The Wyoming Notary Public Exam

Under W.S. 32-3-121(a), the exam is given either by the Secretary of State or by an entity the Secretary of State approves, and it must be based on a course of study covering the laws, rules, procedures and ethics of notarial acts. The state version is Part III of the Notary Public Commission Application/Renewal.

Applicants who complete education and an exam through one of the approved private organizations listed on the notary page attach that certificate and leave Part III blank. The rest of this guide covers the state's own version, which costs nothing beyond the $60 filing fee.

The application and the education presentation give the essentials. The questions reflect the notary law in effect since July 1, 2021, so older study materials written for the former county-based system will mislead you.

The official pages do not set a time limit. The Secretary of State's presentation tells applicants that it contains all the answers they need, which suggests the office expects you to have it close at hand, but the form itself does not state a materials policy.

W.S. 32-3-121(c) adds education to the exam for all commissions filed since July 1, 2021, and Chapter 6, Section 5 of the rules defines it: review the Notary Education Presentation for every term and certify on the application that you did. The presentation is short, so read it slowly and completely rather than skimming for keywords.

It walks through a traditional notarization in four steps: verify identity, complete a certificate, record the act in your journal and, if you choose, collect a fee. Most exam statements test one of those four steps or the commissioning rules around them.

Without repeating the form, the 20 statements on the current application touch the following topics. Each is covered in the statute or the presentation, and several are phrased so that one wrong word makes them false.

A handful of facts cover much of the exam. The term is six years under W.S. 32-3-120(e). The fee cap is $10 per act under W.S. 32-3-126, and a technology fee and a travel fee are allowed only when agreed in advance. An identification credential may be expired no more than three years under W.S. 32-3-102. Every notarial act goes in the journal under W.S. 32-3-118, which may be kept on paper, electronically or both.

Remote rules are a frequent trap. Personal appearance includes remote appearance, every remote act must be recorded on audio and video, a remote online notarization may be used for any notarial act, and a remote ink notarization is limited to acknowledgments. A notary may correct a completed certificate if the journal supports the correction, but may never alter a stamp impression.

True-or-false items reward precise reading. Watch for absolute words such as never, all and any, which often turn an otherwise accurate statement false; Wyoming allows bordering-state notarizations in some cases, for example, and remote ink notarization is not available for every act. Watch numbers, too. The fee cap, the term length and the three-year ID window are exactly the kind of figure a statement can shift by a few units.

Finally, answer from the 2021 law, not from memory of how things worked before. Wyoming notaries commissioned under the old system were bonded, served four years, charged up to $5 and filed through the county. Every one of those facts changed, and an applicant renewing after years away can easily pick the outdated answer.

Read the presentation first, then read W.S. 32-3-111 through 32-3-127 in the Legislature's Title 32 PDF so you see the rules in their original wording. The Secretary of State's stamp requirements sheet and sample certificates are worth a look as well, since stamp content and certificate elements are easy exam targets.

Because the passing line is 14 of 20, the test is forgiving, but careless mistakes on true-or-false items add up quickly. If you want to rehearse, NotaryPrepHQ has practice questions written from Wyoming's notary law and the Secretary of State's materials, with explanations after each answer and timed practice exams that report a readiness score. It is exam practice only and is separate from the education presentation the rules require.