NDLH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

What "Pass Rate" Actually Means for the NDLH Exam

Anyone searching for an official NDLH pass rate will run into a common problem: the North Dakota Insurance Department and its testing vendor, PSI, do not publish a public, exam-specific pass percentage for the Life and Annuity (Product and Laws) examination. That's not unusual for state insurance licensing exams - unlike some national certifications, state producer exams rarely release aggregate scoring data broken out by year or region. So instead of quoting a number that doesn't exist in any official source, it's more useful to look at what actually determines whether a candidate passes: the scoring structure, the domain weighting, and the format constraints built into the test itself.

This article walks through those mechanics in detail, because they are the real predictors of pass/fail outcomes. If you want the passing threshold spelled out precisely, see our dedicated breakdown at NDLH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

Inside the Scoring Model: 110 Questions, 70%, 150 Minutes

The North Dakota Life and Annuity exam consists of 110 scored questions delivered in a 150-minute window. PSI, the testing administrator, may also insert 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions into the exam. These pretest items are indistinguishable from scored questions, which means candidates should treat every question on screen as if it counts - because functionally, it might.

To pass, you need 77 correct answers out of the 110 scored items, which works out to the required 70%. That leaves a margin of 33 questions you can miss and still pass. That margin sounds generous until you factor in how unevenly the content is distributed across domains - missing questions concentrated in the highest-weighted areas is far more damaging than missing scattered questions across lighter domains.

The exam is closed book. No reference materials, no calculator, no external notes. It's administered computer-based, either at a physical test center or via remote proctoring. If you choose remote testing, know that no scratch paper and no breaks are permitted during the session - a detail many candidates don't discover until exam day, which is why we cover it in more depth in our NDLH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.

Domain Weighting: Where the Points Actually Live

The single most useful piece of "data" for predicting your own outcome isn't a mythical pass rate - it's the official domain weighting. Two domains alone account for over 43% of the entire scored exam.

Notice how small Domain 3 (Federal Laws and Regulations) and Domain 9 (Federal Tax Considerations) are - together just 6.3% of the exam. Candidates who spend equal time on every domain are misallocating hours relative to how the exam is actually built. For a full breakdown of what each domain covers and how to sequence your review, see NDLH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 9 Content Areas.

Why Outcomes Vary Between Candidates

Without a published pass rate to analyze, it's more productive to look at the variables that plausibly separate candidates who pass on the first attempt from those who don't. Based on the exam's own structure, a few factors stand out:

• No prelicensing course requirement. North Dakota does not mandate a prelicensing course before you sit for the exam. That's convenient for speed, but it also means there's no built-in curriculum forcing structured review - preparation quality is entirely self-directed.
• Domain 2 mastery. Because state-specific law makes up over a quarter of the exam, candidates who treat it as "just memorize a few rules" rather than a full study block tend to underperform relative to their general insurance knowledge.
• Unscored experimental items. The 5-10 unscored questions PSI may include can create a sense that a question was unusually obscure or oddly worded. Candidates who spiral on a strange question lose time they can't recover elsewhere.
• Time management across 150 minutes. With up to 120 questions on screen (110 scored plus possible experimental items) in 150 minutes, that's roughly 75 seconds per question on average - tight enough that getting stuck early can cascade into rushed decisions later.

If you're trying to gauge your own readiness level realistically, our companion piece How Hard Is the NDLH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 goes deeper into difficulty perception versus actual content demands.

Format Factors That Quietly Affect Performance

Format details matter more than most candidates expect, and they're easy to overlook when focused purely on content review.

The exam is closed book with no calculator permitted, which matters for any annuity or policy-value math you might expect to work out longhand. Since Domain 8 (Annuities, 7.3%) can involve numeric reasoning about accumulation and payout structures, practicing mental math or simplified estimation techniques ahead of time is worth the effort - you won't have a calculator to lean on.

Who Sits for This Exam

The North Dakota Life and Annuity exam is the entry credential for anyone seeking to sell life insurance and annuity products as a resident producer in the state. That includes candidates joining independent insurance agencies, captive agents contracted with a single carrier, and financial services professionals who want to add life and annuity products alongside other lines they already hold. Because North Dakota also requires a separate Accident and Health examination for that line of authority, many candidates ultimately sit for both - but this exam and this site focus specifically on the Life and Annuity (Product and Laws) path, since it's the more commercially active line for most producers building a career selling permanent and term life products, along with fixed and indexed annuities.

Passing the exam is only one step in a longer licensing sequence. Resident applicants must also meet age (18+), residency, and character requirements, complete a fingerprint-based background check, and submit their license application within one year of passing. For the complete eligibility checklist, see NDLH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

A Domain-Weighted Study Timeline

Generic study advice - spaced repetition, timed drills, active recall - only helps if it's applied against the actual weight of the exam. Here's how a focused four-week plan should map to the domain breakdown rather than treating every topic equally.

For a condensed, single-page review to use in the final days before your test date, our NDLH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts pulls the highest-yield facts from each domain into one reference. And if you want to build and track this kind of practice under real exam conditions, our practice test platform mirrors the 110-question, 150-minute format so timing pressure isn't a surprise on test day.

Registration and Fee Mechanics

The exam fee is $64, paid through PSI's registration system. There's no prelicensing course requirement in North Dakota, so candidates can register and test as soon as they've prepared independently - there's no waiting on a course completion certificate. Testing is available at PSI test centers or via remote proctoring, giving candidates flexibility in scheduling. For a full accounting of what the total licensing process costs beyond the exam fee itself - including fingerprinting and application costs - see NDLH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're mapping out when to sit relative to other commitments, check current scheduling availability before locking in a study timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions