New York State Notary Public Exam Study Guide

Who may become a notary, and how

New York notaries are commissioned by the Secretary of State under Executive Law §130. An applicant must be a resident of New York State, or have an office or place of business here, and the Secretary must be satisfied the applicant is of good moral character, has the equivalent of a common school education, and is familiar with a notary's duties. Most applicants must also pass the written examination; New York attorneys and Unified Court System court clerks appointed after a qualifying Civil Service promotional examination are appointed without it, though they still owe the application fee. A commission runs for a term of four years.

Applying: the oath, the fee, and the county clerk

Applicants submit the oath of office, sworn before any person authorized to administer an oath, together with their signature. The Secretary of State collects a non-refundable $60 application fee; $20 of that fee is apportioned to the county clerk of the notary's county of residence when the Secretary transmits the commission there, by the tenth day of the month after appointment. Changing your name or address, or replacing a lost or damaged ID card, costs $10 each. You are responsible for tracking your own expiration date; you may renew within 90 days before it, and if you let the commission lapse, applying for reappointment with the county clerk within six months still lets the Secretary waive the qualifying requirements again — past six months, you requalify from the start, exam included. A notary who expects to sign regularly outside their home county may also file their signature and a certificate of official character with any other county clerk.

What the office lets you charge and do

Executive Law §136 sets a notary's fees: $2 for administering an oath or affirmation and certifying it, and $2 per person for taking and certifying an acknowledgment or proof of execution. A notary who is also an attorney admitted to practice in New York may, at their own discretion, notarize for their own client — administering an oath or affirmation, or taking an affidavit or acknowledgment. A notary who is a corporate stockholder, director, officer or employee may take acknowledgments or administer oaths for that corporation's other officers, but not for an instrument the notary is personally executing, individually or as the corporation's representative. Separately, every county clerk must staff at least one notary to serve the public free of charge during business hours; that designated notary owes neither the exam fee nor the application fee.

What happens if you get it wrong

Holding yourself out as a notary, or advertising the title, without having been appointed is itself an offense. A notary who commits fraud or deceit in the performance of the office is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be removed. Separately, a defect in a notary's own appointment or qualification does not by itself invalidate an act a member of the public relied on in good faith — but that protection is for the public who relied on the act, not a shield for the notary's own criminal exposure, which the Penal Law section below covers.

What counts as a conveyance

The Real Property Law governs how a notary certifies the signing of documents that affect real estate, and the exam draws on it directly. A conveyance is every instrument in writing, except a will, by which any estate or interest in real property is created, transferred, assigned or surrendered. Deeds and mortgages are the everyday examples.

Before you take the acknowledgment

An officer — a notary public among them — must not take an acknowledgment unless the officer knows, or has satisfactory evidence, that the person appearing is the person named in and who executed the instrument. When execution is proved instead by a subscribing witness rather than by the signer's own acknowledgment, the officer must be personally acquainted with that witness, or have satisfactory evidence of the witness's identity, and the witness must state their own place of residence.

Completing the certificate

Whoever takes the acknowledgment or proof must endorse or attach a signed certificate stating everything the law requires to be done, known or proved in taking it, plus the name and residence of any witness examined. New York publishes uniform certificate forms for both cases — an acknowledgment taken inside the state, and one taken elsewhere on New York property — so a notary fills in the state's wording rather than drafting their own.

What it costs a notary who gets it wrong

An officer authorized to take an acknowledgment or proof, or to certify or record one, who is guilty of malfeasance or fraudulent practice in that duty is personally liable in damages to the person injured. That civil exposure sits alongside, not instead of, the criminal exposure the Penal Law imposes, covered next.

Forgery in the second degree

Falsely making, completing or altering a written instrument — a deed, contract, public record, or any instrument officially issued by a public office — with intent to defraud, deceive or injure, is forgery in the second degree, a class D felony. A notary who certifies an acknowledgment they know to be false is exposed here, not merely to removal from office.

Issuing a false certificate

A notary is a public servant authorized by law to issue official certificates. Issuing one — or making one with intent that it be issued — while knowing it contains a false statement, with intent to defraud, deceive or injure, is issuing a false certificate, a class E felony. Every acknowledgment certificate and every jurat a notary signs is exactly the kind of instrument this section covers.

Official misconduct

A notary is a public servant, and a public servant who, intending to obtain a benefit or to injure or deprive someone of one, either commits an unauthorized act relating to the office or knowingly refrains from a duty the office requires, is guilty of official misconduct, a class A misdemeanor. This is the statute behind the long-standing rule that a notary asked to administer an oath must do so when requested — refusing on a whim is itself a misdemeanor.

Terms the exam tests directly

The booklet's own “Definitions and General Terms” list is worth learning closely: the Department of State's exam-info sheet states that exam topics are license law and the general terms and information related to the duties and functions of a notary public, as outlined in this booklet.

One memory hook for the first two rows: an acknowledgment says “I acknowledge this is my signature” (no oath, no requirement to sign in front of the notary); a jurat says “I swear this is true” (oath required, signing in the notary's presence required).

What counts as personal appearance

For ordinary acknowledgments and jurats, personal appearance is required. It may be physical, or, for an authorized electronic act, through compliant communication technology — a mailed signature or an ordinary phone call is not enough.

Identifying the signer

For physical appearance, the rules allow qualifying valid current government photo identification, at least two qualifying current signed documents, personal knowledge, one sworn witness known to both signer and notary, or two sworn witnesses who know the signer and provide qualifying government identification. Remote electronic appearance by someone the notary doesn't personally know carries additional credential-analysis and identity-proofing requirements, covered under electronic notarization next.

The notary's journal

Record the date, approximate time and type of act; names and addresses of persons served; number and type of services; identification credential type and applicable witness details; and appearance-verification procedures. Electronic acts also require technology and provider details.

Seal, or no seal

New York does not require a notary seal. What the law does require: a notary must sign the name under which they were appointed, and print, typewrite or stamp beneath the signature, in black ink, the notary's name, the words “Notary Public State of New York,” the county of qualification, and the commission expiration date. A commission is personal authority — another person may not act in the commissioned notary's name.

What the law authorizes

Any qualified notary public is authorized to perform an electronic notarial act using audio-video communication technology that lets the notary interact with the person appearing, provided the section's conditions are met. The identification methods for an electronic notarization are the same ones a paper notarization requires, plus the technical safeguards below.

Registering, and staying inside New York

Before performing any electronic notarial act, a notary must register that capability with the Secretary of State on a prescribed form and pay a registration fee set by regulation. The electronic notary must then be physically located within New York State whenever performing an electronic act, no matter where the signer is. The notary's device must run on a network that permits location detection, and nothing may be used to disable or disguise that location during the act.

Signature, recording, and fee

When video and audio technology is used to verify a signer's identity, the notary keeps that recording for at least ten years from the date of the transaction — the same ten-year floor as the ordinary paper journal. An electronic notarial act may cost up to $25, inclusive of all the notary's own costs, against the $2 statutory rate for an in-person oath or acknowledgment. No notary or employer may require that notarial transactions use electronic notarization exclusively — a signer can always ask for pen and paper instead.

What changed on January 25, January 31, and February 1, 2023

Three dates reshaped New York notarization inside one week in 2023, and the exam treats the result as current law, not history.

• January 25, 2023 — every notary, including one who only ever notarizes in person, became required to keep a journal of every notarial act, recording the type of identification provided, retained for ten years.
• January 31, 2023 — Remote Ink Notarization, a pandemic-era practice that let a notary verify identity by video call and then have an ink-signed document mailed back for a physical signature, ended. New York's temporary Remote Ink Notarization law was repealed and replaced by the current, permanent electronic-notarization framework: electronic notarization became the only remote option.
• February 1, 2023 — notaries could begin registering as Electronic Notaries with the Department of State under that framework.

Format and content

The exam is multiple choice, covering license law and the general terms and duties of a notary public as set out in the Notary Public License Law booklet — everything in the five sections above. You get one hour, starting once the proctor finishes reading the instructions. It's offered in Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Italian, Korean, Russian and Chinese as well as English; tell a proctor when you arrive if you want one of those.

Sitting the exam

Sittings are walk-in: no pre-registration, seats are limited and assigned first-come, first-served, and late arrivals are not admitted. Bring a current, government-issued, photo-bearing signature identification. Pay the $15 exam fee by check, money order, MasterCard or Visa — cash is refused, the fee is nonrefundable, and a bounced check costs another $20. Bring two #2 pencils yourself; none are supplied at the exam site.

Results

Results are reported only as passed or failed — New York does not disclose a numerical score, and the Department does not publish a percentage passing threshold. You're notified by mail, and a passing result stays valid for two years, the window inside which you must file your application.