- What This Cheat Sheet Covers
- Exam Mechanics at a Glance
- The 12 Domains, Ranked by Weight
- Why the South Carolina Law Domains Deserve Extra Attention
- Registration, Retakes, and Score Validity
- After You Pass: Licensing and CE
- A Final-Week Review Schedule
- Mistakes That Trip Up Otherwise-Ready Candidates
- FAQ
- The SCLH exam has 140 questions (130 scored) with a 2 hour 30 minute limit and a $59 fee.
- A scaled score of 70 is required, and general plus state content is scored as one combined exam.
- SOUTH CAROLINA LAWS AND REGULATIONS PERTINENT TO ALL LINES is the single largest domain at 13.85%.
- You get up to six attempts within one year of a passing result before it expires.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This page is a condensed, one-stop reference for the South Carolina Life & Health Insurance Producer Exam (SCLH), administered through Pearson VUE under the authority of the South Carolina Department of Insurance. It's built for candidates who already have a study plan underway and want a fast way to check dates, fees, domain weights, and rules before test day - not a substitute for full preparation.
If you haven't started studying yet, this cheat sheet pairs well with a more complete walkthrough in the SCLH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and with a domain-by-domain breakdown in the SCLH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 12 Content Areas. Both go deeper than what's summarized here.
Exam Mechanics at a Glance
Every SCLH candidate sits the same combined Life, Accident and Health Insurance Producer examination - there is no separate life-only or health-only version. General insurance content and South Carolina-specific law content are blended into one scored result, so you cannot pass the national portion and fail the state portion separately; it's all one number.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Governing body | South Carolina Department of Insurance |
| Test administrator | Pearson VUE (test center or OnVUE remote proctoring) |
| Exam fee | $59 |
| Total questions | 140 (130 scored, 10 unscored pretest items) |
| Time limit | 2 hours 30 minutes |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 70 |
| Prelicensing education | Not required |
| Retake limit | Up to 6 attempts within 1 year |
Because the unscored pretest items are mixed in randomly and look identical to scored questions, there's no reliable way to guess which ten don't count. Treat every question on screen as if it affects your score. For a deeper dive into how the scoring actually works, see SCLH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
Don't budget extra time hunting for "trick" pretest questions - with 140 questions in 150 minutes, you have roughly a minute per question, so steady pacing beats overthinking any single item.
The 12 Domains, Ranked by Weight
The current outline runs from September 2, 2025 through September 14, 2026, with a revised outline taking effect September 15, 2026 - so if you're testing near that boundary, confirm which version applies to your appointment. Under the current outline, the domain weights split across life topics, accident and health topics, and three South Carolina law domains.
Domain 10: South Carolina Laws and Regulations Pertinent to All Lines
This is the largest single domain on the exam at 13.85%, covering licensing rules, producer conduct, and general regulatory requirements that apply regardless of which line of authority you're writing.
- Highest-weighted domain on the entire exam
- Applies to both life and accident/health license holders
- Frequently tested alongside Domains 11 and 12
The remaining eleven domains cover the substantive life and health content, plus two more South Carolina-specific law domains that build on Domain 10's general rules:
- Domain 1: Life: Types of Policies
- Domain 2: Life: Policy Riders, Provisions, Options, and Exclusions
- Domain 3: Life: Completing the Application, Underwriting, and Delivering the Policy
- Domain 4: Life: Retirement and Other Insurance Concepts
- Domain 5: Accident & Sickness: Types of Policies
- Domain 6: Accident and Sickness: Policy Provisions, Clauses, and Riders
- Domain 7: Social Insurance
- Domain 8: Accident and Sickness: Other Insurance Concepts
- Domain 9: Accident and Sickness: Field Underwriting Procedures
- Domain 11: South Carolina Laws and Regulations Pertinent to Life Insurance
- Domain 12: South Carolina Laws and Regulations Pertinent to Accident & Health Insurance
Notice that three of the twelve domains are entirely South Carolina-specific law (10, 11, and 12). Combined, that's a meaningful chunk of the exam that generic national insurance knowledge won't help you answer correctly - you need to know South Carolina's rules specifically, not just industry-standard practice. For a full explainer of what each domain actually tests, the SCLH Exam Domains 2026 guide breaks down every one individually.
Why the South Carolina Law Domains Deserve Extra Attention
It's tempting to spend most of your study time on policy types and riders because that content feels more "insurance-like" and less like memorization. But with Domain 10 alone carrying the heaviest weight of any domain, and two additional law domains layered on top of it, South Carolina-specific regulation is not a side topic - it's a core pillar of the exam.
