The Missouri Notary Training Exam

Passing the exam is one of five qualifications in Section 486.605. Section 486.630 then requires each applicant to attest to reading the Missouri Notary Public Handbook or receiving training in the manner the Secretary prescribes, and to score 80 percent or better on an examination the Secretary administers before a commission is issued. The training and the exam must be based on notarial laws, procedures and ethics. The rule applies to new applicants and to notaries seeking a new commission alike.

The application itself reinforces the point. Under Section 486.630, you sign a declaration under penalty of perjury that you understand the official duties and responsibilities of a Missouri notary as the handbook explains them, so the training is meant to confirm that you have actually read it.

Most applicants use the online version. The Secretary's step-by-step registration guide describes it this way:

If you do not reach a passing score, the system gives instructions on screen. The official guide does not publish a waiting period or a limit on attempts, so follow those instructions or call the Commissions Division.

Applicants filing on paper can use the Written Notary Training Course, Form Comm. 59 (revised January 2025). It is a two-page form of 30 questions in true/false, yes/no and multiple-choice format, and most questions name the Chapter 486 section, or the handbook, where the answer can be found. You mark one answer per question, sign a statement under penalty of perjury that you completed it after reading the law, and attach it to your completed application.

The form is a good preview of the online course's focus. It covers the term of office, the bond amount and dates, the oath before the county clerk and its deadlines, non-resident eligibility, journal contents, seal elements, change-of-information notices, notarial acts and certificates, disqualifying conflicts, fees and travel fees, and revocation.

New applicants complete the training before applying. Notaries seeking reappointment should take it no earlier than six weeks before their current commission expires. The Secretary's pages list no separate charge for training; the $25 commission fee is paid with the application, plus a small fee for paying online. Leave yourself time after passing, because the county clerk step and the mailed oath and bond still lie ahead.

Registering to notarize electronically requires another course of instruction approved by the Secretary and an exam on it, covering the laws, procedures and ethics of electronic notarization (Section 486.910). Registering for remote online notarization requires its own course and exam as well (Section 486.1125). Both come after you hold a regular commission, and you register again with each new commission.

The current Missouri Notary Public Handbook runs about 100 pages. Most of it reprints Chapter 486 in full, followed by the Secretary's rules on complaints, hearings and appeals (15 CSR 30-100) and on electronic and remote notarization (15 CSR 30-110), and it ends with a plain-language General Information section. Topics that come up again and again include:

Start with the handbook, since the Secretary says it holds every answer, and read the statute sections it reprints rather than only the General Information summary. A workable plan is to read Chapter 486 once straight through, then build flash cards for every number and every list, such as the six conditions in Section 486.645 and the eight journal entries in Section 486.705, and finish by answering the 30 questions on Form Comm. 59 from memory before checking the cited sections. Pay close attention to deadlines, which Missouri uses heavily: 60 days to qualify, seven days to mail the oath and bond, 10 days to report a lost seal, a lost journal, an address change or a name change, and 10 years to keep a journal. Know the $5 fee cap and the copy certification rate of $1 per page with a $3 minimum.

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