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State by State: How Your Insurance Exam Prep Should Change Depending on Where You Are Licensing

Almost every comparison of insurance exam prep argues about features. That argument is premature. One structural fact about your state decides what you are even allowed to buy, and it splits the country into two very different shopping situations: states that legally require state-approved pre-licensing education before you are licensed, and states that let you prepare however you like and simply sit the exam. Get that fact wrong and you can pay twice for the same requirement.

The decision in one paragraphFirst, confirm with your state Department of Insurance and your testing vendor's candidate handbook whether your state and your line of authority require state-approved pre-licensing education. If yes, the provider's state approval outranks every other feature and an unapproved course is wasted money. If no, you are free to optimize for content quality and price. Either way, confirm your study materials are weighted to your state's published exam content outline, because the weightings and the state law section are set per state.

The two regimes, and why this is the fact that changes what you buy

Regime one: pre-licensing education required. The state sets a number of course hours you must complete with a provider it has approved, for your specific line of authority, before you can be licensed. The hours are real and they are audited through a completion certificate reported to the state. New York states that an individual seeking an agent, broker or public adjuster license must complete a pre-licensing course approved by the Department, with published hour counts that run from 20 hours for a life agent to 90 hours for a property and casualty agent or broker. Ohio requires a pre-licensing education course from a provider approved by the Department, listed at 20 hours for lines including life, accident and health, property, casualty and personal lines. Florida's requirements for the 2-15 resident health and life license point to a 60-hour approved insurance course completed within four years of the application date, with an alternate route combining a 30-hour life, annuity and variable contracts course with a 40-hour health course.

Regime two: exam-only. The state sets no coursework prerequisite for the standard resident producer license. You study from whatever you choose, then pass the exam. Texas is a verified example: the Texas Insurance Code conditions a license on the applicant having passed the required licensing examination within the past 12 months, and neither the general licensing chapter nor the general lines chapter imposes a pre-licensing education requirement on resident general lines producers. Narrow exceptions exist even inside an exam-only state. Texas county mutual agents must complete a company course of at least five hours under a separate subchapter, so check the rule for your exact license type rather than for the state in general.

How to tell which regime you are in

We deliberately do not publish a 50-state table of which states require pre-licensing education, because such tables go stale and a stale table on this specific question costs readers money. Use two primary sources instead, and treat everything else as a hint:

  • Your state Department of Insurance. Find the resident producer licensing page for your exact line of authority. If pre-licensing education is required, the department will say so and will publish an approved provider or approved course list. The NAIC keeps a jurisdiction picker if you are not sure which agency regulates producers in your state.
  • Your testing vendor's candidate handbook. Whichever vendor your state uses, the handbook or candidate information bulletin is usually linked straight from the department page and frequently restates the education requirement next to the exam rules. Ohio's bulletin, for example, carries both the pre-licensing hours by license type and the exam mechanics in one document.

When the two sources agree, you have your answer. When they conflict or look out of date, call the department before you spend anything. These rules move: a California Department of Insurance notice describes AB 943 removing the 20-hour pre-licensing requirement for most producer lines effective January 1, 2026, while a separate 12-hour ethics and California Insurance Code study requirement under Insurance Code section 1749 stays in force and bail agents and public adjusters keep their 20 hours. A state can sit partly in each regime at once.

If your state requires pre-licensing education, approval outranks every feature

In a pre-licensing state your first filter is binary: is this provider approved by my state, for my line of authority, right now? Everything a marketing page brags about comes second. A course with better video, a slicker app and a lower price is worth exactly zero hours toward your requirement if the state has not approved it. The failure mode is expensive and common: a candidate buys a national-looking course, completes it, then learns at application time that the certificate is not accepted, and has to buy an approved course and repeat the hours. That is paying twice for the same legal requirement, plus the delay.

Three checks before you pay. Ask for the provider or course approval number for your state. Confirm it appears on your department's official approved provider list, not just on the vendor's own site. Confirm the approval covers your line of authority and delivery method, since some states approve a provider for some lines and not others, or approve classroom and self-study formats separately. And never treat exam prep as a substitute for legally required education. There is no legitimate way around a state education requirement, and any product implying otherwise is a reason to walk away.

If your state is exam-only, buy on content quality and price

In an exam-only state no vendor holds a legal advantage, so the approval question disappears and the whole decision becomes: what will actually get me through this exam, at what cost? That is a much healthier market for a buyer. Judge candidates on the things that move a score:

  • Outline weighting. Is the question bank built to your state's published exam content outline, including a dedicated state law and regulations section for your state?
  • Question volume and quality. Enough fresh items that you are not memorizing a small set, with explanations that teach the rule rather than restating the answer.
  • A full-length timed simulator. The only honest readiness check is a complete exam under real time pressure, in your state's format.
  • True total cost. One-time price versus subscriptions that renew, plus what happens if you need more time than you planned.
  • Refund terms. Read the window and the conditions before you buy, not after.

What still varies, even between two exam-only states

Removing the education requirement does not make two states' exams the same product. Pull your candidate handbook and record each of these, because together they set your study calendar and your real cost:

  • Testing vendor. States contract with Pearson VUE, PSI or Prometric, and the vendor determines scheduling, check-in rules, identification requirements and where the handbook lives.
  • Question count and time limit. Ohio's bulletin lists 150 questions in 2.5 hours for both the Life, Accident and Health and the Property and Casualty exams. The Iowa handbook lists a Life exam of 50 scoreable questions plus 5 unscored pretest questions in 2 hours. Same profession, very different sittings.
  • Passing score. Nebraska publishes 70%, which works out to 70 correct on a 100-item Property Producer exam and 105 correct on a 150-item Property and Casualty exam. Other states use scaled scores. Your handbook states which applies.
  • Fee per attempt. Ohio lists a $42 examination fee, Iowa $44, and Nebraska a range of roughly $43 to $47 by license type. Small differences that multiply if you retake.
  • Retake waiting period. Iowa's handbook says candidates must wait 24 hours before making a re-examination reservation. Nebraska's bulletin says a failed candidate cannot book the same day, with a Wednesday failure retesting as soon as Friday subject to space. Other states impose longer waits.
  • One exam or two. Iowa describes each major lines examination as a single exam in two parts, a general section and an Iowa state section. Other states score national and state law content as separate exams, which changes what a partial failure costs you.
  • Fingerprinting. Ohio requires fingerprints under Ohio Revised Code 3905.051, with a $71 fingerprint fee at PSI WebCheck locations. Other states handle background checks differently or not at all. Budget it and schedule it early, since results can take time.
  • How long your result stays valid. Texas conditions a license on having passed the exam within the past 12 months. Ohio and Nebraska both note that the examination fee is valid for one year from the date of payment. Plan the application inside the window.

Why the outline weighting has to match your state

Every state publishes an exam content outline that assigns a specific share of the exam to each topic. Those shares are set per state, and so is the entire state law and regulations section, which covers statutes, notice periods, license terms, producer duties and regulator powers that exist nowhere else. A generic national bank has to average across all of that, so you spend hours on topics your exam barely tests, underprepare on the sections it weights heaviest, and get the thinnest coverage of all on the state law section that nobody else can teach you. That is where underprepared candidates lose the most points, as we cover in our guide to national versus state exam sections. The fix is not more hours. It is hours allocated the way your state allocates questions.

Before you buy in any state: a short checklist

  1. 1

    Find out which of the two regimes your state is in

    Every state falls into one of two buckets. In a pre-licensing education state, the law requires you to complete a set number of course hours with a provider the state has approved before you are allowed to be licensed, and often before you can even sit the exam. In an exam-only state, there is no coursework prerequisite for the standard resident producer license: you study however you want and pass the exam. Nothing else about shopping for prep matters until you know which bucket you are in, because the two buckets have different buying rules. Do not take a course marketer's word for it, and do not rely on a blog table. Check two primary sources yourself, described in the next step.

  2. 2

    Verify it against your Department of Insurance and your candidate handbook

    Source one is your state insurance regulator. Start from the NAIC jurisdiction picker if you do not know your department's site, then find the resident producer licensing page for your specific line of authority. Source two is the candidate handbook or candidate information bulletin published by the testing vendor your state uses, which is usually linked directly from the department's licensing page. The handbook is the document that states the exam mechanics and very often restates the education requirement. When the two agree, you have your answer. When they disagree or look out of date, call the department. Requirements change: California removed a 20-hour pre-licensing requirement for most producer lines effective January 1, 2026 while keeping a separate 12-hour ethics and Insurance Code study requirement, which is exactly the kind of change a two-year-old blog post will get wrong.

  3. 3

    In a pre-licensing state, check the provider's state approval before anything else

    In a state that requires pre-licensing education, the course you buy is only worth something if the state has approved that provider for that line of authority. New York states plainly that the applicant must complete a pre-licensing course approved by the Department; Ohio requires the course to come from a provider approved by the Department; Florida's 2-15 requirements point to an approved insurance course. Approval is a yes or no fact, not a marketing feature. Before you pay, find the provider on your state's official approved-provider list, or ask for the provider or course approval number and check it against that list. A course that is beautiful, cheap and unapproved is worth zero credit hours in a state that requires them, and you will pay twice: once for the unapproved course, and again for the approved one.

