What the Combined License Covers
Georgia issues Life and Accident and Sickness as two separate lines of authority under Rule 120-2-3-.06(1)(a) and (b) — but you can earn both from a single sitting of the combined 12-GA-05 exam. The result is one license carrying both lines: life insurance and annuities on one side, major medical, disability, Medicare supplement, long-term care and group health on the other.
Unlike Property and Casualty — which OCI refuses to issue separately — Life and Accident & Sickness genuinely can be held alone. So the combined route is a choice rather than a requirement, and the arithmetic is worth doing once. One combined exam costs $67; two separate exams cost $134. The license application is $120 either way, because Georgia's fee attaches to the license and not to the count of lines. Pre-licensing is 16 hours on either route, since Rule 120-2-3-.07(3) sets 8 hours per major line of authority.
What you buy with the extra $67 on the split route is a smaller room to carry into each time, and independence: fail Accident & Sickness and your Life pass still stands, with its own 12-month application clock. What you buy with the combined route is one trip, one fee, and — as the next section shows — meaningfully less Georgia statute to memorize.
Variable Products remains separate either way. It is its own Georgia line (Rule 120-2-3-.06(1)(e)) with its own 8-hour course and its own exam, 12-GA-62, and it can only sit on top of Life authority alongside your FINRA registrations.
Exam Options & Format
12-GA-05, Life/Accident & Sickness Agent: 125 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest items (135 presented), 2 hours 30 minutes, $67, and a flat 70% to pass — 88 of 125. Georgia scores raw, not scaled, and prints the result before you leave.
The scored breakdown, from the content outline: Life: types of policies 15 · riders, provisions, options and exclusions 15 · completing the application, underwriting and delivery 12 · retirement and other concepts 8. Accident & Sickness: types of policies 16 · policy provisions, clauses and riders 15 · social insurance 6 · other insurance concepts 5 · field underwriting 8. Georgia: laws for Life, Accident & Sickness 19 · rules for life only 3 · rules for A&S only 3.
Read that last group closely, because it is the strongest practical argument for the combined exam. Taken separately, the two exams carry 30 Georgia-law questions each — 60 in total. Taken together, the combined exam carries 25. Georgia compresses the state chapter when you sit both lines at once, which means less statute to hold and a bigger share of your score riding on product knowledge you would need anyway.
The pace is tighter, though: 135 questions in 150 minutes is about 67 seconds each, against 90 seconds on the single-line exams. If you read slowly or translate as you go, that difference is real.
Retakes work the same on every Georgia exam: rebook the next day if you want, but wait 14 days after the first and second failures and 60 days after the third and beyond. No attempt cap; $67 each time. And under Rule 120-2-3-.09(3), a candidate who took pre-licensing from an independent provider and fails three times must retake the course from a different provider before testing again.
Most Tested Topics on the Georgia Life/A&S Exam
Twenty-five Georgia questions, and they cluster hard around three themes: what happens when an insurer fails, what a buyer may return and when, and what a producer may not do. From the TESTivity Georgia regulations curriculum, verified against the code:
| Concept | The Georgia rule |
|---|---|
| Guaranty association | The Georgia Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association, created as "a nonprofit, unincorporated association" — O.C.G.A. § 33-38-5(a) |
| Life limits | $300,000 in death benefits, but not more than $100,000 in net cash surrender and withdrawal values — § 33-38-7(a)(12)(B)(i) |
| Annuity limits | $300,000 present value of annuity benefits, but not more than $250,000 net cash surrender — § 33-38-7(a)(12)(B)(iii) |
| Health limits | $500,000 for health benefit plans; $300,000 each for disability income, long-term care, and other health — § 33-38-7(a)(12)(B)(ii) |
| Aggregate cap | $300,000 per life across all coverages — except $500,000 where a health benefit plan is involved — § 33-38-7(a)(12)(D)(i) |
| Advertising the association | Prohibited outright; penalty up to $1,000 per violation, $10,000 aggregate — § 33-38-21 |
| Free look, individual life | 10 days from receipt, full refund, policy "void from the beginning" — § 33-25-8 (a stand-alone section, not part of the replacement rules) |
