- NMLH stands for the New Mexico Life, Accident and Health or Sickness Insurance Producer Exam (PSI Series 18-27).
- The exam has 150 scored questions, a 150-minute time limit, and requires a 70% score to pass.
- The 2025 combined pass rate was 65.6% across 911 attempts, with 598 candidates passing.
- Life, Accident and Health Insurance Basics is the largest domain, worth 16% of the exam.
What Is NMLH?
NMLH is the common shorthand for the New Mexico Life, Accident and Health or Sickness Insurance Producer Exam, the state licensing test that anyone selling life, accident, health, or sickness insurance products in New Mexico must pass. It is not a voluntary professional designation you add to a resume for prestige - it is the regulatory gate that the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance (OSI) uses to confirm that a prospective insurance producer understands the rules, products, and consumer protections that govern the New Mexico market.
If you're comparing this credential to other things that share the "NMLH" acronym elsewhere online, set those aside. On this site, and in every article linked below, NMLH refers exclusively to the New Mexico producer exam described in this guide. For a broader breakdown of terminology, see NMLH Meaning and What Does NMLH Stand For?
Who Administers the NMLH Exam
The exam is regulated by the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance, which sets the licensing rules, but the actual test delivery is handled by PSI, a third-party testing vendor used by many state insurance departments. PSI lists the exam internally as Series 18-27. You will schedule your appointment, pay your fee, and sit for the test through PSI's testing infrastructure, not directly through the state.
Testing happens two ways: at a physical PSI test center or through remote online proctoring from your own computer. Both formats are computer-based and closed book - no notes, reference sheets, phones, or outside materials are allowed at either format. If you want a deeper dive into how the state, PSI, and the licensing pipeline fit together, NMLH Certification and NMLH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify walk through the full sequence step by step.
Exam Format and Scoring
The official NMLH exam consists of 150 questions delivered in a 150-minute window - roughly a minute per question, which is workable if you know the material but leaves little room for second-guessing. To pass, you need a raw score of 70%.
One detail candidates often miss: PSI may seed 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions into your exam. These questions are indistinguishable from scored ones and don't count toward your final result, but they do add to your total question count and time pressure. Treat every question as if it counts, because you have no way of identifying which ones are experimental.
| Exam Detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Administering Agency | New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance |
| Test Vendor | PSI (Series 18-27) |
| Scored Questions | 150 |
| Experimental Questions | 5-10 additional, unscored |
| Time Limit | 150 minutes |
| Passing Score | 70% |
| Exam Fee | $75 |
| Testing Format | Computer-based, test center or remote proctoring, closed book |
For a full breakdown of exactly how the 70% threshold is calculated and what it means in terms of missed questions, see NMLH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. And if you want the real-world context behind the state's reported outcomes, NMLH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows covers the 2025 figures in detail.
Key Takeaway
The official 2025 report recorded 911 combined remote and on-site attempts with 598 passes - an overall pass rate of 65.6%. That means roughly one in three candidates does not clear the bar on a given attempt, which makes structured domain-by-domain preparation worthwhile rather than optional.
The 13 NMLH Exam Domains
The NMLH exam is built from 13 content domains, each weighted differently. Studying without knowing these weights is like preparing for a test blind - you might spend three days on a topic worth 2% of the exam and skim past one worth 16%. Here is the official breakdown:
Domain 4: Life, Accident and Health Insurance Basics (16%)
This is the single largest domain on the exam and covers the foundational vocabulary and mechanics that every other domain builds on.
- Insurable interest, risk classification, and underwriting fundamentals
- Core policy structure for life, accident, and health products
- Terminology that reappears across nearly every other domain
Domain 6: Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders (13%)
The second-heaviest domain, focused on the contractual mechanics of life policies.
- Nonforfeiture options, settlement options, and policy loans
- Common riders such as waiver of premium and accidental death
- Grace periods, reinstatement, and incontestability clauses
Domain 1: Insurance Regulation (10%) & Domain 10: Medical Plans (10%)
These two domains tie for the third-highest weight and deserve equal attention.
- Regulation covers licensing rules, producer conduct, and OSI authority
- Medical Plans covers HMOs, PPOs, and other managed care structures
The remaining domains - Types of Life Insurance Policies (9%), Annuities (8%), Accident and Health Insurance Policy Provisions (7%), Group Health Insurance (6%), General Insurance Concepts (5%), Specialized Health Insurance for Qualified Individuals (5%), Federal Tax Considerations for Life and Health Insurance (5%), Disability Income and Related Insurance (4%), and Federal Laws and Regulations (2%) - round out the remaining 51% of the exam. None of these is safe to skip; combined, they make up more than half the questions you'll face. A full domain-by-domain study breakdown, including sample topics inside each area, is available in NMLH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 13 Content Areas.
