Most people fail the Arizona insurance exam on the first try.
In the most recent published data, only 43.1% of first-time test takers passed Arizona’s life insurance exam.1 Property & casualty wasn’t much kinder at 46.1%. Nobody selling you a prep course leads with that — which is exactly why we’re leading with it. Here are the real pass rates, why they’re so low, and what actually moves you to the right side of them.
Arizona pass rates by exam line
These figures come from National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) data for 2021 — the most recent year with nationally published numbers for all 50 states, compiled by Achievable.1 Arizona doesn’t publish a running scoreboard, so this is the best public snapshot that exists. One pattern jumps out: Arizona runs below the national average on every single line.
| Exam line | AZ first-time pass rate | First-time takers | National average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life | 43.1% | 2,167 | 62% |
| Personal Lines | 44.8% | 1,475 | 59% |
| Property & Casualty | 46.1% | 2,242 | 56% |
| Life & Health (combined) | 54.6% | 3,638 | 65% |
| Health (Accident & Health) | 54.9% | 883 | 63% |
Read that middle column again. In 2021, roughly 1,200 Arizonans failed the life exam alone on their first attempt — each one walking out of a test center having paid a non-refundable fee for the privilege. And a first-time failure isn’t just a bruise: Arizona law caps you at four attempts per year, so every miss spends one of a small number of chances.2
Why so many people fail
The exam isn’t rigged and it isn’t trivia. People fail for three specific, fixable reasons — and the first one is unique to states like Arizona.
Nothing forces you to prepare
Arizona requires no pre-licensing education before you sit the exam.3 You can register on a Tuesday and test on a Friday. That freedom is great — and it’s a trap. In states with mandatory coursework, the exam is the finish line of a forced march. In Arizona, plenty of candidates walk in on vibes.
The vocabulary is an ocean
Peril vs. hazard. Proximate cause. Indemnity, subrogation, aleatory, estoppel. Hundreds of terms of art where the everyday meaning will actively mislead you — and the exam writes its questions as scenarios, so you’re not asked to define subrogation, you’re asked to spot it wearing a costume.
Re-reading feels like studying
The default study method — re-reading notes and highlighting — builds recognition, not recall. The material looks familiar, so you feel ready. But the exam never asks “does this look familiar?” It asks you to produce the answer cold, under a clock. That gap between feeling ready and being ready is where most 60-somethings-percent scores come from.
What counts as passing
You need 70% correct. Your result appears on screen the moment you finish, and PSI emails you a score report — with a diagnostic breakdown if you fail.4 A few unscored “experimental” questions are mixed in that you can’t identify, so treat every question as if it counts.4
| Exam (PSI series) | Questions | Time | Fee per attempt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life (13-31) | 100 | 2 hrs | $50 |
| Life, Accident & Health (13-33) | 150 | 2.5 hrs | $59 |
| Property & Casualty (13-34) | 150 | 2.5 hrs | $59 |
| Personal Lines (13-44) | 100 | 2 hrs | $50 |
One rule that surprises people on combined exams: if your exam covers more than one line of authority and you fail it, you’re considered to have failed every line it covers.4 There’s no partial credit for the half you knew.
The four-strikes rule
Arizona law (ARS § 20-284(H)) allows a maximum of four attempts per line of authority in any 12-month period. Fail four times and you wait a full year before you can try that exam again.2 Every retake means paying the full exam fee again.4 Combine that with a 43–46% first-time pass rate and the math gets uncomfortable fast: this is an exam worth over-preparing for.