  4. 4

    In a pre-licensing state, treat exam prep as a separate, optional purchase

    Completing legally required pre-licensing education is not optional and there is no way around it. But finishing your required hours and being ready to pass are two different things, and plenty of candidates complete an approved course and still fail. That is why an exam prep question bank, drilled after or alongside the required course, is a common second purchase. Keep the two clearly separate in your head and in your budget: the approved pre-licensing course satisfies the law, and the exam prep improves your odds on test day. Never buy exam prep instead of a legally required approved course, and be suspicious of anything sold as a shortcut around your state's requirement.

  5. 5

    In an exam-only state, optimize for content quality and price

    If your state does not require pre-licensing education for your license type, then no vendor has a legal advantage over another and the only question is which materials will actually get you through the exam. Texas is a verified example: the Insurance Code conditions a resident license on having passed the required examination within the past 12 months and sets no coursework prerequisite for general lines producer licenses. In that situation the honest shopping criteria are question bank size and quality, whether the bank is weighted to your state's published content outline, whether there is a full-length timed simulator, how explanations are written, total cost including any renewal fees, and the refund policy. You are free to buy the best value rather than the only approved option.

  6. 6

    Pull your state's exam mechanics and write them down before you plan your studying

    Even between two exam-only states, the test itself is not the same product. Read your candidate handbook and record: which vendor administers it (Pearson VUE, PSI or Prometric), the number of scored questions and whether unscored pretest questions are added on top, the time limit, the passing score and whether it is raw or scaled, the fee per attempt, how soon you may retake after a failure, whether the national and state law content are one combined exam or two separately scored ones, whether fingerprinting is required and what it costs, and how long a passing result stays valid before your application must be filed. These are the numbers that decide your study calendar and your real total cost.

  7. 7

    Confirm your materials are weighted to your state's content outline, not a national average

    Your state's exam content outline tells you exactly which topics are tested and how many questions each section is worth, and those weightings are set per state. A generic national question bank spreads your practice evenly across topics your state may barely test, and underweights the state law and regulations section that only your state tests. That is the section where generic materials are thinnest and where underprepared candidates lose the most points. Before buying, ask a simple question: is this bank built to my state's published outline, and does it include a dedicated state law section for my state? If the answer is vague, you are buying a national average of everyone's exam rather than yours.

Two habits worth adding: write down the date your passing result or examination fee expires and work backwards from it, and re-verify the education requirement within a few weeks of applying, since a legislature can change it between the day you research and the day you file.

How we build courses state by state

We build to the same distinction this page is about. Our exam prep courses serve states that allow candidates to prepare independently, and each one is built to a single state and line of authority: the question bank is weighted to that state's published exam content outline, there is a dedicated state law and regulations section rather than a national approximation, the simulator runs full-length timed finals in that state's format, and an AI tutor sits on every lesson to explain the rule behind a missed question. Courses are $49.99 one time with lifetime access and no renewal fee, typically 500+ practice questions each, and covered by a 7-day refund window described at our refund policy.

Pre-licensing and continuing education are a different legal category, and we treat them that way. We offer pre-licensing and CE courses only in states where Elite Training Academy holds the required provider approval, because in those states an unapproved course is not a lesser option, it is a non-option. To see what is available for your state and line, check the states listed in our course catalog, and browse the per-state and per-topic walkthroughs in our guides library. Want to gauge where you stand before spending anything? Take a free practice exam.

Find what is available in your state

Outline-weighted question banks with a dedicated state law section, a full-length timed exam simulator, and an AI tutor on every lesson. $49.99 one time, lifetime access, no renewal fee.

Browse courses by state →

Frequently asked questions

Do I need pre-licensing education to get an insurance license?

It depends entirely on your state and your line of authority, and it is the first thing you should confirm. Some states require a set number of hours from a state-approved provider before you can be licensed. New York, for example, requires a pre-licensing course approved by the Department, with hours that range from 20 for a life agent up to 90 for a property and casualty agent or broker. Other states impose no coursework prerequisite for a resident producer license at all: the Texas Insurance Code conditions a license on passing the required exam within the past 12 months and lists no course requirement for general lines producers. Check your state Department of Insurance page and your testing vendor's candidate handbook before buying anything.

How do I know if my state requires a state-approved pre-licensing course?

