- CT-LH is the Connecticut Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam, regulated by the Connecticut Insurance Department.
- The combined exam has 95 questions (80 scored, 15 pretest) with a 2.5-hour limit and $105 fee.
- Connecticut-specific law makes up 37.5% of scored questions - the single largest content block.
- Testing moved entirely to Pearson VUE centers after Connecticut ended online exams on August 1, 2025.
What Is A CT-LH, Exactly?
"CT-LH" stands for the Connecticut Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam - the state licensing test that authorizes an individual to sell, solicit, or negotiate life insurance and accident and health/sickness insurance products in Connecticut. It is not a designation you earn once and display like a certification badge; it's the required credentialing exam that the Connecticut Insurance Department uses to confirm you understand both the underlying insurance product knowledge and the state statutes that govern how those products are sold in Connecticut.
The exam is administered by Pearson VUE on behalf of the Connecticut Insurance Department. If you've seen other things labeled "CT-LH" elsewhere online, be careful - this article and this site deal exclusively with the Connecticut producer licensing exam. For a broader look at naming conventions, see CT-LH Meaning and What Does CT-LH Stand For?.
Who Needs This License
Anyone who wants to earn commissions selling life insurance, annuities, disability income insurance, long-term care, Medicare supplement plans, or group health products in Connecticut needs to pass the CT-LH exam before applying for a producer license. This includes:
- New agents joining a life and health insurance agency or captive carrier
- Financial advisors who want to add insurance products to their practice
- Career changers entering the insurance industry from banking, sales, or benefits administration
- Existing producers licensed in another line who are adding life and health authority in Connecticut
To sit for the exam, applicants must be at least 18 years old, financially responsible, and of good moral character. Most candidates must also complete 40 hours of approved combined prelicensing education unless they qualify for an exemption. If you want the full breakdown of who qualifies and what documentation is expected, read CT-LH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Key Takeaway
You don't need an insurance background to sit for CT-LH, but you do need 40 hours of approved prelicensing education unless you're exempt - confirm your status before scheduling.
Exam Format and Registration Mechanics
The CT-LH exam is a single combined test covering both life and health/sickness content - you don't take two separate exams. Here's what candidates should expect on test day:
| Detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 95 multiple-choice (80 scored, 15 unscored pretest) |
| Time allowed | 2 hours 30 minutes |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Exam fee | $105 |
| Testing format | In-person at Pearson VUE test centers only |
| Retake wait time | 24 hours |
| Score validity | 1 year |
A key logistical change: Connecticut ended online proctored exams on August 1, 2025. All candidates now test in person at a Pearson VUE center. Spanish-speaking candidates may switch between Spanish and English during the exam itself. Fingerprints are not required for this exam. Since the 15 pretest items are mixed in with scored questions and you can't tell which is which, treat every question as if it counts.
For a deeper dive into what "70%" actually means in terms of raw score and how the pretest items affect your strategy, see CT-LH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. If you're trying to plan around specific testing windows or blackout periods, check CT-LH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
The 12 Domains Tested
CT-LH content is organized into 12 domains that blend general life and health insurance knowledge with Connecticut-specific statutes. The current outline took effect October 27, 2025 and remains in place through August 31, 2026; a September 1, 2026 revision keeps the same top-level weighting structure, so what you study now will still be relevant after the update.
Domain 1: Life - Types of Policies
Covers term, whole, universal, and variable life products, along with the structural differences candidates must distinguish on exam questions.
- Know how each policy type builds cash value (or doesn't)
Domain 2: Life - Policy Riders, Provisions, Options, and Exclusions
Tests your ability to identify what a rider adds, what a standard provision guarantees, and what an exclusion removes from coverage.
- Focus on nonforfeiture options and settlement options
Domain 3: Life - Completing the Application, Underwriting, and Delivering the Policy
Covers the producer's responsibilities from application through delivery, including disclosure requirements and replacement rules.
- Pay attention to free-look period mechanics
Domain 4: Life - Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts
Includes annuities, qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, and how life insurance interacts with retirement planning concepts.
- Distinguish fixed vs. variable annuity mechanics
Domain 5: Accident and Health - Types of Policies
Disability income, medical expense, long-term care, and other A&H product categories.
- Compare individual vs. group health structures
Domain 6: Accident and Health - Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders
Standard provisions required in A&H contracts and common riders that modify coverage.
- Know elimination periods and benefit periods cold
Domain 7: Accident and Health - Social Insurance
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security disability - how these public programs interact with private A&H coverage.
- Understand Medicare Parts A, B, C, D distinctions
Domain 8: Accident and Health - Other Insurance Concepts
Coordination of benefits, taxation of benefits, and managed care concepts like HMOs and PPOs.
- Know how COBRA and HIPAA portability rules apply
Domain 9: Accident and Health - Field Underwriting Procedures
The producer's role in gathering accurate application information and initial risk screening.
