- How to Use This Cheat Sheet
- Registration and Fee Facts
- Domain Weights at a Glance
- Life Domains: The Core Numbers
- Accident & Health Domains: The Core Numbers
- Minnesota Law Domains: Where Points Get Lost
- Exam Format Rules You Cannot Forget
- Final-Week Review Schedule
- After You Pass: Licensing Mechanics
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The exam is 145 questions (130 scored, 15 pretest) in 3 hours; you need 70% to pass.
- Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance is the single largest domain at 15.4%.
- Registration fee is $45 through PSI; testing is closed book with no calculator, and remote sessions allow no scratch paper or breaks.
- 40 hours of prelicensing education (20 per line) are required unless you're exempt, plus fingerprinting for residents.
How to Use This Cheat Sheet
This page is a compressed, last-pass reference for the Minnesota Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam (MNLH) - the combined Life, Accident & Health licensing exam administered by PSI on behalf of the Minnesota Department of Commerce. It is not a substitute for full preparation. If you haven't yet worked through the material domain by domain, start with the MNLH Study Guide 2026 or the domain-by-domain breakdown in the MNLH Exam Domains 2026 guide. Come back here in the final days before your test date to confirm you have every number, rule, and format detail locked in.
Everything below reflects the actual structure of the exam: 12 content domains, a 145-question format, and Minnesota-specific statutory content that trips up candidates who studied only from national outlines. If you want a sense of how the whole picture fits together conceptually, our What Is MNLH? overview and the main practice test platform are good companion resources.
Registration and Fee Facts
Before you can sit for the exam, you need to meet a short list of eligibility items. Get these wrong and you'll delay your test date, not just lose points.
- Minimum age: 18 years old.
- Prelicensing education: 20 hours per line, 40 hours total across Life and Accident & Health, unless you qualify for an exemption.
- Course certification: your education provider must submit electronic certification of completion - you don't self-report this.
- Background check: resident applicants must submit fingerprints for a state and national criminal-history check.
- Exam fee: $45, paid to PSI at registration.
- Validity window: a passing result is valid for three years - you must apply for licensure within that period.
For a full cost breakdown including prelicensing course expenses and renewal costs, see MNLH Certification Cost 2026. If you're still confirming you qualify at all, the MNLH Requirements 2026 guide covers eligibility in more depth, and MNLH Exam Dates 2026 walks through scheduling logistics.
Domain Weights at a Glance
Twelve domains make up the exam, split between Life content, Accident & Health content, and Minnesota-specific law. Weighting determines how many questions come from each area - use it to prioritize review time, not to skip anything entirely.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Life - Types of Policies | 11.5% |
| 2. Life Provisions, Riders, Options, and Exclusions | 11.5% |
| 3. Completing the Application, Underwriting, and Delivering the Policy | 9.2% |
| 4. Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts | 6.2% |
| 5. Accident & Health - Types of Policies | 12.3% |
| 6. Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders | 11.5% |
| 7. Social Insurance | 4.6% |
| 8. Other Insurance Concepts | 3.8% |
| 9. Field Underwriting Procedures | 6.2% |
| 10. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance | 15.4% |
| 11. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Life Insurance Only | 3.8% |
| 12. Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertinent to Health Insurance Only | 3.8% |
Notice that Domain 10 alone carries more weight than any single Life or Accident & Health domain. Combined with Domains 11 and 12, Minnesota-specific law accounts for a substantial share of the exam - a fact many candidates underestimate because it doesn't map neatly onto general insurance textbooks. For a deeper dive into how difficulty and time allocation should follow these weights, see How Hard Is the MNLH Exam?
Life Domains: The Core Numbers
Domain 1 & 2 - Life Policies, Provisions, Riders, Options, Exclusions (11.5% each)
Together these two domains make up nearly a quarter of the exam. Candidates must distinguish policy types clearly and know how riders modify a base contract.
- Term, whole, universal, and variable life structures and how they differ in cash value and flexibility
- Nonforfeiture options, dividend options, and settlement options
- Common riders: waiver of premium, accidental death, guaranteed insurability, accelerated death benefit
- Exclusions such as suicide clauses and misstatement of age or sex provisions
Domain 3 - Completing the Application, Underwriting, and Delivering the Policy (9.2%)
This domain tests procedural knowledge: what happens between application and issued policy.
- Insurable interest requirements at policy inception
- Field underwriter's role versus the underwriting department
- Conditional receipts and binding coverage before delivery
- Free look period mechanics and policy delivery requirements
Domain 4 - Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts (6.2%)
A smaller but distinct domain covering how life insurance and retirement planning intersect.
- Qualified versus nonqualified retirement plans
- IRAs, annuities, and their tax treatment basics
- Group versus individual insurance concepts as they relate to retirement planning
Accident & Health Domains: The Core Numbers
Domain 5 - Accident & Health Types of Policies (12.3%)
This is the single largest non-Minnesota-law domain on the exam, so it deserves proportionate study time.
