Life insurance license — Tennessee

Tennessee asks for no pre-licensing education for a Life line of authority. The only line the Department requires a course for is title insurance, at 30 hours. Everything else is study-as-you-like, sit the exam when you are ready.

That makes Tennessee, like Texas, one of the fast states — and for the same reason, one where people underprepare and pay for a second attempt.

The steps, in order

1. Study. No mandated hours. The exam is smaller than most states', which cuts both ways: fewer questions means each one costs you more.
2. Get fingerprinted early. The Department is explicit that you should complete fingerprinting at least two business days before submitting your application, or the application stalls waiting on the check.
3. Pass with Pearson VUE. The Life exam is 77 questions: 50 general-knowledge and 18 Tennessee state-law questions that count, plus 9 unscored pretest items mixed in. 70% to pass, 1 hour 45 minutes.
4. Apply. $50 filing fee.
5. Get appointed.

Note the shape of that exam. Eighteen of your 68 scored questions — over a quarter — are Tennessee law. Most study courses spend proportionally less time there than the exam does.

What it costs

| Item | Cost | Paid to | | --- | --- | --- | | Exam | ≈ $59 in person, $49 online | Pearson VUE | | Fingerprinting | Varies | Approved vendor | | Application filing | $50 | Tennessee DCI | | Renewal, every 2 years | $60 | Tennessee DCI |

The $50 filing fee and the $60 renewal are first-party from the Department. The exam fee is Pearson VUE's published range and depends on whether you test at a centre or online — confirm before booking.

After you're licensed

Twenty-four credit hours every two years, three of them concentrated in ethics, tied to the biennial renewal cycle. The licence renews every two years for $60.

Tennessee is a common resident state for agents working the Southeast by phone, and the combination of no pre-licensing, a short exam and a $50 filing fee makes it one of the cheapest resident licences to originate. Budget the saving into study material rather than pocketing it — the state-law quarter of that exam is where the retakes come from.