Study the life and health exam in two layers: the general insurance knowledge every state tests, then your own stateâs law. Start with contract basics and underwriting, move to life insurance and annuities, then accident and health, and save the last few days for state law and mixed review. CertFuelâs Life and Health course covers the general layer in Free Beta; your stateâs candidate handbook covers the rest.
What does the life and health exam cover?
Every state exam has a general-knowledge portion and a state law portion. The Texas, Florida, and Georgia content outlines open with the same general blocks: types of life policies (term, whole, universal and indexed, variable), policy provisions and riders, beneficiaries, annuities, underwriting, taxation, health plan types and managed care, disability income, Medicare and Medigap, long-term care, and group coverage. Texas shows how the two portions split: 100 of its 130 scored questions are general knowledge and 30 are Texas-specific, according to its Pearson VUE handbook. Florida, Georgia, California, and New York fold state law into one exam without a separate count.
CertFuelâs course follows the general portion in 20 units across three chapters:
- Shared foundations (2 units): insurance principles, contracts, needs analysis, applications, and underwriting. See the insurance basics and underwriting guide.
- Life insurance and annuities (8 units): term, whole, universal, indexed, and variable life; ownership and beneficiaries; provisions and riders; annuities; group, business, retirement, and tax. See the life insurance and annuities guide.
- Accident and health (10 units): cost sharing, medical plans and managed care, health provisions, disability income, AD&D and workersâ compensation, group health and COBRA, health accounts, Medicare and Medigap, Medicaid and Social Security, and long-term care. See the accident and health insurance guide.
The course doesnât cover state-specific insurance law, and it doesnât satisfy any stateâs pre-licensing education requirement.
Which free life and health study materials can you use?
These need no account:
- Cheat sheet: one-paragraph summaries of all 20 units on one page. Choose Print this review and your browserâs Save as PDF option if you want a printable copy.
- Flashcards: 24 sample cards for checking recall.
- Videos: short topic videos in course order, each linked to the matching lesson.
- Podcast: audio episodes for review on a commute or a walk.
- Your stateâs candidate handbook: the official source for exam format, fees, ID rules, and the state law topics. Pearson VUE publishes the handbooks for Texas, Florida, and Georgia; PSI publishes the bulletins for California and New York.
Inside the course, Free Beta includes the lessons, 1,700+ practice questions, 600+ flashcards, and the two diagnostics. Thereâs no published end date for the beta. The public samples above are much smaller than the course banks.
How should you use the diagnostics?
Take the diagnostic for each line youâre testing on before you study that chapter. CertFuel has a separate 50-question Life diagnostic and a 50-question Health diagnostic, so you can see whether your gaps are in annuities and beneficiaries or in disability and Medicare without mixing the two.
Donât treat a low score as bad news. Use it as a map: list the units where you missed the most and study those first within each week. Retake the matching diagnostic near the end of your plan to check whether the same units still cause trouble.
What does a two-to-four-week study plan look like?
Pick the length that fits your schedule and background. The four-week version below compresses to two weeks if you combine weeks one and two and weeks three and four.
- Week one: shared foundations, then start life. Learn insurable interest, contract elements, applications, and underwriting until you can explain them without notes. Take the Life diagnostic, then begin with term and whole life.
- Week two: finish life and annuities. Cover universal, indexed, and variable life, ownership and beneficiaries, riders, annuities, and the group, business, and tax unit. Separate owner, insured, and beneficiary in every question you miss.
- Week three: accident and health. Take the Health diagnostic, then work the 10 units with your weakest first. Disability definitions and Medicare deserve extra time because the terms are close together.
- Week four: state law and mixed review. Read the state law section of your candidate handbook and outline, work mixed practice from all three chapters, and use the cheat sheet to find units that need another pass.
If your state requires pre-licensing hours, complete them with a state-approved provider on their schedule and fit this plan around them. The licensing steps guide lists the hours for five large states.
How should you study state insurance law?
Treat it as its own step, not something youâll pick up along the way. A general course wonât teach your stateâs own rules, such as its licensing requirements or its marketing and replacement rules. Read the content outline in your stateâs candidate handbook, list each state-specific topic, and study it from your approved pre-licensing material or the regulatorâs own pages. Texas publishes its outlines as a separate document, effective September 1, 2026.
How should you review missed questions?
Write down the fact you missed, not just the topic. âAnnuitiesâ is too vague to act on. âI mixed up the accumulation and payout phasesâ tells you exactly which lesson to reopen. For contract questions, name each personâs role before you look at the answer choices.
Then change one fact and ask whether the answer changes. If a beneficiary becomes irrevocable, can the owner still change the designation alone? If you can explain the new answer, youâve learned the rule rather than the question. The difficulty guide covers the provisions that get confused most often, and the exam-day checklist covers the last few days.