How many questions are on the New York notary exam?

The New York State Notary Public examination is 40 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes, with a 70% pass mark — 28 correct out of 40. It is administered by the Department of State, Division of Licensing Services.

How often is the New York notary exam offered?

Walk-in examinations are scheduled regularly across the state, several times a month in the larger centres. There is no appointment to wait for and no limit on retakes, though each sitting carries its own $15 fee.

Do New York notaries have to retake the exam to renew?

No. A commission runs four years and reappointment does not require sitting the examination again, unlike California. The examination is for new applicants and for anyone whose commission lapsed long enough that the qualifying requirements are no longer waived.

Does this app cover notary exams in other states?

No. Notary law is state law, and New York’s rules on identification, certificate forms, electronic notarization and penalties differ substantially from other states. This app covers New York only.

New York Notary Public · Department of State commission

NY Notary Exam Prep
Practice + Mock Exam

320 originally authored multiple-choice questions for the New York State Notary Public examination — 200 practice questions plus a 120-question mock bank that builds a weighted 40-question, 60-minute sitting. Every question was written from the Notary Public License Law booklet published by the Department of State, and every one carries the verbatim provision it tests, checked back against the source.

Coming soon to the App Store

About the New York State Notary Public examination

The examination is administered by the Department of State, Division of Licensing Services. It is 40 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes, proctored, closed-book, and offered as a walk-in sitting at locations across the state. Passing produces a pass slip, which is submitted with the application, the oath of office and the $60 fee.

Item	Detail
Questions	40 multiple choice
Time	60 minutes
Pass mark	70% — 28 of 40
Term	4 years

Key facts

Renewal does not mean retaking. A commission runs four years and reappointment is an application, not another examination. New York and California are opposites on this point, and it is the single most common thing candidates get wrong when they read advice written for another state.
Attorneys skip the exam. An attorney admitted to practise in New York may be appointed a notary public without an examination, as may a court clerk of the Unified Court System appointed after the Civil Service promotional examination in the court clerk series.
Residency is not the only route. Every appointee must be a New York resident or have an office or place of business in the state — a nonresident with a New York office qualifies, and vacates the office only on losing it.
Statewide from day one. The commission is filed in the county of residence, but the jurisdiction is co-extensive with the boundaries of the state.
Electronic notarization is a whole subject. New York's Part 182 rules cover registration, communication technology, credential analysis, identity proofing and ten-year recordings. It is roughly a quarter of the material and has no equivalent in most other states' exams.

Where the questions come from

The Department of State publishes the Notary Public License Law booklet, which reprints the Executive Law, Public Officers Law, Real Property Law, Judiciary Law and Penal Law provisions that govern the work, along with the whole of 19 NYCRR Part 182. That single document is what makes it possible to tie every question to the exact sentence of law it tests.

Each question stores a verbatim excerpt of the provision behind it, and each of the 320 excerpts was checked back against the booklet text before shipping.
Answer keys were then re-derived from the booklet by independent blind review — eight passes of 40 questions, none of them shown the answer key.
Questions are original. The examination's own items are not public, and none are reproduced here.

The Department of State publishes the License Law booklet but no public question bank — the examination is proctored and its items are not released.

Four parts weighted to a 40-question sitting

200 practice questions and a 120-question mock pool, split evenly across the four areas the booklet covers.

Part 1 50 practice · 30 mock

Appointment and qualifications

Who may be appointed and who is exempt from the examination, residency and the out-of-state business office, what vacates a commission, the $60 application and the oath of office, the county clerk record, certificates of official character, and authentication.

Part 2 50 practice · 30 mock

Powers, duties and conduct

Statewide jurisdiction, oaths and affirmations, protests of commercial paper, the attorney notary, the statutory fee schedule, the duty to officiate on request, advertising rules, and the bar on practising law.

Part 3 50 practice · 30 mock

Notarial acts and documents

Acknowledgments, jurats and proof by subscribing witness and how they differ, the Real Property Law certificate forms, venue, the section 137 statement of authority, seals, and the acts a notary may not perform.

Part 4 50 practice · 30 mock

Electronic notarization and penalties

Registration to notarize electronically, the location rule, reliable electronic signatures, credential analysis and identity proofing, the ten-year recording and record-keeping duties, and the criminal exposure from misdemeanor to class D felony.

Free study resources

Read alongside the practice questions — the commissioning path, the exam mechanics, and a free sample from the bank itself.

Study Notes by Part

The four parts broken down from the source document, each with its own free questions.

Four parts · notes + questions

Free Practice Questions

The exact 8-question free-preview set from the app — two per part, answered instantly with the provision behind each answer.

8 questions · answers & explanations

New York Notary Guide

How to get commissioned: eligibility, the walk-in examination, the application and oath of office, what the county clerk holds, and what renewal actually requires.

Commissioning path · renewal

New York Notary Exam FAQ

Format and pass mark, how often it is offered, why renewal does not mean retaking, who is exempt, and why a New York commission does not travel.

Format · pass mark · renewal

Why PrepLicense

Independent

Built independently, with no affiliation to the New York Department of State — made purely for candidates.

Sourced to the booklet

Every question carries the verbatim provision it tests, checked back against the official License Law booklet — all 320 of them.

Offline

The question bank lives on your device — practise on the subway, anywhere, anytime.

No ads, no tracking

A clean experience with transparent pricing — no ads, no data tracking.

Coming soon

Built for the New York commission

200 practice questions, a weighted 40-question mock, four-part analytics, and the exact provision behind every answer — including the Part 182 electronic notarization rules most study material skips.

Coming soon to the App Store

This is an independent study aid. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the New York Department of State, which administers the examination. Nothing in the app is legal advice. Actual exam rules and content follow announcements from the relevant authorities. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.