| Free look on replacement | Still 10 days — Georgia never adopted the extended 20- or 30-day replacement free look |
| Free look, LTC | 30 days — § 33-42-6(f) |
| Free look, Medicare supplement | 30 days — Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 120-2-8-.17(1)(e) |
| Replacement duties | Replacement Notice presented "not later than at the time of taking the application," both parties sign, agent leaves all advertisements used, insurer furnishes the policy summary within 10 working days — Rules 120-2-24-.05, -.06 |
| Unfair trade practices | O.C.G.A. § 33-6-4 enumerates them, including rebating at (8)(B), defamation, boycott/coercion, tying arrangements, and falsely claiming Medicare or Social Security employment |
| Unfair claims settlement | A separate article, §§ 33-6-30 through 33-6-37 — and § 33-6-37 states plainly that it creates no private cause of action |
| Bad faith | Refusal to pay within 60 days of demand: penalty of 50% of the loss or $5,000, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees — § 33-4-6 |
| Record retention | 5 years after completion of the transaction or the term of the contract, whichever is greater — § 33-23-34(b) |
| Annuity standard | NAIC best interest, Rule 120-2-94, effective August 1, 2023, with mandatory producer training |
The free look is Georgia's most reliably missed question, and the reason is a bad citation that circulates everywhere. Georgia's 10-day right to return lives in O.C.G.A. § 33-25-8, a section written for exactly that purpose: the buyer may return the policy within ten days of receipt and "it shall be void from the beginning and the parties shall be in the same position as if no policy or contract had been issued." It is not in the replacement regulation. Subject 120-2-24 imposes notice, signature and record duties on the agent and creates no return right at all — the only place ten days appears there is in the consumer disclosure form, restating § 33-25-8. And because Georgia never adopted the newer NAIC replacement model, replacement does not extend the free look. Ten days is ten days.
The guaranty limits are the other high-value block, and Georgia's health tier is worded in a way that trips people. The $500,000 figure attaches to "health benefit plans" — the defined term — while disability income, long-term care, and every other health coverage sit at $300,000 each. Study guides that render this as "$500,000 for basic hospital, medical and surgical or major medical" are importing older NAIC language Georgia does not use. Same for the aggregate: $300,000 per life, stretching to $500,000 only where a health benefit plan is in the mix.
One structural point worth carrying into the exam: Georgia keeps unfair trade practices (§ 33-6-4, Article 1) and unfair claims settlement practices (§§ 33-6-30 et seq., Article 2) in separate articles with different tests. A claims practice is only actionable under Article 2 if it is committed "flagrantly and in conscious disregard" of the title or "with such frequency so as to indicate a general business practice." A single mishandled claim, without more, is not a violation.
Georgia's Pre-Licensing Requirement — Every Line, Every Exemption
Georgia is one of roughly twenty states that make you take a course before you may sit the exam, and its rule is admirably short. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 120-2-3-.07(3): "All prelicensing courses must contain a minimum of eight (8) hours of instruction per major line of authority." The major lines are Life, Accident and Sickness, Property, Casualty, and Personal Lines.
The hours, line by line, as OCI publishes them:
| License | Pre-licensing required |
|---|---|
| Life | 8 hours |
| Accident & Sickness | 8 hours |
| Life/Accident & Sickness (combined) | 16 hours — 8 + 8 |
| Personal Lines | 8 hours |
| Property and Casualty | 16 hours — an 8-hour Property course plus an 8-hour Casualty course |
| Variable Products | 8 hours (Rule 120-2-3-.23), on top of Life |
| Credit | 5 hours, self-study |
| Title, Travel | None |
Note there is no discount for combining. The 16 hours for a Life/A&S license is simply the two 8-hour courses; sitting one exam instead of two saves you $67 and a trip, not classroom time.
A word on the "20 hours" you may have read. Chapter 120-2-3 does contain a 20-hour figure — it applies to limited subagent courses covering combination lines, and a separate 10-hour requirement applies to Navigators. It has never been the agent requirement, and there is no primary source for the claim, repeated on several licensing sites, that Georgia "reduced" agent pre-licensing from 20 hours to 8 in 2025. Eight hours per major line is the rule; treat any page telling you 20 or 40 as unreliable on everything else too.
