10% (14)
• 5.0 Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders — 11% (16)
• 6.0 Annuities — 6% (8)
• 7.0 Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities — 2% (3)
• 8.0 Qualified Plans — 2% (3)
• 9.0 Health Insurance Basics — 6% (8)
• 10.0 Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions — 11% (16)
• 11.0 Disability Income and Related Insurance — 5% (7)
• 12.0 Medical Plans — 6% (8)
• 13.0 Group Health Insurance — 5% (7)
• 14.0 Dental Insurance — 1% (2)
• 15.0 Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals — 11% (15)
• 16.0 Federal Tax Considerations for Health Insurance — 2% (3)

Five sections carry 14 items or more: Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders and Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions (16 each), Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals (15), and Insurance Regulation and Life Insurance Policies (14 each). Together those five sections are 75 of the 140 scored items — more than half the exam — so they are where a study plan should spend the most time. Dental Insurance, at 2 items, and the two Federal Tax sections, at 3 items each, matter for completeness but will not decide a pass or fail on their own.

Virginia law is not set apart in its own block on this outline; it runs through all 16 sections as a direct citation to the Code of Virginia or to the Virginia Administrative Code. Licensing sits in Title 38.2, Chapter 18; the substantive life, health, annuity and long-term care law cited across the outline sits in Chapters 31, 32, 33, 34 and 52 of the same title.

The regulatory citations behind the outline's provisions, riders and product-specific rules run to 14VAC5-30 (replacement), 14VAC5-41 (advertising), 14VAC5-45 (annuity suitability), 14VAC5-70 (accelerated benefits), 14VAC5-90 (health advertising), 14VAC5-141 (individual health policy provisions), 14VAC5-170 (Medicare supplement), 14VAC5-180 (HIV testing), 14VAC5-200 (long-term care), and 14VAC5-211 (HMOs). None of this sits in a separate "Virginia law" section to cram at the end — it has to be learned alongside the general material, section by section.

The LanePrep Virginia course is nine audio chapters, built directly from the Series 11-01 outline above, each with its own quiz.

Week 1 — Life (Chapters 1-4)

• Days 1-2: Chapter 1 — Virginia Insurance Regulation (14 items)
• Days 3-4: Chapter 2 — General Insurance Concepts and Life Insurance Basics (16 items)
• Day 5: Chapter 3 — Life Insurance Policies (14 items)
• Days 6-7: Chapter 4 — Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options and Riders (16 items)

Week 2 — Annuities and Health (Chapters 5-7)

• Days 8-9: Chapter 5 — Annuities, Federal Tax Considerations and Qualified Plans (14 items)
• Days 10-12: Chapter 6 — Health Insurance Basics and Individual Policy Provisions (24 items, the single largest chapter; give it the extra day)
• Days 13-14: Chapter 7 — Disability Income, Medical Plans, Group Health and Dental Insurance (24 items)

Week 3 — Seniors, taxation and exam day (Chapters 8-9)

• Days 15-17: Chapter 8 — Insurance for Seniors, Special Needs Individuals and Health Insurance Taxation (18 items)
• Day 18: Chapter 9 — Exam Day: Prometric, Scoring and Strategy, then a timed run through every chapter quiz in one sitting
• Days 19-21: 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 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 test what actually stuck. Chapters 1 and 9 are free at /va/l-and-h/preview — full audio and the chapter quiz, no signup.

Exam registration is valid for 90 calendar days from processing before it expires unused — schedule and sit within that window. A passed result stays valid for 183 calendar days (about six months) for the purpose of submitting a license application, so apply promptly once you pass rather than letting the window run.

If you do not pass, Virginia requires a 24-hour wait before you can schedule a reexamination. After a third consecutive failure, Virginia law requires a 30-calendar-day wait before the next attempt. Use that time — re-read your score report, note which sections you missed, and re-listen to the matching chapters before you rebook.

English is the only language the exam is offered in. If English is not your primary language, Prometric allows a request for up to time-and-one-half (150 percent) of the normal time limit, supported by a personal letter plus a letter from an instructor or sponsoring company — arrange this before you book, not on exam day.

Passing the exam is one step, not the whole process. For what happens next — fingerprinting, the license application, and what everything costs — see how much a Virginia Life & Health license costs.

Exam structure, fees, scheduling rules and the content outline come from Prometric's Virginia Licensing Information Bulletin (effective December 13, 2024) and the Series 11-01 content outline. Pass rates from the NAIC 2024 and 2025 compiled pass-rate reports. Read October 2026.