CT-LH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass

The 70% Threshold: What Connecticut Actually Requires

The Connecticut Insurance Department sets a single, unambiguous bar for the combined Life, Accident and Health or Sickness Producer exam: score 70% or higher and you pass. There's no curve, no domain-by-domain minimum, and no partial credit for showing your work - this is a straightforward multiple-choice test scored against one cutoff.

What trips up candidates isn't the concept of 70%; it's translating that percentage into an actual number of questions they can afford to miss. Because the exam mixes scored and unscored items (more on that below), the math isn't simply "70% of 95." Understanding exactly what 70% means in practice is the difference between walking into a Pearson VUE center with a real strategy and walking in guessing.

Why Only 80 of 95 Questions Count Toward Your Score

The full CT-LH exam contains 95 multiple-choice items, but only 80 of them are scored. The remaining 15 are pretest questions - items the Connecticut Insurance Department is trialing for future versions of the exam. They look identical to scored questions, appear in the same format, and are scattered throughout the test, so you cannot tell which is which while you're sitting for it.

This matters for two practical reasons:

• You can't skip questions strategically. Since pretest items are indistinguishable from scored ones, every question deserves your full attention. Guessing that a "weird" question is a throwaway pretest item is a gamble you shouldn't take.
• Your percentage is calculated on 80, not 95. The 70% passing score applies only to the scored pool. This is exactly why the raw number to remember is 56 correct out of 80 - not 66.5 out of 95, which would be the wrong math entirely.

You have 2 hours and 30 minutes to work through all 95 questions, which averages out to roughly a minute and a half per item. That's a comfortable pace if you know the material, but it leaves little room for second-guessing every answer. For a deeper look at how the timing and question style feel in practice, the CT-LH difficulty guide breaks down where candidates typically lose time.

How the 12 Domains Determine Where Your Points Come From

The 80 scored questions aren't distributed evenly. They're pulled from twelve content domains that span both general insurance knowledge and Connecticut-specific statutes. Knowing the domain structure helps you figure out where your 56 correct answers are most likely to come from - and where a weak spot could cost you the exam.

The current outline, effective October 27, 2025 through August 31, 2026, and the September 1, 2026 revision that follows it, keep the same top-level weighting between these twelve domains. If you're studying across that transition period, you don't need to worry about the blueprint shifting under you. For a full walkthrough of each domain's subtopics and how heavily they're tested, see the complete CT-LH exam domains guide.

The 37.5% Connecticut Law Slice You Can't Skip

Here's the number that surprises most out-of-state transplants and new producers alike: Connecticut-specific law - domains 10, 11, and 12 combined - accounts for 37.5% of scored questions. Applied to the 80 scored items, that's roughly 30 questions built entirely around Connecticut statutes, not general insurance principles.

This is a significantly larger share than most candidates expect walking in. You can know every riders-and-provisions concept cold and still fail if you haven't studied Connecticut's specific licensing rules, free-look periods, replacement regulations, and unfair trade practice statutes. The general life and health domains matter, but the state law block is where the exam earns its "CT" in CT-LH.

Fee, Timing, and Format at Pearson VUE

The combined Life, Accident and Health or Sickness Producer exam costs $105 per attempt and is administered by Pearson VUE. Connecticut discontinued online proctored testing on August 1, 2025, so every candidate now sits for the exam in person at a Pearson VUE test center - there is no remote option to fall back on.

A few logistical details worth locking in before you schedule:

• You must be at least 18 years old, financially responsible, and of good moral character to sit for the exam.
• Unless you qualify for an exemption, you'll need to complete 40 hours of approved combined prelicensing education before testing.
• Spanish-speaking candidates may switch between Spanish and English during the exam itself.
• Fingerprints are not required as part of the testing process.
• A passing result stays valid for one year, giving you a window to finish any remaining licensing paperwork.

Understanding the full cost picture - exam fee, prelicensing course, and any retake expenses - matters when you're budgeting for this credential. The CT-LH certification cost breakdown lays out every line item, and the CT-LH requirements guide covers eligibility and prelicensing rules in more depth if you're not yet sure you qualify to sit for the exam.

What Happens If You Fall Short of 70%

If you don't hit 56 correct scored answers, Connecticut requires a 24-hour wait before you can schedule another attempt. There's no cap mentioned on how many times you can retest, but each attempt means paying the $105 fee again and booking another Pearson VUE session - so a missed pass isn't catastrophic, but it isn't free either.

Because the wait is short, candidates who fail by a narrow margin often benefit from a quick, targeted review rather than restarting their entire study plan. If your miss was concentrated in one or two domains - say, the state law block or the accident and health provisions section - spend your 24 hours (and the days after, if you can afford to delay the retake) drilling that specific weak point rather than re-reviewing everything you already know cold.

If you're trying to gauge realistically how many attempts candidates typically need, the CT-LH pass rate analysis puts this exam's outcomes in context without relying on borrowed numbers from other exams.

Building a Study Plan Around the Passing Line

Once you know the target is 56 of 80, and that 30 of those scored questions likely come from Connecticut statute domains, you can build a study calendar that mirrors the exam's actual weight distribution instead of studying everything equally.

This isn't a generic weekly template dropped onto an unrelated exam - it's built specifically around the fact that nearly two-fifths of your scored points come from state law, and that pretest items mean you can't afford to coast through any section thinking it's "just practice."

Frequently Asked Questions