The North Carolina Notary Public Exam

G.S. 10B-8 makes the Department of the Secretary of State responsible for the examination. For first-time applicants, subsection (a) calls for a written examination approved by the Secretary. For recommissioning, subsection (b) calls for a written examination approved by and administered by or under the direction of the Secretary. Subsection (d) lets the Secretary charge fees reasonably needed to develop and give the exams and to train notaries and instructors.

There is no outside testing vendor named in the statute. Your certified instructor is the person who walks you through the initial process, and the Secretary's reappointment portal hosts the renewal test.

The one number fixed in law is the passing standard: G.S. 10B-8(a) requires at least 80 percent of the questions answered correctly. The Secretary's FAQ repeats the same 80 percent figure for the reappointment exam.

The Secretary's public pages do not state a fixed number of questions, a time limit, or whether the initial test is open or closed book. Rather than rely on secondhand claims, ask your course instructor how the initial exam is delivered in that class, and read the instructions on the reappointment portal before starting the renewal version.

By statute the course and the exam address notarial laws, procedures, and ethics. In practice that means the rules in Chapter 10B and the official manual you are required to own. Expect questions drawn from the parts of the law that trip up new notaries most often.

The course and exam must fall within the three months before your application. That makes scheduling matter. Book the class when you can realistically finish the application soon afterward, gather what the application needs ahead of time, and do not let the paperwork sit.

If the Secretary grants a commission but you never take the oath within 45 days, you have to reapply. The Secretary can waive the education step if you reapply within a year, which in practice also spares you the initial exam.

Candidates often know the big ideas and lose points on specifics. The numbers below all come from Chapter 10B, and each one is a plausible multiple-choice answer. Drill them until they are automatic, and learn which statute section each belongs to so you can reason your way to the answer when a question is worded unfamiliarly.

The Secretary's FAQ and reappointment page set the renewal rule: the online exam may be taken three times within 30 days. A notary who fails three attempts within that period must take the Notary Public course again. The reappointment page adds that the $50 application fee must be paid before you take the online exam.

Two groups skip the renewal exam under G.S. 10B-11(b)(3): licensed members of the North Carolina State Bar, and notaries continuously commissioned since July 10, 1991 who have never been disciplined by the Secretary.

Start with the manual. You must own it anyway, and it is the reference the course is built around. Read the statute sections on certificates and disqualifications closely, because those are areas where small wording differences change the right answer. Practice filling in the sample certificate forms in G.S. 10B-41 and 10B-43 until you can spot a missing venue, date, or expiration line without looking.

For timed repetition, NotaryPrepHQ has a North Carolina bank of practice questions written from Chapter 10B and the manual, a diagnostic to show weak topics, and timed practice exams with a readiness score. It is a one-time purchase with lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee. It is study practice, not the required class.