- You need 105 of 150 questions correct (70%) in three hours to pass the AL-LH exam.
- Life Insurance carries the most weight at 55 questions - study it first and hardest.
- No prelicensing certificate has been required in Alabama since January 1, 2024.
- The $75 exam is proctored on-site or remotely via ProctorU, with no notes, books, or calculators allowed.
What the AL-LH Exam Actually Tests
The Alabama Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam (AL-LH) is the state licensing test that determines whether you're qualified to sell life and health insurance products in Alabama. It's governed by the Alabama Department of Insurance and administered through the University of Alabama's Alabama Insurance Testing program - not a private certifying body, and not to be confused with any similarly abbreviated credential you may find elsewhere online. If you've landed on this guide searching for background before you dive into content review, start with What Is AL-LH? or AL-LH Meaning for the plain-language explanation, then come back here for the tactical prep plan.
The exam is a combined Life and Health test: 150 computer-based multiple-choice questions, a three-hour time limit, and a passing threshold of 105 correct answers (70%). That combination format is important to internalize early - you are not taking two separate exams. Life and Health content is interwoven into a single 150-question session, so your pacing strategy has to account for both subject areas without losing momentum.
Registration, Fees, and Test-Day Logistics
Registration and fee mechanics are where a lot of first-time candidates lose time they didn't need to lose. Here's what actually applies to the Alabama exam:
- Cost: $75 for the combined Life and Health exam.
- Format: Computer-based, delivered at approved Alabama testing sites or remotely through ProctorU online proctoring.
- Eligibility: Candidates must be at least 18 years old. Alabama has not required a prelicensing education completion certificate since January 1, 2024, which simplifies the path to sitting for the exam compared to prior years.
- Prohibited items: Books, study materials, calculators, and any paper or scrap paper are not allowed in the testing room, whether you sit on-site or online.
Because scratch paper isn't permitted, any math-adjacent concepts - cash value calculations, premium mode adjustments, benefit period math - need to be workable in your head or through elimination logic, not scribbled arithmetic. That's a subtle but real difference from exams that hand you a whiteboard.
If you want the full breakdown of what the $75 fee does and doesn't include, and how it compares across delivery formats, see AL-LH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. For the exact scoring mechanics behind that 105-of-150 threshold, AL-LH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass walks through it in more detail. And if you're still mapping out testing windows and how far in advance to schedule, check AL-LH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Breaking Down the Four Content Areas
The AL-LH exam is organized into four parts, and the question counts are not evenly distributed - which means your study time shouldn't be either.
| Domain | Content Area | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Domain 2 | Part II - Life Insurance | 55 |
| Domain 3 | Part III - Health Insurance | 45 |
| Domain 1 | Part I - General - Life and Health Insurance | 30 |
| Domain 4 | Part IV - Alabama Insurance Law | 20 |
Life Insurance alone accounts for more than a third of the entire exam (55 of 150 questions), making it the single highest-priority domain by a wide margin. Health Insurance follows at 45 questions, then the General Life and Health domain at 30, and Alabama Insurance Law rounds it out at 20. For a full domain-by-domain content breakdown with specific topics tested in each part, AL-LH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas is the companion resource to this guide.
Domain 2: Part II - Life Insurance (55 questions)
This is the backbone of the exam. Candidates need fluency in policy types, riders, and how life insurance contracts function from application through claim.
- Term, whole, universal, and variable life product mechanics
- Policy riders (waiver of premium, accidental death, guaranteed insurability)
- Beneficiary designations, settlement options, and nonforfeiture provisions
- Underwriting classifications and how they affect premium
Domain 3: Part III - Health Insurance (45 questions)
The second-largest section covers individual and group health products along with the regulatory framework surrounding them.
- Medical expense insurance, disability income, and long-term care basics
- Group vs. individual health policy provisions
- Medicare, Medicaid, and how they interact with private coverage
- Managed care structures (HMO, PPO) and their contractual distinctions
Domain 1: Part I - General - Life and Health Insurance (30 questions)
This domain covers the shared foundation underlying both product lines - the concepts that show up regardless of whether a question is framed as life or health.
- Insurance contract law basics: insurable interest, utmost good faith, adhesion
- Producer licensing duties, ethics, and standards of conduct
- Types of insurers and how policies are marketed and delivered
Domain 4: Part IV - Alabama Insurance Law (20 questions)
The smallest domain by question count, but state-specific rules trip up candidates who only studied generic national content.
- Alabama Department of Insurance authority and producer licensing statutes
- State-specific disclosure, replacement, and free-look requirements
- Penalties for unfair trade practices under Alabama law
Key Takeaway
Allocate your review time roughly in proportion to the question counts: heaviest on Life Insurance, then Health Insurance, then General concepts, with a focused final pass on Alabama-specific law. Don't let the smallest domain get the least attention just because it feels like a footnote - 20 questions is still more than 13% of your score.
