Passing the North Carolina notary public exam means scoring at least 80% on a Secretary-approved written examination, as required by G.S. 10B-8(a). The exact number of questions is set by your course provider, not by state law, but the 80% bar is fixed. The five topic areas below come from N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 10B, the only source the exam tests.
Do I need a course before I take the exam?
Yes, a Secretary-approved course of at least six hours is required, completed within the three months before you apply. Community colleges and other approved providers offer it online and in person. Licensed members of the NC State Bar are exempt. The written exam is typically given by the same provider at the end of the course.
What score do I need to pass?
80% correct, set by G.S. 10B-8(a). Because providers set the question count, 80% is the only number that applies everywhere. In this app’s 30-question practice mocks, that is 24 correct.
Which topics carry the most weight?
The five areas from Chapter 10B, in order from most to least questions in this app’s practice mocks:
- Performing notarial acts (highest weight): personal appearance, identifying signers, acknowledgments, oaths, affirmations, verifications and the fees you may charge.
- Certificates, signature and seal: certificate wording, the handwritten-in-ink signature rule on paper, and seal custody.
- Getting and keeping your commission: qualifications, the six-hour course, the five-year term, the 45-day oath window, recommissioning.
- Electronic and remote notarization: registering as an electronic notary, electronic signatures and seals, remote notarization.
- Ethics, misconduct and penalties: prohibited acts, the Secretary’s disciplinary powers, criminal penalties.
What is the right order to study?
Start with a clean read of the statute. The exam tests the law directly, and Chapter 10B is plain enough to read in one sitting. Once you have the overview, drill by category in the order of question weight above.
Spend the most time on performing notarial acts and certificates. Notarial acts alone covers identifying signers by personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence, the difference between an oath and an affirmation, all the act types a notary is authorized to perform, and the per-signature fee limits. Certificates and seal adds critical rules: your official signature on a paper document must be made by hand in ink, and your official seal is your exclusive property regardless of who paid for it.
For commissioning, the key milestones are the 80% pass mark, the six-hour course window (completed within three months before applying), the five-year term and the 45-day deadline to take the oath before the Register of Deeds. Missing that oath window makes any acts performed before it invalid, and acting without having taken the oath is a Class 1 misdemeanor under G.S. 10B-60(b).
Electronic and remote notarization and ethics each carry fewer questions, but skip neither. The ethics category tests when the Secretary may issue a warning, restriction, suspension or revocation, and which violations carry criminal penalties in addition to administrative ones.
How do I know when I am ready?
Track your timed-mock scores. When you consistently hit 24 of 30 or better across several fresh runs, you are at the statutory pass bar. Every miss is worth tracing: look up the Chapter 10B section the question comes from and read the actual statute language. That connection between a rule and its statutory home is exactly what the exam rewards.
The $50 application fee to the Secretary of State is non-refundable, so it is worth being genuinely ready before you submit.