- TN-LH refers to the Tennessee Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam, regulated by the TN Department of Commerce and Insurance.
- Life and Accident and Health are scored separately, each with 77 questions (68 scored) in 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Each exam requires a scaled score of 70; no prelicensing course is required for either line.
- Test-center appointments cost $55 per exam; the OnVUE combination for both lines costs $80.
What TN-LH Actually Is
TN-LH stands for the Tennessee Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam, the licensing test that anyone who wants to sell life insurance, health insurance, or both in Tennessee must pass. It is not a private-industry certification or a designation you add after your name - it's a state-mandated exam administered on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, delivered through Pearson VUE testing centers and the OnVUE online proctoring platform.
Because several unrelated credentials also use the initials "TN-LH" or similar abbreviations, it's worth being precise here: this article, and this entire site, is exclusively about the Tennessee state insurance producer exam covering the Life and Accident and Health lines of authority. Every fact below comes directly from the current Tennessee exam content outline.
Two Exams, One License Path
A common misconception is that "TN-LH" is a single test. In practice, it's two distinct, separately scored exams that share a registration path and, often, the same test appointment:
- Life exam: 77 total questions (68 scored, 9 unscored pretest items), 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Accident and Health exam: 77 total questions (68 scored, 9 unscored pretest items), 1 hour 45 minutes.
Each exam is scored independently, and each requires a scaled score of 70 to pass. The pretest questions are mixed in with scored items and are not identified during the test, which means candidates should treat every question as if it counts. This exam structure is explained in more depth in the TN-LH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass guide, which breaks down exactly how the scaled score works.
Notably, Tennessee does not require a prelicensing education course for either the Life or Accident and Health lines before sitting for these exams. That puts more responsibility on self-directed study, which is a major reason candidates lean on structured resources like a dedicated TN-LH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt rather than assuming a classroom will cover everything.
The 13 Content Domains
The Life and Accident and Health exams together cover 13 domains, weighted by their share of the 136 total scored questions across both tests. Understanding these weights helps you decide where to spend your study hours instead of studying every topic equally.
Life Insurance Domains (1-6)
- Types of Policies (11.0%) - term, whole life, universal life, and variable products.
- Policy Riders, Provisions, Options, and Exclusions (11.0%) - waiver of premium, accelerated benefits, nonforfeiture options.
- Completing the Application, Underwriting, and Delivering the Policies (8.8%) - field underwriting duties and the free-look period.
- Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts (5.9%) - annuities, qualified plans, and IRAs.
- Tennessee Laws and Departmental Rules Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property and Casualty (10.3%) - licensing, appointments, and general conduct rules.
- Tennessee Laws and Departmental Rules Pertinent to Life Insurance Only (2.9%) - state-specific life statutes.
Accident and Health Domains (7-13)
- Types of Policies (11.8%) - the single heaviest domain across both exams; disability income, major medical, long-term care.
- Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders (11.0%) - mandatory and optional health policy provisions.
- Social Insurance (4.4%) - Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security disability basics.
- Other Insurance Concepts (3.7%) - COBRA, HIPAA, and coordination of benefits.
- Field Underwriting Procedures (5.9%) - application and replacement rules for health products.
- Tennessee Laws and Departmental Rules Common to Life, Accident and Health, Property and Casualty (10.3%) - the same shared regulatory framework tested on the Life side.
- Tennessee Laws and Departmental Rules Pertinent to Accident and Health Insurance Only (2.9%) - state-specific health statutes.
Notice that "Types of Policies" and "Policy Provisions/Riders" dominate both exams, and the two shared Tennessee law domains together account for over a fifth of all scored questions between the two tests. A full breakdown of how to sequence study around these weights is available in the TN-LH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 13 Content Areas resource.
Key Takeaway
Spend the most study time on Types of Policies and Policy Provisions/Riders on both the Life and Accident and Health sides - combined, these four domains represent roughly 45% of all scored questions.