A Week-by-Week Plan Built Around the Weighting
A generic four-week countdown works fine as a scaffold, but it only becomes useful once you map it directly onto the AL-LH domain weights above. The idea is simple: spend the most calendar time where the exam spends the most questions.
Life Insurance Deep Dive
- Master policy types, riders, and nonforfeiture options - this is your 55-question domain
- Build flashcards for settlement options and underwriting classifications
- Take a short domain-specific practice set daily to catch gaps early
Health Insurance Focus
- Work through group vs. individual provisions and managed care structures
- Drill Medicare/Medicaid distinctions, since these are commonly confused
- Mix in review questions from Week 1's Life content to reinforce retention
General Concepts and Alabama Law
- Cover contract law fundamentals and producer conduct standards (Domain 1)
- Memorize Alabama-specific statutes and disclosure rules (Domain 4)
- Run full-length timed practice exams to build stamina for the three-hour window
Full Review and Timing Drills
- Take mixed practice tests weighted like the real exam (55/45/30/20)
- Since no scratch paper is allowed, practice doing any math mentally
- Review a condensed reference sheet the night before test day
For a rapid final-day review, keep the AL-LH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts on hand - it's designed to be skimmed in the last 24 hours before your appointment, not as a primary study tool.
What Happens If You Don't Pass the First Time
One detail candidates often overlook: the retake structure in Alabama is more forgiving on the first miss than many assume, but the waiting periods extend as failures accumulate.
- First failure: No waiting period - you can schedule again right away.
- Second failure: 90-day waiting period before your next attempt.
- Third failure: No waiting period.
- Fourth failure: 180-day waiting period.
- Every two failures after that: Another 180-day wait.
This structure means your first attempt carries relatively low stakes in terms of scheduling delay, but it also means you shouldn't treat a first attempt as a "trial run." A second failure costs three months. If you're uncertain how your prep is tracking, honestly assess your practice test scores against the 70% threshold before booking, and review How Hard Is the AL-LH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 for a realistic sense of where candidates typically struggle. For broader context on outcomes across attempts, see AL-LH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
After You Pass: Fingerprinting and Licensing
Passing the exam isn't the finish line - it's the checkpoint before licensure. Resident applicants complete fingerprinting after passing the exam, and then apply for licensure through NIPR (the National Insurance Producer Registry). Understanding this sequence ahead of time helps you avoid a gap between passing and being able to actually work.
If you haven't yet confirmed you meet every prerequisite - age, any outstanding eligibility items, or how the fingerprinting step fits into your timeline - AL-LH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify covers this in detail so there are no surprises after you clear the exam.
Who Hires AL-LH Licensees
An active Life & Health producer license in Alabama opens doors with carriers, independent agencies, and brokerages that sell life insurance, annuities, health plans, disability income, and long-term care products across the state. Because the license is state-issued and tied directly to Alabama's regulatory framework, it's specifically relevant to employers doing business under Alabama Department of Insurance oversight.
If you're weighing whether pursuing this license is worth the time and cost relative to what it opens up professionally, Is the AL-LH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and AL-LH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis go deeper into that decision. And once you're licensed and ready to start applying, AL-LH Jobs is a useful next stop.
For readers who arrived here without a full grounding in the terminology - what the license actually authorizes you to sell, or how it differs from other producer designations - the primer articles What Does AL-LH Stand For?, What Is A AL-LH?, and What Is AL-LH Certification? fill in that background. If you're deciding between self-study and a structured course, AL-LH Training compares the options, and AL-LH Certification gives a general overview of the credential itself.
Key Takeaway
Treat the license as a state-specific credential first and a career tool second - the exam content, the fee, the retake rules, and the fingerprinting step are all Alabama-specific, so generic multi-state study material can only take you part of the way.
Before you sit for the real thing, run at least one full simulated exam under true time pressure - 150 questions, three hours, no notes - using practice tests built around the same question format. Timing yourself honestly is the single best predictor of whether you're ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
The exam has 150 multiple-choice questions, and you need 105 correct (70%) to pass within the three-hour time limit.
No. Alabama has not required a prelicensing education completion certificate since January 1, 2024, though you must still be at least 18 years old to sit for the exam.
No. Books, study materials, calculators, and any paper or scrap paper are prohibited, whether you test at an approved site or remotely through ProctorU.
There is no waiting period after a first failure, so you can retake it right away. A 90-day wait applies after a second failure, no wait after a third, and a 180-day wait after a fourth and every two failures thereafter.
Resident applicants complete fingerprinting after passing, then submit their license application through NIPR to complete the licensing process.