- Understand producer liability for material misrepresentation
Domain 10: CT Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance
Connecticut-specific licensing, appointment, and conduct rules that apply across insurance lines.
- Study license renewal cycles and CE requirements
Domain 11: State Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Life Insurance Only
Connecticut statutes unique to life insurance sales, replacement, and disclosure.
- Memorize Connecticut's specific free-look and replacement notice rules
Domain 12: State Statutes, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Accident and Health Insurance Only
Connecticut statutes unique to A&H products, including state-mandated benefits.
- Know Connecticut's specific continuation and conversion rules
For a full walkthrough of how heavily each domain is weighted and how to sequence your study accordingly, see CT-LH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 12 Content Areas.
Why the Connecticut Portion Matters So Much
This is the part of CT-LH that trips up candidates who study only from generic national life-and-health materials: Connecticut-specific law represents 37.5% of scored questions. That's not a footnote - it's more than a third of your scored exam. Domains 10, 11, and 12 collectively carry this weight, and no amount of general product knowledge substitutes for knowing Connecticut's actual statutory language on licensing, replacement, free-look periods, and mandated benefits.
Domain percentages on the CT-LH outline combine the official general-section blueprint proportions with the state-section scored-item counts, which means the state law domains aren't evenly distributed the way a generic exam might weight its sections. Candidates who treat Connecticut statutes as an afterthought consistently underperform relative to their general knowledge - because general product knowledge alone caps out well below the 70% passing threshold once state law questions are added in.
Key Takeaway
Don't let generic national study guides fool you - over a third of your scored CT-LH questions come from Connecticut-specific statutes in Domains 10 through 12.
If you're wondering whether this makes CT-LH harder than a typical single-state life-only or health-only exam, the combined format plus the heavy state-law weighting is exactly why. See How Hard Is the CT-LH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 for a full difficulty breakdown, and CT-LH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows for what the available data actually shows about outcomes.
A Realistic Prep Path
Because CT-LH blends 9 general insurance domains with 3 Connecticut-law domains, the smartest prep sequence front-loads the product knowledge domains first, then layers in state statutes once the fundamentals are solid - since several state-law questions build directly on top of general concepts (like how Connecticut's free-look rule modifies the general policy delivery concept from Domain 3).
Life Fundamentals
- Domains 1-2: policy types, riders, provisions, and exclusions
Life Application & Concepts
- Domains 3-4: underwriting, delivery, annuities, retirement concepts
Accident and Health Core
- Domains 5-7: A&H policy types, provisions, and social insurance
A&H Concepts & Connecticut Law
- Domains 8-12: remaining A&H concepts plus all three Connecticut statute domains
This isn't a rigid timeline - some candidates compress it into two or three weeks, others stretch it longer around work schedules. What matters is that Connecticut law (Domains 10-12) gets dedicated, deliberate review time rather than being crammed in during the final days. For a structured week-by-week plan built specifically around this weighting, see CT-LH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. And once you've covered every domain, a condensed reference is genuinely useful for last-minute review - check CT-LH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts.
Running full-length practice exams under timed conditions matters more for CT-LH than for many licensing tests, simply because 95 questions in 2 hours 30 minutes leaves little room to second-guess yourself on state statute questions that hinge on precise wording. You can build that timing familiarity using the practice tests on the main CT-LH practice test platform before you ever step into a Pearson VUE center.
After You Pass: Renewal and Continuing Education
Passing CT-LH is the gateway, not the finish line. Once licensed, an individual producer license renews every other year on the last day of your birth month. To renew, you need 24 continuing education credits: 21 general CE credits plus 3 credits specifically in laws, regulations, or ethics.
Results from your CT-LH exam are valid for one year, so if you delay applying for your license after passing, don't let that window lapse. If you don't pass on your first attempt, Connecticut requires only a 24-hour wait before you can retake the exam - which means a failed attempt doesn't cost you weeks, just a short reset and refocus on your weaker domains.
If you're still assembling your overall understanding of the credential - cost breakdowns, formal certification pathways, or training program options - these companion resources round things out: CT-LH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, CT-LH Certification, and CT-LH Training. You can also start practicing right away at the CT-LH practice exam hub to see where your knowledge gaps actually are before you commit to a study schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's one combined exam covering both Life and Accident and Health content - 95 total questions (80 scored, 15 pretest) in a single 2 hour 30 minute session, not two separate tests.
No. Connecticut ended online insurance exams on August 1, 2025. All candidates now test in person at a Pearson VUE test center.
Connecticut-specific law accounts for 37.5% of scored questions, covered primarily in Domains 10, 11, and 12. The remaining scored questions come from the nine general life and health domains.
You must wait 24 hours before retaking it. There's no limit stated on total attempts, but each retake requires paying the $105 fee again.
No, fingerprints are not required for the CT-LH exam itself, though separate licensing application steps may have their own documentation requirements.