- What NY-LAH Actually Stands For
- Who Administers the Exam and Why It Exists
- Exam Format, Timing, and Passing Score
- The 18 Domains Tested on Series 17-55
- Eligibility and Prelicensing Education
- Registration, Fees, and Testing Options
- After the Exam: Licensing and Renewal
- Who Hires NY-LAH Licensed Producers
- Building a Domain-Weighted Study Plan
- Frequently Asked Questions
- NY-LAH refers to the New York Life, Accident & Health Insurance Agent/Broker Exam, regulated by the NY DFS and delivered via PSI.
- The exam (Series 17-55) has 150 multiple-choice questions, a 2-hour-30-minute limit, and requires 105 correct (70%) to pass.
- The exam fee is $40; the individual license fee is also $40 per year or fraction of a year.
- Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders is the heaviest of 18 domains at 10% of the exam.
What NY-LAH Actually Stands For
NY-LAH is shorthand for the New York Life, Accident & Health Insurance Agent/Broker Exam. It is not a designation you display after your name like a professional certification - it's the state licensing exam that New York requires before you can legally sell life insurance, annuities, accident insurance, and health insurance products in the state. If you've seen "NY-LAH" attached to other credentials or organizations, that's a different acronym entirely; this site and this article are exclusively about the New York State exam administered under the Series 17-55 code.
Because the term gets confused so often, it's worth bookmarking a few reference pages before you go further: What Is NY-LAH?, NY-LAH Meaning, and What Does NY-LAH Stand For? all clarify the same core definition from slightly different angles.
Who Administers the Exam and Why It Exists
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) sets the licensing requirements, content outline, and passing standard for the exam. Actual test delivery - scheduling, seat administration, and score reporting - is handled by PSI, a testing vendor used across many state insurance exams. DFS's role is to make sure anyone selling life, accident, and health products in New York understands policy structure, state regulation, taxation basics, and consumer protection rules well enough to advise clients responsibly.
Exam Format, Timing, and Passing Score
The Series 17-55 exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions, delivered electronically, with 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete it. To pass, a candidate needs 105 correct answers, or 70%. There's no essay component and no simulation-style item - every question is a standard four-option multiple-choice format, which means your prep should emphasize recognizing correct definitions, provisions, and calculations quickly rather than long-form writing.
For a full breakdown of scoring mechanics and what 105/150 actually means in practice, see NY-LAH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
At 150 questions in 150 minutes, you have roughly one minute per question on average - but plan to move faster through recall-based items so you have buffer time for calculation-heavy annuity and tax questions.
The 18 Domains Tested on Series 17-55
The current DFS-linked topic locator (labeled 2018-2019) breaks the exam into 18 domains spanning both life insurance and accident/health insurance content. Unlike exams that lean almost entirely on one product line, NY-LAH splits its content across regulation, life products, annuities, and a substantial health insurance block - which is exactly why generic "life insurance exam" prep often falls short here.
Domain 5: Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders (10%)
This is the single largest domain on the exam. Candidates must know standard policy provisions, nonforfeiture options, settlement options, and common riders inside and out.
- Grace periods, reinstatement, and incontestability clauses
- Waiver of premium, accidental death, and guaranteed insurability riders
- Dividend options and nonforfeiture values
The remaining 17 domains carry smaller but still meaningful weight:
- Domain 1: Insurance Regulation (7%)
- Domain 2: General Insurance (4%)
- Domain 3: Life Insurance Basics (8%)
- Domain 4: Life Insurance Policies (8%)
- Domain 6: Annuities (7%)
- Domain 7: Federal Tax Considerations for Life Insurance and Annuities (2%)
- Domain 8: Qualified Plans (2%)
- Domain 9: Life Settlement (3%)
- Domain 10: Accident and Health Insurance Basics (5%)
- Domain 11: Individual Health Insurance Policy General Provisions (4%)
- Domain 12: Disability Income and Related Insurance (6%)
- Domain 13: Medical Plans (6%)
- Domain 14: Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (6%)
- Domain 15: Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance (6%)
- Domain 16: Group Health and Blanket Insurance (5%)
- Domain 17: Government Health Insurance Plans (5%)
- Domain 18: Private Insurance for Senior Citizens and Special Needs Individuals (6%)
Notice that Life Insurance Basics (8%), Life Insurance Policies (8%), and Policy Provisions/Options/Riders (10%) together account for over a quarter of the exam - mastering life product mechanics is non-negotiable. But the health-side domains (Disability Income, Medical Plans, ACA, LTC, Government Health Plans, and Senior/Special Needs coverage) collectively rival the life-side weight, so don't shortchange them. A full walk-through of every domain, with subtopics and sample question angles, is available in NY-LAH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 18 Content Areas.
