NY-LAH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling

Why There's No Single "NY-LAH Exam Date" for 2026

If you're searching for a printable 2026 testing calendar for the New York Life, Accident & Health Insurance Agent/Broker Exam, here's the short answer: it doesn't exist in the way it does for some other licensing exams. The NY-LAH exam - officially Series 17-55, overseen by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and delivered through PSI - is administered on an ongoing, on-demand basis. There is no quarterly window, no single annual sitting, and no registration deadline tied to a fixed test date.

Instead, "scheduling" the NY-LAH exam means picking an available appointment slot at a PSI test center or through remote online proctoring, any day that PSI has openings. This is good news for planning purposes: you control your own timeline rather than waiting on an administrator's calendar. But it also means the real deadlines that matter for 2026 candidates aren't about when the exam is offered - they're about the sequence of steps you must complete before and after test day.

Registration Timeline: From Prelicensing Course to Test Day

Before you can even book a PSI appointment, New York requires candidates to be at least 18 years old and to complete 40 hours of DFS-approved combined life, accident, and health prelicensing education. This coursework is not optional and cannot be skipped by prior experience - it's a hard prerequisite baked into the licensing pathway. For a full breakdown of who qualifies and what documentation is required, see the NY-LAH Requirements 2026 guide.

Once your prelicensing hours are complete, the general sequence for 2026 looks like this:

1. Finish 40 hours of DFS-approved education through an approved provider (classroom or online).
2. Register for the Series 17-55 exam with PSI and pay the $40 exam fee.
3. Select a test date and location - a PSI test center or remote proctoring session - based on your own availability.
4. Sit for the exam and receive your score.
5. Apply for your license using the passing result, within the two-year window discussed below.

Because PSI offers continuous scheduling, most candidates can secure an appointment within days or a couple of weeks of finishing their coursework - the real bottleneck in 2026 planning is usually how quickly you complete the education requirement and how prepared you feel, not exam availability. If you're still mapping out your overall study approach, the NY-LAH Study Guide 2026 walks through a first-attempt strategy in more detail.

What Test Day Looks Like: Format, Timing, and Scoring

Whatever date you choose in 2026, the exam experience itself is standardized. The Series 17-55 is delivered electronically and consists of:

• 150 multiple-choice questions covering all 18 content domains
• 2 hours and 30 minutes of allotted time
• 105 correct answers (70%) required to pass
• $40 exam fee, paid at registration

Knowing the exact scoring threshold matters for how you pace your studying - you're not aiming for mastery of every single question type, you're aiming to reliably clear 70% across a broad set of topics. For a deeper dive into how that score is calculated and what it means practically, see the NY-LAH Passing Score 2026 article. And if you want context on how challenging that bar actually is, the How Hard Is the NY-LAH Exam guide and the NY-LAH Pass Rate 2026 breakdown (the 2025 English-language pass rate was 46.63% across 13,164 examinees) both give useful benchmarks for setting your own timeline expectations.

PSI Test Center vs. Remote Online Proctoring

One scheduling decision you do control for 2026 is where you take the exam. PSI offers two options:

Both options use the same 150-question, 2-hour-30-minute format and the same $40 fee structure. The choice comes down to logistics: if you live near a test center and prefer a controlled environment, that route removes tech troubleshooting from your test-day stress. If travel is a barrier, remote proctoring lets you schedule around your own space - just confirm your setup meets PSI's requirements well before your appointment, not the morning of.

The Two-Year Deadline You Cannot Miss

This is the single most important date on any NY-LAH candidate's 2026 calendar, and it has nothing to do with when you sit for the exam. Once you pass the Series 17-55, New York State gives you two years to use that passing result on a license application. If you let that window close without applying, the passing score no longer counts - you'd need to retake the exam.

This deadline rarely causes problems for candidates who move promptly toward employment or appointment with a carrier, but it's a real risk for anyone who passes the exam "just to have it" without an immediate plan to activate a license. If you're weighing whether to pursue the credential at all before committing to this timeline, the Is the NY-LAH Certification Worth It? analysis and the NY-LAH Jobs overview are worth reading first.

License Duration, Renewal, and Continuing Education

Passing the exam and getting licensed isn't the end of the timeline - it's the start of a recurring one. A few facts to build into your 2026 (and beyond) planning:

• The individual license fee is $40 per year or fraction of a year.
• Licenses may be issued for up to two years at a time.
• Once a license has been in effect for more than two years, renewal requires 15 continuing-education credits.
• If you plan to sell variable life insurance or variable annuities, you'll also need FINRA registration and a CRD number - a separate track from the base NY-LAH license.

For a full accounting of every fee across the lifecycle - prelicensing education, the $40 exam fee, license fees, and continuing education - see the NY-LAH Certification Cost 2026 breakdown.

Scheduling Your Test Date Around the 18 Domains

Since you choose your own PSI appointment, the smartest scheduling strategy isn't about calendar availability - it's about content readiness. The Series 17-55 draws from 18 domains covering everything from insurance regulation to government health insurance plans. The largest single domain, Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders, carries 10% weight - more than any other topic area - so your test date should come only after you can confidently navigate it.

On the accident and health side, no single domain carries as much weight individually, but several mid-weighted domains add up quickly: Disability Income and Related Insurance, Medical Plans, the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Long-Term Care Insurance, and Private Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals are each weighted at 5-6%. Collectively, that's another substantial chunk of the exam that deserves dedicated review time before you set a date. For the complete list of all 18 domains with their exact percentages, see the NY-LAH Exam Domains 2026 guide.

Building a 2026 Prep Calendar

Since PSI scheduling is flexible, your prep calendar should be the thing driving your target exam date - not the other way around. Here's a sample structure candidates can adapt once their 40-hour prelicensing course is complete:

By the end of a four-week cycle like this, schedule your PSI appointment - ideally with a few days of buffer for a final review pass using condensed material like the NY-LAH Cheat Sheet 2026. Running full-length timed practice sets on our NY-LAH practice test platform throughout this calendar helps you gauge whether you're consistently clearing the 70% mark before you commit to a real date. If your practice scores are inconsistent, push your appointment back a week rather than testing on a hopeful guess - remember, the $40 fee applies each time you sit for the exam.

Frequently Asked Questions