Delivery format. Both classroom and online delivery are contemplated by the rules. For virtual delivery, "system security must be in place to ensure user attendance" — which is why approved online courses time you and check in on you rather than letting you click through. Classroom courses must be held in rooms separate from other activities. There is no rule requiring you to take pre-licensing in a physical classroom.
The certificate and its clock. Finish the course and the provider issues a Certificate of Completion. It is valid for twelve months, and the handbook states the requirement from the exam side: you must "pass the Pearson licensure examination within one year of completing the pre-licensing training." Pearson VUE will not seat you without it. Then a second twelve-month clock starts at your passing score, running to the filing of your application. Course → exam within a year → application within a year. Neither clock pauses for the other.
Who is exempt — Rule 120-2-3-.07(5). For property and casualty lines: holders of CPCU, CIC, CISR, or CRM. For life and health lines: holders of CLU or FLMI. Also exempt: temporary license applicants; credit insurance agent applicants; anyone who has completed two college or university insurance courses related to the lines applied for; holders of a college degree in insurance or risk management; applicants qualifying under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-5(a)(5)(A) and (B); applicants covered by Rules 120-2-3-.23, .29, .32, .41 and .44; and "other applicants as the Commissioner at his discretion may determine."
Exemption is not the same as waiver. These are exemptions from the course. A separate and narrower list in Rule 120-2-3-.09 waives the examination — and CLU, FLMI and CPCU appear on both, while CISR and CRM appear only on the course list. The Accident & Sickness guide sorts the two lists out in full; check which one your letters are on before you skip anything.
Choosing a provider. Georgia approves providers and courses individually, and OCI maintains the list. TESTivity recommends Achievable: it is an approved provider, its insurance courses were built by the same subject-matter expert behind TESTivity, and completing the course earns the Certificate of Completion Georgia requires. To be explicit about the boundary — TESTivity is not an approved Georgia pre-licensing provider and does not issue certificates of completion. The TESTivity learning tools will help you pass; treat them as a supplement to your approved course, never a substitute for it. (Disclosure: TESTivity has a partnership with Achievable and may earn a commission if you enroll through links on this page.)
One consequence of failing three times. Rule 120-2-3-.09(3) provides that a candidate who completed pre-licensing through an independent provider and fails the exam three times must take the course again from a different provider before retesting. If that catches you, the fourth attempt costs a new course as well as another $67 — a good reason to take the first course seriously.
Exam Day at a Georgia Pearson VUE Center — What Actually Happens
Everything is in person. Georgia Insurance is not on Pearson VUE's OnVUE remote-proctoring program list, the August 2026 handbook has no remote-testing provision, and the vendor's Georgia insurance page offers no online option. Plan for a test center, and plan to be there early.
Arrive 30 minutes before your appointment. That is the handbook's instruction, and it is check-in time rather than a courtesy margin — the desk needs to verify identification, photograph you, store your belongings and seat you before the clock starts. Candidates "absent from or late to an exam who have not changed or canceled the reservation… will not be admitted to the exam and will forfeit the exam fee." There is no grace period and no refund for arriving late.
Bring two forms of current, signed identification. The handbook is specific: "the primary identification must be government-issued, and photo-bearing with a signature and the secondary identification must contain a valid signature." A driver's license or passport for the first; a credit card, bank card or employee ID with a signature for the second. The name on both must match your Pearson VUE registration exactly — a maiden name on the ID and a married name on the registration is a turn-away, not a discussion. Expired documents don't count.
Everything else stays outside the testing room. The prohibited list, verbatim: "cellular phones, hand-held computers or other electronic devices, pagers, watches, wallets, purses, firearms or other weapons, hats, bags, coats, books, and/or notes, pens or pencils." Note that watches are on it — including analog ones — so rely on the on-screen timer. Centers provide secure storage, but bring as little as you can. You will not need your own pen or paper; the center supplies whatever note materials it permits.
Check-in and the tutorial. Expect an ID check, a signature, a photograph, and a walk to your station by the proctor. A short tutorial runs before the exam and does not come out of your testing time — use it to get comfortable with the flag-for-review function, because on 12-GA-05 you will want it.