Scheduling note (this trips people up): Arizona changed exam vendors in 2025. Prometric’s last testing day was August 24, 2025; PSI has administered all Arizona insurance exams since September 3, 2025.6,7 Plenty of older guides still point to Prometric — and Pearson VUE never ran Arizona’s insurance exams at all. You schedule through PSI, at a test center or via their remote online-proctored option.4
How to land in the group that passes
We won’t promise you a pass rate — nobody honestly can, and the ones who do are quoting their own marketing. What we can tell you is what the failure modes above imply about studying, because each one has a direct counter:
- Practice retrieval, not recognition. Answer exam-style questions from memory, over and over, and let the misses sting a little. Cognitive science has a name for this — the testing effect — and it’s the difference between material that looks familiar and answers you can actually produce at question 87 of 150.
- Drill the vocabulary until it’s boring. The scenario questions are vocabulary questions in disguise. When “proximate cause” is reflexive instead of effortful, the scenarios stop being scary.
- Say your answers out loud. Producing an answer with your own voice is retrieval in its strongest form — there’s no glancing at option C and nodding along. It also unlocks study time that re-reading can’t touch: the commute, the walk, the dishes. (This is the entire idea behind PassLane — it reads each question aloud, listens for your answer, and tells you honestly when you’re ready.)
- Simulate the real thing before you pay for it. Your first full-length, timed, 150-question experience should not cost $59 and one of your four annual attempts. Take realistic practice exams until the format is familiar and your score is comfortably above 70% — not grazing it.
None of this is exotic. It’s just the opposite of what most of the 1,200 people who failed the life exam that year were doing the week before their test.
Arizona exam pass-rate FAQ
What percentage of people pass the Arizona insurance exam on the first try?
It depends on the line. Per the most recent published NAIC data (2021, compiled by Achievable): Life 43.1%, Personal Lines 44.8%, Property & Casualty 46.1%, combined Life & Health 54.6%, Health 54.9%.1 Every line runs below its national average.
What score do you need to pass the Arizona insurance exam?
70% correct. Your result shows on screen immediately after you finish, and PSI emails a score report — including a diagnostic breakdown if you fail.4 On combined exams, failing counts as failing every line the exam covers.
How many times can you take the Arizona insurance exam?
Who administers the Arizona insurance exam — PSI, Prometric, or Pearson VUE?
Does Arizona require pre-licensing education?
No — Arizona has no pre-licensing education requirement; you can register and sit the exam without any coursework.3 Most serious candidates still study formally, because the pass rates above show what happens on average when people don’t.
Is the Arizona insurance exam hard?
By the only public measure we have — first-time pass rates — it’s harder than the national average on every line, with life the toughest at 43.1% first-time.1 But “hard” mostly means “unforgiving of thin preparation.” Candidates who drill real questions to a comfortable margin above 70% pass it routinely.
Be on the right side of these numbers.
PassLane is voice-first Arizona exam prep — it reads every question aloud, listens for your answer, and tells you honestly when you’re ready. The app is launching now; see how it works and be first in line.
Teach a pre-licensing class? Run a free live quiz with PassLane Classroom, or see the instructor partner program.
Sources
- Achievable — Property, casualty, health, and life insurance exam pass rates for all 50 states (NAIC data, 2021 — the most recent year with nationally published figures).
- Arizona Revised Statutes § 20-284(H) — four-attempt limit per 12-month period and one-year wait after a fourth failure.
- ExamFX — Arizona insurance pre-licensing requirements (Arizona does not require pre-licensing education).
- PSI — Arizona Insurance Candidate Information Bulletin (PDF) — 70% passing score, on-screen results, exam fees by series, non-refundable fee policy, experimental questions, multi-line failure rule, test-center and online-proctored modalities.
- Aceable — Arizona insurance exam passing score and format (question counts and time limits by PSI series).
- PSI — PSI selected as new licensing exam administrator for the State of Arizona.
- ExamFX — Arizona testing provider change 2025 (Prometric’s last day August 24, 2025; PSI testing began September 3, 2025).
Pass rates are historical first-time results for all candidates, not a prediction of any individual outcome or any PassLane user outcome. Data reflects 2021, the most recent year with published 50-state figures; Arizona’s exam vendor and question forms have since changed. Last reviewed July 13, 2026.