What This License Is
In Wisconsin this is not one license — it is two separate lines of authority, the life line and the accident and health or sickness line, each with its own exam, its own license fee and its own entry on your record. Both are issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.
There is no combined Life and Accident & Health exam in Wisconsin. Most states sell these two lines together in one 150-question sitting; Wisconsin does not sell them together at all. Series 22-01 is Life, Series 22-03 is Accident and Health or Sickness, each is 100 questions in 2 hours at $75, and each carries a $75 initial license fee. A producer building the standard career-agent book pays twice for everything except the $10 application fee.
That structure is worth knowing before you plan, because it changes the sequencing question. In a combined-exam state you study once and sit once. Here you choose an order — and the order matters, because of how pre-licensing education carries over.
Exam Options & Format
Two exams, same shape. Series 22-01 (Life) and Series 22-03 (Accident and Health or Sickness) are each 100 scored questions plus 5 to 10 unscored pretest items, 2 hours, $75. Both are "General and State" exams, meaning Wisconsin law is inside the same 100 questions rather than tested on a separate paper.
$150 in exam fees, $150 in license fees. There is no discount for taking both and no combined option to reach for. Each fee is per attempt and non-transferable, though a paid fee stays valid one year from payment.
The state-specific short exams are not for you unless you have held the Wisconsin line before. Series 22-02 (Life) and 22-04 (A&H) are 35 questions in 1 hour, and the bulletin describes 22-02 as "Life (for agent who held life license)." A first-time applicant takes the full General and State paper.
Attempts are unlimited on both, with no waiting period beyond the rule that you cannot rebook on the day you tested. Sitting them on consecutive days is entirely possible if seats allow — and given that the 8-hour general block of pre-licensing is shared, taking them close together is the efficient play.
Most Tested Topics Across the Wisconsin Life and Health Exams
Content that spans both exams concentrates in one place above all others: the Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund, whose structure departs from the NAIC model more thoroughly than almost any state's. From the TESTivity Wisconsin regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Wisconsin concept | The rule, and where it comes from |
|---|---|
| The guaranty mechanism's real name | The "insurance security fund" — "There is created an organization to be known as the 'insurance security fund'" (§646.11(1)). Wisconsin has no "Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association" |
| One fund, all lines | A single fund covers life, annuity, health, property, casualty and worker's compensation. Wisconsin does not split into separate life-health and property-casualty associations |
| The headline cap | $300,000 on a single risk, loss, or life, "regardless of the number of policies or contracts" (§646.31(4)(ap)) |
| Life cash surrender sub-cap | None. The NAIC model's $100,000 limit has no Wisconsin counterpart — cash value sits inside the single $300,000 ceiling |
| Annuity sub-cap | None. The model's $250,000 annuity limit likewise has no Wisconsin counterpart |
| The $500,000 figure | An aggregate, not a health cap — available only for benefits for property insurance, liability insurance and "disability insurance" combined on the same risk, loss or life (§646.31(4)(ap)) |
| What "disability insurance" means there | Comprehensive health and major medical policies only. §646.31(4)(ag) expressly excludes hospital indemnity, loss of time, accident-only, limited or specified benefit, disability income, long-term care and Medicare supplement |
| Worker's compensation | Expressly excluded from the cap by the opening words of §646.31(4)(ap) |
| The absolute ceiling | The fund is never obligated beyond "the loss obligation of the insurer in liquidation under the policy or coverage from which the claim arises" (§646.31(4)(b)) |
| Using the fund to sell | An unfair marketing practice — and note the cite, because it sits in the producer conduct statute rather than the guaranty chapter (§628.34) |
| Continuing education, headline | 24 credit hours biennially, a minimum of 3 covering ethics in insurance (Wis. Admin. Code Ins 28.04) |
Almost every wrong answer here comes from importing the NAIC model. National material drills a four-number pattern: $300,000 death benefit, $100,000 cash surrender, $250,000 annuity, $500,000 health. Wisconsin keeps the first number and discards the structure. There is one limit — $300,000 per risk, loss or life — and the sub-caps simply do not exist. A Wisconsin annuity holder is protected to $300,000, not $250,000; a Wisconsin cash-value claim to $300,000, not $100,000.