Registration, Fees, and Eligibility
Getting to the testing chair requires a few concrete steps, and none of them involve a mandatory prelicensing course - New Mexico does not require one for this exam. That said, self-study is still essential given the pass-rate data above.
- Minimum age: You must be at least 18 years old.
- Exam fee: $75, paid directly to PSI when you schedule your appointment.
- Background check: A state and national fingerprint-based background check is required as part of the licensing process.
- Application: Resident applicants apply electronically through NIPR (the National Insurance Producer Registry) once the exam is passed.
Because the exam fee, background check, and licensing application each carry their own cost, candidates often underestimate the total spend involved in becoming licensed. A line-by-line breakdown is available in NMLH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and scheduling logistics - including how test center and remote proctoring appointments work - are covered in NMLH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Licensing After You Pass
Passing the NMLH exam is a milestone, not the finish line. Once you clear the 70% threshold, complete the fingerprint background check, and submit your electronic application through NIPR, the state issues your resident producer license. From there, maintaining the license is an ongoing obligation:
- Resident producer licenses renew on a biennial (two-year) cycle.
- Renewal requires 24 continuing-education hours: 21 general hours plus 3 ethics hours.
- Producers selling long-term-care or annuity products must also complete specialized training tied to those product lines.
This continuing-education cycle is one reason producers who pass the NMLH exam treat it as the start of an ongoing compliance relationship with the state, not a one-time test. If you're weighing whether the licensing path is worth the time and cost investment, Is the NMLH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 lays out the tradeoffs.
Who Takes the NMLH Exam
The NMLH exam is taken by people entering - or already working in - the life and health insurance sales channel in New Mexico. That includes:
- New producers joining a captive or independent life and health insurance agency
- Financial services professionals adding life, annuity, or health product lines to an existing practice
- Career changers moving into insurance sales, since no prelicensing coursework is mandatory to sit for the exam
- Producers relocating to New Mexico who need a resident license despite holding credentials elsewhere
Because the license covers life, accident, health, and sickness insurance broadly, it opens doors to a wide range of employers - from large carriers to independent brokerages. If you're researching what roles and hiring paths look like after licensure, NMLH Jobs and NMLH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis go deeper into the employment side of the equation.
Building a Domain-Based Study Plan
Because the exam blueprint tells you exactly how much weight each domain carries, the most efficient way to study is to allocate your time proportionally rather than evenly. A candidate with a few weeks before their test date might structure preparation like this:
Foundations
- Life, Accident and Health Insurance Basics (16%)
- General Insurance Concepts (5%)
Life Products
- Types of Life Insurance Policies (9%)
- Life Insurance Policy Provisions, Options, and Riders (13%)
- Annuities (8%)
Health and Regulation
- Medical Plans (10%)
- Insurance Regulation (10%)
- Accident and Health Insurance Policy Provisions (7%)
Smaller Domains and Review
- Group Health Insurance (6%), Disability Income (4%), Federal Tax Considerations (5%), Specialized Health Insurance (5%), Federal Laws and Regulations (2%)
- Full-length timed practice runs at 150 questions / 150 minutes
Notice that the smaller domains are grouped together late in the plan rather than skipped - together they still represent more than a fifth of the exam. A more detailed week-by-week walkthrough, including how to pace review across all 13 domains, is available in NMLH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. If you're trying to gauge how much total effort the exam actually demands compared to other state insurance exams, How Hard Is the NMLH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 addresses that directly using the same 65.6% pass-rate context.
Timed practice matters as much as content review here. With 150 questions in 150 minutes, pacing discipline is part of what separates a pass from a near-miss. Running full-length practice sessions on our NMLH practice test platform before test day helps you calibrate how quickly you need to move through each domain without leaving too little time for the harder items near the end.
Key Takeaway
Study time should mirror the exam blueprint: spend the most hours on Life, Accident and Health Insurance Basics and Life Insurance Policy Provisions, then work down through the mid-weight and smaller domains rather than studying alphabetically or by chapter order.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's a licensing exam. Passing NMLH (PSI Series 18-27) is one requirement, alongside a background check and NIPR application, to hold a resident life and health insurance producer license in New Mexico.
No. New Mexico does not require a prelicensing course to sit for the exam, though self-study is strongly recommended given the reported pass rate.
The official exam has 150 scored questions with a 150-minute time limit, plus PSI may add 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions that aren't identified separately.
You need 70% correct. In 2025, 911 combined remote and on-site attempts produced 598 passes, an overall pass rate of 65.6%.
Resident producer licenses renew every two years and require 24 continuing-education hours: 21 general hours and 3 ethics hours, plus specialized training for long-term-care or annuity sales.
Whether you're just starting to explore what NMLH involves or you're deep into scheduling your test date, working through the domain weights and format details above - and testing yourself under real time constraints on a full-length NMLH practice exam - is the most direct way to turn the 65.6% pass rate in your favor.