Eligibility and Prelicensing Education
Before you can even sit for the exam, New York requires:
- Minimum age of 18
- Completion of 40 hours of DFS-approved combined prelicensing education covering life, accident, and health topics
- Use of a passing exam result toward a license application within two years of the test date
If you plan to sell variable life insurance or variable annuities, you'll also need FINRA registration and a CRD number in addition to the state exam - that's a separate securities-licensing track layered on top of NY-LAH. For the complete eligibility checklist, including how the 40-hour education requirement is typically fulfilled, read NY-LAH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Registration, Fees, and Testing Options
The exam fee is $40, paid when you schedule through PSI. You can test at a PSI test center or opt for remote online proctoring, which is useful if you're located far from a physical center or prefer to test from a controlled home/office setup. Both formats use the same 150-question, 150-minute structure and the same 70% passing threshold.
Scheduling windows, blackout considerations, and how far in advance to book a seat are covered in NY-LAH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
After the Exam: Licensing and Renewal
Passing the exam is only step one. To actually sell products, you apply for an individual license, which carries a fee of $40 per year or fraction of a year; licenses can be issued for up to two years at a time. Once a license has been active for more than two years, renewal requires 15 continuing-education credits. Keep that two-year clock in mind - both for using your passing exam score toward an application and for your first CE cycle once licensed.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam fee | $40 |
| Individual license fee | $40 per year or fraction of a year |
| License duration | Up to two years per issuance |
| Renewal requirement (after 2+ years) | 15 continuing-education credits |
| Time to use passing score | Within two years of exam date |
Who Hires NY-LAH Licensed Producers
Once licensed, producers typically work for or with life insurance carriers, health insurance carriers, independent agencies, brokerage general agencies, and financial services firms operating in New York. Because the domain list covers both life products and a wide range of health-related coverage - disability income, medical plans, long-term care, and senior-focused insurance - license holders are positioned to sell across multiple product lines rather than being limited to a single niche. That breadth is part of why the license is attractive to career-changers and financial professionals expanding their New York practice. For a closer look at where NY-LAH license holders find work and how the license fits into broader financial-services careers, see NY-LAH Jobs and Is the NY-LAH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026. Compensation structures vary widely by employer and commission model, which is discussed further in NY-LAH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis.
Building a Domain-Weighted Study Plan
Given that Domain 5 alone carries 10% and the top four life-side domains combined carry roughly a third of the exam, your study time should be allocated in proportion to domain weight - not evenly split across all 18 topics. A practical approach: front-load the heaviest domains early while your energy and focus are highest, then use spaced repetition in the final week to revisit weaker health-side domains like the ACA, Government Health Insurance Plans, and Group Health and Blanket Insurance, which are easy to under-review because they feel less central to "life insurance."
Life Insurance Foundations
- Life Insurance Basics (Domain 3)
- Life Insurance Policies (Domain 4)
- Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders (Domain 5)
Regulation, Annuities, and Tax
- Insurance Regulation (Domain 1)
- Annuities (Domain 6)
- Federal Tax Considerations (Domain 7)
- Qualified Plans (Domain 8)
Health Insurance Core
- Accident and Health Insurance Basics (Domain 10)
- Disability Income (Domain 12)
- Medical Plans (Domain 13)
- Long-Term Care (Domain 15)
Government Programs and Final Review
- ACA (Domain 14), Government Health Plans (Domain 17)
- Group Health and Blanket Insurance (Domain 16)
- Senior and Special Needs Insurance (Domain 18)
- Full-length timed practice on ../
If you want a structured week-by-week plan with more detail on pacing and review cycles, NY-LAH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt expands on this framework. And if you're still gauging how challenging the exam is relative to your background, How Hard Is the NY-LAH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and NY-LAH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows put the passing standard in context.
Running full-length timed sets on our NY-LAH practice test platform is one of the most efficient ways to convert domain knowledge into exam-day speed, since it forces you to apply provisions and definitions under the same 150-question, 150-minute constraint you'll face on test day. Pairing that with a condensed reference like the NY-LAH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts makes last-minute review far more efficient than re-reading full chapters.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. NY-LAH is the state licensing exam (Series 17-55) required to hold a New York life, accident, and health insurance producer license. The license itself requires periodic renewal and, after two years, continuing education - it's not a one-time credential.
The exam has 150 multiple-choice questions with a time limit of 2 hours and 30 minutes. You need 105 correct answers, or 70%, to pass.
Yes. PSI, the testing administrator, offers both in-person testing at PSI test centers and remote online proctoring for the Series 17-55 exam.
Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders (Domain 5) is the largest at 10% of the exam, covering provisions, riders, nonforfeiture options, and settlement options.
Yes. Selling variable life insurance or variable annuities requires FINRA registration and a CRD number in addition to passing the NY-LAH exam and holding a state license.