The $500,000 figure is the sharpest trap in the set, because it is a real number in the real statute that means something other than what candidates assume. It is not the health cap. It is an aggregate that becomes available only when property, liability and "disability insurance" benefits combine on a single risk, loss or life — and the statute then defines "disability insurance" so narrowly that most health-adjacent products fall outside it. Disability income is out. Long-term care is out. Medicare supplement is out. All three drop back to the flat $300,000.
That definitional carve-out at §646.31(4)(ag) rewards a careful read, because the same two words mean something broader elsewhere in the Wisconsin code — chapter 632 uses "disability insurance" as the general term for accident and health coverage. Same phrase, deliberately different scope, chapters apart. When a Wisconsin question turns on "disability insurance," the first job is working out which chapter you are in.
Wisconsin's 20-Hour Pre-Licensing Requirement
Wisconsin is one of the states that still requires pre-licensing education, and it applies to every major line: "every resident applying for a property, personal lines, casualty, life or accident and health insurance or sickness license." This is not optional preparation — it is a gate, and you cannot walk through the test center door without evidence of it.
The structure: 20 hours, split 8 and 12.
8 hours on the principles of insurance, general Wisconsin insurance laws, and ethics. This block is line-neutral — it is the same content whichever authority you are pursuing.
12 hours on policies, terms and concepts, and line-specific insurance law. This block changes with the line.
The carry-over rule is where the money is. OCI: "Once the 8 hours is completed, it needs not be repeated for each line of authority as long as it is within a 12-month period." Take Life first at 20 hours; come back for Accident and Health inside twelve months and you owe 12. Let the year lapse and you pay for the general block again. For a producer intending to hold both lines, sequencing them inside a single year is worth real money and real evenings.
Self-study and online courses end in a proctored exam. This catches people who choose the flexible format assuming it is also the lighter one. Ins 26.09 requires that correspondence, self-study, audio, video and on-line courses include "successful completion of a certified proctored examination" — a minimum of 25 questions for section A and 50 questions per line of authority for section B, with a passing score of 70% or greater required on each. The proctor must be an impartial, disinterested third party or a currently licensed agent with no family or financial relationship to you, and must sign an affidavit that you received no outside assistance. Classroom courses are governed by attendance instead (Ins 26.08). Note this course exam is entirely separate from the PSI state exam and does not count toward it.
The timing rule. Wis. Admin. Code Ins 26.04 requires the 20 hours be completed "not more than one year earlier than the date tested." The certificate is valid one year from completion — which is the longest of the several clocks in this process, and therefore the one people forget is running.
Bring the certificate. OCI is explicit: "For the major lines of authority, you must present a certificate of completion of the required prelicensing education … to the test center in order to test." Paper or electronic both work. Arriving without it means being turned away and forfeiting a $75 fee.
Who is exempt (Ins 26.04): all limited lines — credit, legal expense, miscellaneous limited line, title, crop, surety, travel; nonresident applicants; reinsurance intermediary-brokers, reinsurance intermediary-managers and managing general agents; holders of a 2-year Wisconsin vocational school degree in insurance; holders of a 4-year college business degree with an insurance emphasis; an applicant who held a resident license in another state within the previous 12 months for each line applied for in Wisconsin; and insurance instruction obtained through military service.
And by professional designation, line by line. Life: CEBS, ChFC, CIC, CFP, CLU, FLMI, LUTCF. Accident & Health: RHU, CEBS, REBC, HIA. Property, Casualty and Personal Lines: AAI, ARM, CIC, CPCU.
Exam Day: Check-In, ID and What Not to Bring
More Wisconsin candidates forfeit a $75 fee to the rules below than to anything on the exam itself.
Arrive 30 minutes early. The bulletin sets "exam show-times … 30 minutes prior" to allow for check-in. The fee is forfeited if you are not checked in by your scheduled start time — so the buffer is not a courtesy, it is the margin between testing and paying again.
