NDLH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts

Exam Snapshot: The Numbers You Must Memorize

Before you touch a single practice question, lock in the raw mechanics of the North Dakota Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam. These are the numbers that show up in scheduling emails, candidate handbooks, and - indirectly - in how you should pace yourself on test day.

• Administered by: PSI, on behalf of the North Dakota Insurance Department
• Scope of this guide: the Life and Annuity (Product and Laws) examination, since North Dakota requires separate Life and Annuity and Accident and Health exams
• Scored questions: 110
• Time limit: 150 minutes
• Passing score: 70% (77 correct answers)
• Unscored items: PSI may add 5-10 experimental questions you can't identify, so treat every question as if it counts
• Fee: $64
• Format: computer-based, closed book, no calculator or reference materials, available at test centers or via remote proctoring

For a plain-language walkthrough of what "passing" actually requires - including how the unscored questions factor into your strategy - see NDLH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. If you want the fee broken down alongside other licensing costs, NDLH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown covers it in detail.

Domain-by-Domain Cheat Sheet

The North Dakota Life & Health exam blueprint is built from nine domains with very different weights. Memorizing these percentages tells you where to spend your study hours - and where you can afford lighter review.

Notice that four domains - North Dakota Laws and Regulations, Policy Provisions/Options/Riders, Types of Life Insurance Policies, and Life Insurance Basics - together account for well over two-thirds of the entire exam. A full breakdown of what each domain actually tests, with sample topic lists, lives in NDLH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 9 Content Areas.

Domain 2 Deep Dive: The 25.5% That Decides Your Score

North Dakota Laws and Regulations Pertaining to Life Insurance and Annuities is the single largest domain on the exam by a wide margin - more than double the weight of the next largest section. Treat this as the domain that determines whether you pass or retake.

Expect questions on:

• Producer licensing rules specific to North Dakota, including renewal cycles
• Unfair trade practices and unfair claims settlement standards
• Replacement regulations for life insurance and annuity contracts
• Free-look periods and required policy disclosures
• Suitability standards for annuity recommendations

Because this domain is state-specific rather than conceptual, memorization drills and repeated practice questions tend to work better here than broad reading. If you're unsure how much time this domain deserves relative to the others, NDLH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt lays out a full study sequence built around domain weight.

Registration, Fees, and Licensing Mechanics

Passing the exam is only one step in becoming licensed. The full resident applicant path in North Dakota includes:

1. Being at least 18 years old and meeting residency and character requirements
2. Registering for and passing the Life and Annuity exam (no prelicensing course required)
3. Completing the fingerprint-based background check process
4. Submitting your license application within one year of passing the exam

The $64 exam fee is paid directly through the PSI registration process, separate from any licensing application fees. Because there's no mandatory prelicensing course, self-study and practice testing on our full-length practice test platform often stand in for a formal classroom. For the complete eligibility checklist, including character and residency specifics, see NDLH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

Test Day Rules You Cannot Afford to Miss

The NDLH exam is closed book with no reference materials and no calculator, whether you test at a physical center or via remote proctoring. Remote candidates face additional restrictions worth memorizing:

• No scratch paper is allowed during remote-proctored sessions
• No breaks are permitted once the remote session begins
• Your testing environment must meet the proctoring software's setup requirements before the exam starts

If you're deciding between a test center and remote proctoring, weigh the lack of breaks and scratch paper carefully - a 150-minute session with zero pause can be mentally taxing even for well-prepared candidates. For a broader look at how these conditions affect overall difficulty, read How Hard Is the NDLH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026, and check current scheduling windows in NDLH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Renewal and Continuing Education at a Glance

Passing the exam is the beginning of your producer career, not the end of your obligations. Keep these renewal facts on hand:

• Producer licenses renew on a biennial cycle
• Renewal requires 24 continuing-education hours
• Of those, 3 hours must be ethics credit
• Producers who sell annuity or long-term-care products face additional specialized training requirements

This CE structure is one reason many producers view initial licensure as a long-term investment rather than a one-time hurdle - a question worth exploring further in Is the NDLH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026. If you're curious about the range of roles this license opens up, from captive agency positions to independent brokerage work, NDLH Jobs outlines common employer types, and NDLH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis discusses how compensation structures typically work in this field.

Final-Week Review Schedule

If you're within seven days of your scheduled exam, don't restart your studying - condense it. This short schedule maps directly onto the domain weights above rather than generic review blocks.

Common Mix-Ups Worth a Second Look

A handful of concept pairs trip up otherwise well-prepared candidates. Run through these before test day:

• Reduced paid-up vs. extended term: both are nonforfeiture options, but one lowers the face amount while keeping permanent coverage, and the other keeps the original face amount for a limited term.
• Grace period vs. reinstatement: the grace period is the window to pay a missed premium without lapse; reinstatement applies after the policy has already lapsed.
• Suitability vs. free-look: suitability governs whether a recommendation fits the client's needs; the free-look period is the post-issue window to cancel for any reason.
• Federal tax treatment questions: this is a small domain (3.6%), so don't over-study it at the expense of the North Dakota-specific law questions.

For a topic-by-topic breakdown that goes deeper into each domain's likely question style, revisit NDLH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 9 Content Areas, and if you want data-driven context on how candidates typically perform across attempts, see NDLH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.

Frequently Asked Questions