The Connecticut Notary Public Exam

Section 3-94b(b)(3) of the General Statutes makes passing a written examination approved or administered by the Secretary of the State a condition of appointment. The Secretary satisfies that requirement by incorporating the exam into the online application, and the licensing page adds that applicants complete it under oath. Everyone applying for a new commission takes it; the manual does not list an attorney exemption.

You reach the exam after registering on eLicense.ct.gov and starting an Initial Application for Notary Public Certification. The manual describes it as a comprehensive test of your knowledge of a notary's duties and responsibilities, and the Secretary's page says it tests your understanding of the manual. Both sources are clear on one point: all questions must be answered correctly before a commission is issued.

The office does not publish the number of questions, any time limit or a retake policy. It also does not charge anything beyond the $120 application fee. Because the details of the screens may change, read each instruction in eLicense as it appears rather than relying on descriptions from other applicants.

Connecticut also tests you on paper. The Jurat and Writing Sample form that every new applicant uploads asks four questions to be answered in your own handwriting: write out a complete acknowledgment form for an individual or a corporation, write out the certificate a notary completes when someone makes a sworn statement, write out the oath administered to a notary, and describe the ceremony of administering an oath. The finished pages are sworn to before an officer who can administer oaths.

All four answers come straight from the manual's sample forms and oath sections, so practice writing them from memory before you fill in the form. The Secretary's office names errors on this form as the most frequent cause of delay.

The current manual is labeled Rev. 2026-1, and the Secretary's page says it was updated for Public Act 26-81. That act, signed May 26, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, raised the maximum fee for a notarial act from $5 to $10 and replaced the old 35-cent-per-mile travel charge with a rate capped at the IRS business standard mileage rate. Older printouts, flashcards and online question sets that still show a $5 fee are out of date, and on a test that requires every answer to be right, one stale fact is enough to stop you.

Download the manual fresh from the Secretary of the State's site shortly before you apply, and note its revision label.

The manual moves from appointment to daily duties to special situations, and it closes with the statutes themselves. Plan to know each of these areas:

Several facts in the manual are easy to confuse. The term is five years and ends on the last day of the anniversary month. The certificate and oath must be recorded within 30 days, and the recording fee is $20. Renewal costs $60 and reinstatement $120. Name and address changes are due within 30 days.

On identification, in-person signers who are not personally known must show two current documents, one from a federal or state government with a signature and a photo or physical description, and the manual rules out Social Security cards and birth certificates. Remote signers need only one unexpired government photo ID. A signature by mark calls for two witnesses besides the notary. Remote notarization is barred for wills and trusts, real estate closing documents, health care directives, standby guardianship papers and powers of attorney.

Read the manual once for the big picture, then a second time with a pen, marking every number, deadline and list. Copy the sample certificates by hand, since you will also be writing part of the application in your own handwriting. Quiz yourself on distinctions the manual draws on purpose: acknowledgment versus jurat, copy certification versus the attestation alternative, a lapsed commission versus an inactive one.

If you want structured practice, NotaryPrepHQ has Connecticut questions drawn from the manual and statutes, a diagnostic, topic drills that explain every answer and timed practice exams that report a readiness score. It is practice material only; the real exam lives in the eLicense application.