Bring two forms of identification, and here is why. Wisconsin's two primary sources disagree. The PSI bulletin says "candidates are required to bring one (1) form of valid (non-expired) signature bearing identification to the test site." OCI's Apply for a License page says "you must bring two forms of valid identification and your prelicensing course completion certificate." Both are official; neither yields. Bring two and the conflict is somebody else's problem. Acceptable forms include a state driver's license, a state ID card, a US passport, a US military ID, a US Alien Registration Card, or Canadian government-issued identification.
Register under the name on your ID. You must register with your legal first and last name exactly as it appears on the government-issued identification you will present. Fix a mismatch by phone before exam day, not at the counter.
Bring your pre-licensing certificate. For a major line it is not optional — no certificate, no exam.
Handheld calculators are prohibited, along with reference materials of any kind and "electronic devices of any type, including but not limited to; cellular phones, cameras, computers of any type (e.g., laptops, tablets, iPads), earbuds, electronic games, electronic watches, handheld calculators, headsets, mobile devices, music players, pagers, radios, recording devices, smart watches, televisions." The bulletin does not say whether an on-screen calculator is provided, so plan to do the arithmetic unaided.
Rescheduling: two days, and it is about receipt. "You may cancel and reschedule an examination appointment without forfeiting your fee if your cancellation notice is received 2 days before the scheduled examination date." Received, not sent. The fee is also forfeited by a no-show, by failing to check in on time, or by presenting improper identification.
If you test remotely, two additional rules change the exam materially: no breaks are allowed and no scratch paper. The Accident and Health guide covers the remote format, including the 15-minute forfeiture window that is tighter than the 30-minute launch window suggests.
What It Costs
For both lines: $150 in exam fees ($75 × 2), $150 in license fees ($75 × 2), $34.75 in fingerprints and a one-time $10 resident application fee — about $370 in state and vendor fees on first-attempt passes, plus pre-licensing tuition.
The only structural saving Wisconsin offers is on the education side, and it is worth planning for: 20 hours for the first line, 12 for the second within twelve months. There is no equivalent discount on exam fees or license fees, because there is no combined exam and Wisconsin charges per line of authority.
Two figures Wisconsin does not set: pre-licensing tuition, which is charged by private OCI-approved providers, and the NIPR transaction cost at checkout. Budget above the $370.
Eligibility Requirements
At least 18, with Wis. Stat. §628.04 supplying the standard the commissioner actually applies: the applicant must be found "competent and trustworthy" and to intend in good faith to act as an intermediary. Fingerprints through Fieldprint and the uniform application's background questions are how that finding is made.
§628.10 authorizes revocation for false statements in an application, and §628.097 for delinquency in child support, taxes or unemployment insurance contributions.
Someone relocating to Wisconsin should note a generous window: obtain the Wisconsin resident license within one year of inactivating the previous resident-state license and you avoid pre-licensing, fingerprinting and the exam. The Property & Casualty guide covers reciprocity in detail.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: Holding two lines does not double anything. Wisconsin scales the requirement to the licensee rather than to the number of lines, and assigns no hours to a particular line of authority.
24 credit hours biennially with a minimum of 3 covering ethics in insurance (Ins 28.04) — and that is the whole obligation whether you hold one line or six. Wisconsin does not scale CE with the number of lines on your license, and it assigns none of the hours to a particular line: the rule permits credits "from courses taught in any or all of the major lines."
Life-side producers pick up one product-specific obligation through Wisconsin's adoption of the NAIC best interest standard for annuity transactions at §628.347, which carries its own producer training requirement.
Renewal falls on the last day of your birth month, biennially, at $35 for residents. The Property & Casualty guide walks the full machinery — the carryover prohibition, the provider banking deadline, and the twelve-month reinstatement window at twice the renewal fee.
Quick Reference
Official Links
Don't study generic. Study Wisconsin.
You've got the roadmap. Now get the Wisconsin-specific Life & Health question bank, mock exams, and video course built by instructors with 20+ years teaching this material.