Use two primary sources. First, your state insurance department's resident producer licensing page for your specific line of authority. Second, the candidate handbook or candidate information bulletin published by the exam vendor your state uses, which is usually linked from that same department page and often restates the education requirement alongside the exam rules. If the requirement exists, the department will publish a list of approved providers and courses. If you cannot find a hours requirement on either source, call the department and confirm before you assume there is none. Third-party blogs and course marketing pages go stale, and requirements do change.

What happens if I take a pre-licensing course that is not state approved?

In a state that requires approved pre-licensing education, an unapproved course earns you no credit toward the requirement. The state will not accept the completion certificate, your application will not be processed on that basis, and you will have to take an approved course afterward. That means paying twice and losing the study time. This is why, in a pre-licensing state, provider approval outranks every other feature: price, interface, video quality, and question count are all irrelevant if the certificate does not count. Verify the provider on your state's official approved-provider list before you pay.

Can exam prep replace required pre-licensing education?

No. If your state legally requires approved pre-licensing education, you must complete it with an approved provider, and no exam prep product substitutes for it. Anything marketed as a way around a legal education requirement should be treated as a red flag. Exam prep serves a different job: it drills you on exam-style questions and simulates the real test so you walk in ready. In a pre-licensing state, the sensible pattern is approved course first to satisfy the law, then question drilling to prepare for the exam. In an exam-only state, exam prep may be the only study product you buy.

How much do insurance exams differ from state to state?

More than most candidates expect. Published state materials show real spread: the Ohio bulletin lists 150 questions in 2.5 hours for both the Life, Accident and Health and the Property and Casualty exams with a $42 examination fee, while the Iowa candidate handbook lists a $44 fee and a Life exam of 50 scoreable questions plus 5 pretest questions in 2 hours. Nebraska's bulletin sets its passing standard at 70%, meaning 70 correct on a 100-item Property Producer exam and 105 correct on a 150-item Property and Casualty exam. The vendor, question count, time limit, passing score, fee, retake waiting period, and fingerprinting rules are all state-level decisions. Read your own handbook rather than assuming.

Are the national and state law sections one exam or two?

That varies by state as well. Some states combine them into a single sitting with two parts. The Iowa candidate handbook describes each major lines examination as one exam in two parts, a general section covering basic insurance product knowledge and a state section covering Iowa laws, rules, regulations and practices. Other states score the national and state law content as separate exams that can be passed independently, which changes what a retake costs you. Your candidate handbook states which structure applies. It matters for planning, because in a two-exam state failing one part does not necessarily mean re-sitting both.

Why does a state-specific question bank matter if the material is mostly national?

Because the weightings and the state law section are not national. Your state publishes an exam content outline that assigns a specific number of questions to each topic, and those assignments differ across states. A bank built to a national average spends your practice hours in proportions your exam does not use, and it covers your state's own statutes, notice periods, license terms and regulator rules thinnest of all. The state law portion is pure memorization of state-specific numbers and rules, so it is the easiest section to lose points on with generic materials and the easiest to bank points on with materials built for your state.

Do requirements ever change, and how do I stay current?

Yes, and recently. A California Department of Insurance notice describes AB 943 (Chapter 566, Statutes of 2025) removing the 20-hour pre-licensing education requirement for property, casualty, commercial lines, personal lines, limited line automobile, life, and accident and health or sickness applicants effective January 1, 2026, while California Insurance Code section 1749 continues to require 12 hours of study on ethics and the California Insurance Code before a license is issued, and bail agents and public insurance adjusters keep their 20 hours. That is one bill changing what a whole state should buy. Verify your requirement close to the date you plan to apply, not from an old article.

How long is a passing exam score good for?

It varies, and it is a deadline worth writing down. Texas conditions a license on having passed the required licensing examination within the past 12 months, so a passing result there does not sit indefinitely while you delay the application. Other states express related windows differently: Ohio and Nebraska both state that the examination fee is valid for one year from the date of payment. Your candidate handbook and your department's licensing page will state the applicable window for your state. Plan backwards from it so fingerprinting, background checks and the application itself all land inside the window.

Related guides

Sources cited

Licensing rules, required pre-licensing hours, approved provider lists, exam formats, question counts, time limits, passing scores, fees, fingerprinting rules and score validity windows are set by each state and change over time. The state examples above were verified against the primary sources listed on August 17, 2026, and illustrate how the rules differ; they are not a complete or current list for any other state. Always confirm current requirements for your state and your exact line of authority with your state Department of Insurance and your testing vendor's candidate handbook before you buy a course or apply. Nothing here is legal advice, and no prep course, including ours, can guarantee a passing score.