What is on the New York notary public exam

The short version

The New York notary public exam is a multiple-choice test. You get one hour, and the hour starts when the proctor finishes the instructions, not when you sit down. The fee is $15. Results come back as passed or failed, with no number attached, and a pass stays valid for two years.

What the questions cover

The Department of State builds the exam from its own booklet, Notary Public License Law. That booklet has three kinds of material, and the exam draws on all three:

• License law. The statutes on appointment, residency, the four-year term, fees, advertising and misconduct.
• General terms. A glossary of legal words a notary meets on documents: affidavit, deposition, jurat, venue, lien, laches, statute of frauds.
• Duties and functions. How an oath is given, what an acknowledgment certifies, what goes beneath your signature, and when you must refuse to act.

The glossary is the part people skim and regret. It runs for pages, and a word like "laches" or "subordination clause" is easy to recognize and hard to define under a clock.

What the state does not publish

The Department of State does not say how many questions are on the exam or what score passes. Prep sites commonly quote 40 questions and 70%. Those figures may be right, but they come from prep sites, not from the state, and no official page we have read confirms them.

Because the result is only passed or failed, you will never learn how close you came. That is a good reason to arrive with a margin rather than aiming for a line nobody has published.

What to bring

• Government-issued photo ID that carries your signature, such as a state ID, a passport, IDNYC or a military ID.
• The $15 fee by check, money order, Visa or MasterCard. Cash is not accepted, and the fee is not refunded.
• Two #2 pencils. None are handed out at the site.

Booking and arriving

Outside New York City the exam is walk-in: no registration, seats go first come, first served, and late arrivals are not let in. New York City publishes its own scheduling instructions, so check those before you travel. The exam is also given in Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Italian, Korean, Russian and Chinese.

Using notes, giving or receiving help, or taking exam material out of the room is treated as misconduct, so leave the booklet in the car.

After you pass

A pass arrives as a notice in the mail. You then apply for the commission through NY Business Express, and you have two years to do it before the exam result runs out.