Failed the South Carolina Life & Health Exam? Retake Rules, Waiting Periods and Fees (2026)

If you fail a South Carolina insurance producer exam, you can retake it after a 24-hour wait. Each attempt costs $59. Each exam may be taken six times in a one-year period. Those are the rules in the Pearson VUE candidate handbook for South Carolina, and they apply whether you sat the combined exam or a single-line exam.

The waiting period is short: 24 hours before you can schedule the next attempt. That is a rule about scheduling, not a recommendation. A fast rebook without a plan is how candidates collect a second failure.

The attempt limit is six per exam in a one-year period. You are unlikely to approach it, but it is a reason to treat each attempt as a real one instead of a practice run. Every attempt costs money and time, and a result you could have avoided with another week of focused review is the most expensive kind.

The fee is $59 for every attempt on every South Carolina insurance producer exam, and it is paid again each time you sit. The combined Life, Accident and Health exam costs $59 per attempt. The two single-line exams cost $59 each, $118 if you sit both. Failing the combined exam once means paying $59 again to retake it.

The fee is separate from the license application fee. Our license cost guide shows both side by side.

The combined exam returns one result. According to the handbook, to be licensed you must pass the complete exam, and you cannot be licensed for either single line unless you do. If you pass the life questions and fall short on health, that does not carry forward as a partial pass. Use your score report and the outline sections to work out where the marks went, and rebuild that part of your preparation.

Once you pass, your exam result is valid for one year. You can apply for the license 48 hours (two days) after passing, which gives the result time to upload to NIPR. Do not let the one-year window run down: apply promptly, and complete the fingerprint step the Department requires.

Published data does not break out how repeat takers perform, so we will not claim a number. The sensible approach is the same one that works for any retake.

1. Map your misses to the outline. Sort what you remember into the twelve outline sections and find the two or three that cost you most.
2. Do not skip the state-law block. Thirty scored questions test South Carolina rules, and generic national study material does not cover them well.
3. Switch from reading to drilling. Use topic practice sets from the free practice question hub and review every explanation, including for questions you got right.
4. Rebuild with audio. Short audio passes on the weak sections help the vocabulary stick. The course preview shows how the lessons work.
5. Rebook when your practice scores are steady, not the minute the 24 hours are up.

For the full plan, read how to pass on the first try, which applies just as well to a second attempt, and why candidates fail.