Registration, Fees, and Retake Rules
TN-LH candidates schedule through Pearson VUE and can choose between a physical test center or the OnVUE remote-proctoring option. Pricing differs depending on how you sit for the exams:
| Option | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single exam at a test center | $55 | Life or Accident and Health, taken separately |
| Life + Accident and Health combo (OnVUE) | $80 | Both lines in one remote-proctored sitting |
| License application fee | $50 | Paid after passing, during electronic filing |
If you don't pass on your first try, Tennessee imposes a mandatory 10-day wait before you can retake that exam. Fail again, and the wait extends to 30 days for each subsequent attempt. Candidates are also limited to two OnVUE (remote) attempts per exam line - after that, you must complete future attempts at a physical Pearson VUE test center. For a complete cost breakdown including these retake scenarios, see TN-LH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
The current exam content outlines took effect October 15, 2025, so make sure any study material you use reflects that version rather than an older outline. Scheduling windows, blackout considerations, and appointment logistics are covered in TN-LH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Who Takes the TN-LH Exam
Anyone planning to work as a licensed insurance producer selling life insurance, health insurance, annuities, or long-term care products in Tennessee needs to pass the relevant TN-LH exam(s). This includes:
- New agents joining captive or independent life and health agencies
- Career-changers entering financial services who need dual life and health authority
- Existing property and casualty producers expanding into life and health lines
- Bank and credit union employees who sell insurance products alongside financial services
Because passing TN-LH is a prerequisite to licensure rather than an optional resume add-on, it's the gatekeeping step before any of these roles can legally begin selling. If you're weighing whether pursuing this license fits your career plans, Is the TN-LH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and TN-LH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis walk through the practical considerations, while TN-LH Jobs covers the kinds of positions that require this license.
Before you even register for the exam, it's worth confirming you meet Tennessee's baseline eligibility requirements - age, residency status for non-resident applications, and background considerations are detailed in TN-LH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
After You Pass: Fingerprinting and Licensing
Passing the exam is not the final step. Tennessee requires passing candidates to complete a fingerprinting process for a background check. After fingerprinting, there's a mandatory 48-hour wait before you can file your license application electronically. The license application itself carries a $50 fee, separate from your exam fees.
This sequence - exam, fingerprinting, 48-hour wait, electronic filing, $50 fee - is easy to underestimate when planning a start date for a new job, since it can add the better part of a week to your timeline even after a first-attempt pass. Build that buffer into any job-start commitments you make.
Key Takeaway
Passing your TN-LH exam is only the midpoint - plan for fingerprinting, a 48-hour wait, and a $50 application fee before your license is actually active.
How to Approach Preparation
Since Tennessee doesn't mandate a prelicensing course for Life or Accident and Health, preparation quality varies enormously between candidates. A structured approach that mirrors the actual domain weighting tends to outperform generic "read the whole textbook" strategies. One workable rhythm:
Life Fundamentals
- Types of Policies and Riders/Provisions (the two highest-weighted Life domains)
- Underwriting and application delivery basics
Accident and Health Fundamentals
- Types of Policies and Provisions/Clauses/Riders (the heaviest A&H domains)
- Social insurance concepts: Medicare, Medicaid, disability
Tennessee Law and Lower-Weight Domains
- Shared Tennessee producer law and conduct rules
- Line-specific statutes for Life and for A&H
- Retirement concepts and field underwriting procedures
Practice and Review
- Full-length timed practice exams for both lines
- Targeted review of weak domains identified in practice scores
Because the pretest questions aren't flagged during the real exam, timed practice under exam-like conditions matters more than passive review. Running full-length practice sessions on our TN-LH practice test platform is one way to simulate the 1-hour-45-minute time pressure across all 13 domains before test day. If you want a sense of how challenging candidates typically find the material, How Hard Is the TN-LH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and TN-LH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows offer useful context for calibrating your prep timeline.
For a condensed, last-mile review the night before your appointment, many candidates use a single-page reference like the TN-LH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts to reinforce definitions and Tennessee-specific statutory numbers that are easy to mix up under time pressure.
If your goal is simply to understand what this credential involves before committing time and money, the companion overview pieces - TN-LH Certification, TN-LH Meaning, and What Does TN-LH Stand For? - cover the terminology and structure from slightly different angles, along with What Is A TN-LH? and What Does TN-LH Mean? for quick reference. If you're specifically researching the certification process itself rather than just the acronym, What Is TN-LH Certification? and TN-LH Training go into more procedural detail, and you can always return to the main practice site to start testing your knowledge directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's two separately scored exams - Life and Accident and Health - each with 77 questions (68 scored) and a 1 hour 45 minute time limit. You can take them together via OnVUE or separately at a test center.
No. Tennessee does not require a prelicensing education course for the Life or Accident and Health lines, so preparation is entirely self-directed.
Each exam requires a scaled score of 70. Life and Accident and Health are scored independently, so you need to reach 70 on each one separately.
A single test-center exam is $55. Taking both Life and Accident and Health together through OnVUE costs $80. After passing, there's also a separate $50 license application fee.
A first failed attempt requires a 10-day wait before retaking. Subsequent failures require a 30-day wait. You're also limited to two OnVUE attempts per exam line before you must test at a physical test center.