Common areas within the South Carolina law domains include producer licensing requirements, appointment and termination rules, unfair trade practices, replacement regulations, and free-look provisions as they apply in South Carolina specifically. Because these rules are jurisdiction-specific, flashcards or national study guides written for other states can actively mislead you here - stick to South Carolina-focused material.
Registration, Retakes, and Score Validity
Scheduling is handled through Pearson VUE, and you can sit for the $59 exam either in person at a test center or remotely via OnVUE proctoring. There's no prelicensing education requirement standing between you and scheduling - you can register as soon as you're ready. New resident applicants do need to submit fingerprints as part of the licensing process, which is separate from the exam itself but should be handled early so it doesn't delay your license once you pass.
Attempt Cap
- Maximum of six attempts allowed within a one-year period
Passing Validity
- A passing result stays valid for one year after you earn it
Practically, this means you shouldn't schedule your first attempt casually "just to see the format." Each attempt counts against your six-in-a-year limit, and if you pass but delay your license application, that clock is still ticking on your one-year validity window. For more on how the numbers behind these rules translate into real outcomes, see SCLH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows and How Hard Is the SCLH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
After You Pass: Licensing and CE
Passing the exam is a milestone, not the finish line - you still need to complete the licensing process, and once licensed, maintain it. South Carolina resident producer licenses renew on a biennial (two-year) cycle, and renewal requires 24 hours of continuing education, including 3 hours specifically in ethics.
If You Also Hold Property and Casualty Authority
Producers who carry both life/health and property and casualty lines don't just split the standard 24 hours arbitrarily - the requirement is at least 8 hours in each broad authority area, meaning your CE plan needs to account for both lines separately rather than lumping everything together.
- Minimum 8 hours dedicated to each broad authority
- 3 of the total 24 hours must be ethics-focused
- Applies across the full two-year renewal cycle
If you're evaluating whether pursuing this license is worth the time and cost in the first place, that's a separate but related question covered in Is the SCLH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and SCLH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
A Final-Week Review Schedule
If you're in your last week before a scheduled Pearson VUE appointment, don't try to relearn everything - triage. Spend early days on your weakest domain and save the last day or two purely for the South Carolina law domains, since they're both heavily weighted and the most different from general insurance knowledge you may already carry from other studying.
Life Content Review
- Domains 1-4: policy types, riders, underwriting, retirement concepts
Accident & Health Review
- Domains 5-9: policy types, provisions, social insurance, field underwriting
South Carolina Law Focus
- Domains 10-12, weighted heavily toward Domain 10
Full Timed Practice
- Simulate the 140-question, 150-minute format under exam conditions
Running at least one full timed practice session under real conditions - no notes, no pausing - is the single best way to confirm your pacing before the real thing. You can run that kind of simulation on our practice test platform to get a feel for question style before you walk into a Pearson VUE center.
Mistakes That Trip Up Otherwise-Ready Candidates
Most candidates who fail don't fail because they didn't study - they fail because of avoidable missteps around the exam's structure and rules. A few patterns show up repeatedly:
- Treating general and state content as separate scores. They're combined into one scaled score, so weakness in the South Carolina law domains can drag down an otherwise strong life/health performance.
- Underestimating Domain 10. At 13.85%, it's the single heaviest domain, yet candidates often study it last and rush it.
- Losing track of the one-year validity window. Passing doesn't help if the license application process stalls past that window.
- Skipping fingerprint submission early. New resident applicants need this done, and delaying it can hold up licensing even after a pass.
- Not rehearsing the OnVUE remote environment. If you're testing remotely, unfamiliarity with the check-in process can eat into your available time and add stress before the clock even starts.
For candidates weighing whether the license leads somewhere worthwhile, it helps to look at how the role connects to hiring patterns and pay expectations covered in the SCLH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis, and at broader eligibility questions in SCLH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify. If you're still deciding when to schedule your appointment, SCLH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling lays out the timing considerations in more detail. And if you'd like a broader run at practice questions across all twelve domains before locking in a date, start with a full practice test to see where you currently stand.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's one combined examination. General and state content are scored together as a single 140-question test, not as separate life-only and health-only exams.
Candidates may attempt the examination no more than six times within a one-year period, and a passing result itself remains valid for one year.
No. Prelicensing education is not required for the SCLH exam, though new resident applicants must still submit fingerprints as part of the licensing process.
South Carolina Laws and Regulations Pertinent to All Lines (Domain 10) is the largest domain at 13.85%, so it deserves proportionally more review time than any single content domain.
Yes. Pearson VUE offers both in-person testing at a center and OnVUE remote proctoring for the $59 combined Life, Accident and Health Insurance Producer examination.