- Disability income, medical expense, and long-term care policy structures
- Group versus individual health coverage distinctions
- Medicare supplement and other government-adjacent products' basic mechanics
Domain 6 - Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders (11.5%)
Mirrors Domain 2 but for health products - expect overlap in question style, not content.
- Mandatory and optional policy provisions (grace period, reinstatement, claims procedures)
- Exclusions and limitations common to health contracts
- Coordination of benefits and preexisting condition clauses
Domains 7, 8, and 9 - Social Insurance, Other Insurance Concepts, and Field Underwriting Procedures - carry lighter weight individually (4.6%, 3.8%, and 6.2%) but together still represent a meaningful chunk of scored questions. Don't skip Social Insurance topics like Medicare and Social Security disability just because the domain percentage looks small.
Minnesota Law Domains: Where Points Get Lost
Domain 10 - Common Laws, Rules, and Regulations (15.4%)
The largest individual domain on the entire exam.
- Producer licensing requirements, renewal cycles, and continuing education rules
- Unfair trade practices and unfair claims settlement practices
- Commissioner's authority and disciplinary actions
- Replacement rules and advertising regulations applicable across lines
Domain 11 - Laws Pertinent to Life Insurance Only (3.8%)
Narrower in scope but still tested directly - focus on Minnesota-specific life statutes rather than generic NAIC model language.
Domain 12 - Laws Pertinent to Health Insurance Only (3.8%)
Covers Minnesota-specific health insurance statutes, including any state-mandated benefits or filing requirements unique to the jurisdiction.
For a question-by-question breakdown of what "Minnesota law" content actually looks like on the exam, the complete domain guide is worth reading in full before test day.
Exam Format Rules You Cannot Forget
Format mistakes are entirely avoidable, yet they cause real problems for candidates who assume the test works like other computer-based exams they've taken.
- 145 total questions - 130 are scored, 15 are unscored pretest items you cannot identify during the exam.
- 3-hour time limit for the full test.
- 70% passing score based on scored questions only.
- Closed book: no reference materials, no calculator, in any format.
- Remote proctoring restrictions: if you test from home, no scratch paper and no breaks are permitted - this is stricter than many other remote exams.
- Test center option: available if you prefer an in-person, monitored environment.
Key Takeaway
If you're testing remotely, practice doing mental math and note-tracking without paper well before test day - you will not be allowed scratch paper during the actual session.
For the exact scoring mechanics and what 70% actually means against 130 scored items, read MNLH Passing Score 2026. If you want data-informed context on how candidates typically perform, see MNLH Pass Rate 2026.
Final-Week Review Schedule
In the last week before your test date, don't try to relearn everything - triage by domain weight and by what this cheat sheet flagged as unfamiliar.
Minnesota Law (Domains 10-12)
- Re-read producer licensing, renewal, and CE rules
- Drill unfair trade and claims settlement practice scenarios
- Review replacement and advertising regulation questions
Life Domains (1-4)
- Rebuild policy-type comparison charts (term vs. whole vs. universal vs. variable)
- Rider function drills - what each rider actually pays out
- Retirement and annuity tax-treatment quick review
Accident & Health Domains (5-9)
- Health policy provision review (grace period, reinstatement, COB)
- Social Insurance basics: Medicare parts, Social Security disability
- Field underwriting procedures for health applications
Full-Length Practice and Format Rehearsal
- Take a full timed practice run under 3-hour, closed-book conditions
- If testing remotely, rehearse with no scratch paper
- Light review only - no new content
This compressed schedule assumes you've already completed a full study cycle. If you haven't, back up and follow the complete plan in the MNLH Study Guide 2026 instead of compressing everything into one week.
After You Pass: Licensing Mechanics
Passing the exam is not the finish line - it's the checkpoint before formal licensure.
- Apply for your resident producer license within the three-year validity period of your passing result.
- Resident licenses renew biennially and require 24 continuing education hours per renewal cycle.
- Of those 24 hours, 3 must be ethics hours specifically.
Once licensed, producers work across carriers, agencies, and independent brokerages selling life and health products in Minnesota. If you're weighing whether the credential is worth the time and cost investment, Is the MNLH Certification Worth It? lays out the ROI considerations, and MNLH Salary Guide 2026 covers earnings context. For those exploring where a license opens doors, MNLH Jobs is a useful next read.
To reinforce your domain-by-domain readiness before scheduling, run through timed sets on the main practice test platform - repeated exposure to the Minnesota-specific law questions is usually what separates a comfortable pass from a nail-biter.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 145 total questions: 130 are scored and 15 are unscored pretest questions used for future exam development. You won't know which is which during the test.
You need 70% correct on the 130 scored questions to pass. Pretest questions do not count toward this calculation.
No. The exam is closed book with no reference materials or calculator allowed, whether you test at a physical center or via remote proctoring.
Domain 10, Minnesota Laws, Rules, and Regulations Common to Life, Health, Property, and Casualty Insurance, is the single largest domain at 15.4% and should be a top priority, alongside Domain 5 (Accident & Health Types of Policies) at 12.3%.
A passing exam result is valid for three years. You must submit your license application, including fingerprints for resident applicants, within that period.