Managing 135 questions in 150 minutes. That is roughly 67 seconds a question, the tightest pace of any Georgia producer exam. Ten of those questions are unscored pretest items, unmarked and indistinguishable from the rest, so there is no point hunting for them — answer everything at the same tempo. There is no penalty for guessing: your score is correct answers only, so a blank is strictly worse than a coin flip. A practical split: aim to be at question 65 by the halfway mark, flag anything that costs you more than 90 seconds, and spend the last ten minutes on flags rather than on a re-read of the whole paper.
Breaks. Any break comes out of your exam time, and you re-verify identification on the way back in. Sit the two and a half hours straight through if you can.
When you finish. Georgia is a same-day-result state. Your score report prints at the center, marked "pass" or "fail" — you walk out knowing. A failing report comes back with content-area diagnostics; the Personal Lines guide covers how to read those and what the retake schedule looks like.
If something goes wrong at the center — a machine fault, a disruption, a scheduling error — raise it with the test center administrator before you leave and note the time. Pearson VUE's candidate line is (800) 274-0488. OCI's licensing line, (800) 274-8969, is a different number for a different purpose; use the Pearson number for anything about the exam itself.
Before you go home, do one thing: write the date on your score report and put a calendar reminder eleven months out. Your passing score expires twelve months from that date under Rule 120-2-3-.09(4), and nothing in the handbook will remind you.
What It Costs
$67 for the combined 12-GA-05 (or $134 sitting 12-GA-01 and 12-GA-02 separately) and $120 to OCI through Sircon — $100 license + $15 application fee + $5 processing. That is $187 fixed on the combined route, $254 split, assuming first-time passes.
Variable: 16 hours of pre-licensing at your provider's price, and the IdentoGO fingerprint fee, which Georgia does not publish for service code 2TGJ6B. CLU and FLMI holders skip both the courses and the exam entirely, leaving the $120 and the fingerprints.
Recurring: $100 to renew every two years without Variable Products, $200 with it, plus a $5 processing fee each time, plus your CE.
Eligibility Requirements
O.C.G.A. § 33-23-5(a) sets the bar: at least 18 years of age, "a resident of this state who shall reside and be present within this state for at least six months of every year," and "of good character." Georgia's residency test is measured in days present, not merely by mailing address.
The good-character requirement is enforced through the fingerprint background check and through § 33-23-21, which lists 22 grounds on which the Commissioner may refuse, suspend or revoke a license — one of which is misrepresentation on the application itself. Disclose everything the background questions ask about; the omission is what causes trouble, not usually the underlying matter.
Every new applicant uploads a notarized Citizenship Affidavit (GID-276-EN) with a copy of acceptable identification. The Life guide covers the Sircon application step by step; the Casualty guide covers fingerprinting.
Keeping the License Active
Important CE details: 24 hours per two-year cycle including 3 hours of ethics under 20 years of licensure; 20 hours (3 ethics) at 20+ years, an automatic 4-hour reduction effective in 2026. Designation holders — CPCU, CLU, FLMI, CIC, CEBS, ChFC, AAI, CFP, CRM, CISR, or a BBA in risk management and insurance — need 12 hours including 3 ethics.
One license, one CE obligation: 24 hours per two-year cycle including 3 hours of ethics while you have been licensed under 20 years, dropping to 20 hours (still 3 ethics) at 20 years — an automatic 4-hour reduction Georgia began applying in 2026. Holding both Life and Accident & Sickness authority does not double anything.
Two product-specific trainings sit outside the CE count and are easy to overlook. Annuity best-interest training under Rule 120-2-94 is a prerequisite to recommending an annuity at all — producers licensed before August 1, 2023 had to complete the Annuity Best Interest course by January 31, 2024. And long-term care partnership sales require 8 hours of initial training plus 4 hours every 24 months under Rule 120-2-16-.34, with the insurer obliged to verify it before letting you sell.
Credits post through Sircon's Compliance Express, and reductions or exemptions are claimed on Form GID-101E-AL. The Property & Casualty guide covers the renewal mechanics — the 60-day early window, the 15-day late-renewal grace period, the $150 reinstatement penalty, and the point where you have to start over.
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