The Arkansas Notary Public Exam

The Arkansas Secretary of State, through its Business and Commercial Services Division, sets the exam and links to it from the notary page and from the online application. The test is delivered on the ClassMarker online testing platform. Because there is no private testing vendor with its own registration system, you do not book a seat or travel to a center; you reach the exam through the Secretary's link when you are ready.

The handbook describes the exam as multiple choice and sets the passing mark at a minimum of 80 percent. When you pass, you receive an exam completion certificate, which the online application and renewal both require as an upload.

The Secretary's handbook and notary page do not state a number of questions, a time limit, or an exam fee, and the platform itself does not publish them outside the test. Read the on-screen instructions before you begin, and contact the Business and Commercial Services Division if anything about the rules is unclear.

Everyone. The handbook states that the exam is required for all notary applicants, and its renewal section says a renewing notary must also pass it. There is no carve-out for attorneys or long-serving notaries in the Secretary's materials. Notaries who add an electronic commission face a separate eNotary course and exam, covered below.

Because the renewal requirement applies to every notary, plan on the exam at each ten-year renewal, even if you have notarized daily for the entire term. The rules may have changed since you last studied, and the handbook is revised periodically.

In the handbook's sequence the exam comes after you buy your bond and set up your portal account, and before you submit the application. That order matters: the application asks you to upload the exam completion certificate alongside the bond, so an application cannot be finished until you have passed.

The same pattern applies at renewal. A renewing notary files a renewal amendment in the online portal, attaches a new bond, pays the fee, and uploads a fresh exam certificate. Since commissions last ten years, most notaries will be retaking the exam a decade after they last studied, which makes rereading the current handbook before renewal a good habit.

The handbook is the natural outline because the Secretary points applicants to it and to its FAQs and free online training as study resources. Its chapters map neatly onto likely question areas:

Exams built from a short handbook tend to test its specific rules and numbers. These are the items in the Arkansas handbook most worth memorizing:

A few rules run against intuition. Although taking depositions appears in the list of notarial powers, the handbook tells notaries who are not certified court reporters not to take them, because Arkansas courts require a court reporter's attestation. The county named in the venue of a certificate is where the signing happens, which may not match your county of commission. And while you may certify a copy of a passport or driver's license, you may not certify a copy of a birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, or court order.

An Arkansas notary in good standing can apply for an electronic commission. The eNotary page describes a $25 online application ($20 application fee plus a $5 convenience fee), followed by an eNotary training course and exam presented for the Secretary by the American Society of Notaries, for $30. Electronic notaries repeat refresher training every two years. This is a different test from the traditional notary exam and is only needed if you want to notarize electronically or remotely.

Read the handbook cover to cover once, then again with a pen, noting every number and every flat prohibition: the $7,500 bond, the ten-year term, the 30-day deadline for reporting changes, the ten-year bar after revocation, and the list of records you may not certify as copies. Pay close attention to the sample certificates and the section on incomplete certificates, since those are easy to turn into questions.

Then test yourself. The Secretary's free online training is worth completing. NotaryPrepHQ adds an Arkansas diagnostic, topic drills with explanations, and timed practice exams with a readiness score, sold for a one-time price with lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee.