United States
Hong KongFree versus paid, and the one half of this exam where free is genuinely good
Four official sources cost nothing: the content outline, the candidate handbook, TDI's licensing page and the entire Texas Insurance Code. Together they are a strong free route through the 30 Texas questions. They are a weak route through the 100 general ones, which is where most people actually lose the paper.
Free study material is usually a euphemism for a lead magnet. Not here. The two documents that define this exam are published PDFs, and the law the Texas portion tests is public domain and searchable. That is an unusually good free stack, and it is worth knowing exactly how far it goes before you spend anything.
What the free stack contains
| Source | What it gives you | What it will not do |
|---|---|---|
| The content outline, Pearson publication 124401 | Every section, and the number of questions each carries. This is the specification, not a summary of it | Teach anything. It is a list of what you are responsible for |
| The candidate handbook, publication 124400 | Fee, format, ID rules, how scoring works, how to book | Tell you the pass mark, because TDI does not publish one |
| The Texas Insurance Code | The actual text behind most of the 30 Texas questions, free and in full | Tell you which parts of 1,750 sections the outline cares about |
| TDI's own licensing page | The three steps to a license: take the exam, get fingerprinted, apply | Prepare you for anything |
| The FY2025 demographic report | 26,427 first-time candidates, 57.7% passing, a mean scaled score of 69.75 | Change your odds |
Notice how one-sided that is. Free covers the specification and the law completely, and covers the teaching not at all.
Why free works better on the Texas 30
Because the primary source is the syllabus. When the outline says a candidate must know the rules on replacement of a life policy in Texas, the thing being tested is a piece of statute you can go and read for nothing. Paid material on that portion is somebody's paraphrase of a document you already have access to, and a paraphrase can only be as good as the original.
The catch is volume. The Code runs to 47 chapters and around 1,750 sections and the outline draws on a fraction of them. Free gives you the haystack. It does not point at the needles, and working out which chapters carry the 14 questions on statutes common to life and health is real work.
Why free works badly on the general 100
Because there is no primary source. Nobody publishes the definitive text on the difference between a guaranteed insurability rider and an accidental death and dismemberment rider, or on how coinsurance interacts with a deductible. It is standard industry material, it is diffuse, and free versions of it on the internet range from decent to actively wrong.
And this is 100 of the 130 scored questions. 77% of the paper, which is ours by division. If you are going to pay for anything, pay for the part where the free option is worst, not the part where it happens to be best.
The free thing that is not free
Time. A free route through this exam is real and it costs you the hours spent assembling what a paid product hands over sorted. That trade is worth making for some people and not for others, and the honest way to decide it is to price your own week rather than to argue about $149.
The exam is $49 and a retake is another $49, so the fee is not what hurts. What hurts is that 57.7% of first-time candidates passed in FY2025, and a failed attempt costs you a rebooking, a wait, and the part of your license application window that has already gone. The application must be filed within a year of passing, and a retake eats into that.
Free samples from paid providers
Take all of them, and use them for one job: reading explanations. Not the questions, the explanations. Every provider in this market writes plausible questions. What separates them is what happens after you get one wrong, and a free sample of ten questions tells you that in about four minutes.
On the Texas ones, check whether the explanation names the chapter of the Insurance Code the answer turns on. On the general ones, check whether it explains the reasoning or just restates the correct option in different words. That second failure mode is extremely common and it is invisible until you go looking for it.
What we would do with $0
- Download the outline and turn all 13 sections into a checklist, with the published question count written next to each one
- Read the candidate handbook once, properly. It answers most of what people ask on forums
- Work the Texas 30 straight out of the Code, section by section, weighted 14 / 6 / 7 / 3 across the four Texas sections
- Find the best free general material you can and accept that verifying it is now your job
- Sit something full length and timed before you book. Whatever it costs, it is less than $49 and a lost month
That route passes this exam. We sell a product and we still think it passes this exam. What you are buying when you pay is the second and fourth steps done for you, and a way of finding out which half is your problem before the day.
Common questions
Can I pass the Texas life and health exam with free material?
Yes, and more easily on the Texas portion than most people expect, because the Insurance Code is public domain and the content outline is a published PDF. The general portion is harder to do free, since no primary source exists and it carries 100 of the 130 scored questions.
What free study material does TDI provide?
TDI publishes the licensing steps and the FY2025 examination report with pass rates. Pearson publishes the candidate handbook and the content outline, both free PDFs. Between them you get the specification, the rules and the statistics, but no teaching.
Is paid prep worth it for this exam?
It depends which half is your problem. If the 100 general questions are, paid material earns its money because free general material is diffuse and unverified. If only the Texas 30 worry you, the statute is free and what you need is drilling rather than explanation.
How much does the exam itself cost?
$49 for the exam and $50 for the license application, plus fingerprinting through TDI's portal. A retake is a fresh $49 registration. Those fees are unavoidable; every prep product on the market, including ours, is optional.
Are free practice questions any good?
Use them to judge the explanations rather than the questions. Anyone can write a plausible stem. What separates products is whether a wrong answer gets you a reason, and on the Texas portion, whether that reason names the chapter of the Insurance Code behind it.