Arkansas Notary Public Test Questions and Answers

The Arkansas notary public test questions and answers below track the 25-question online exam every applicant and renewing notary must pass before the Secretary of State will issue a commission. The test is open-book and untimed, drawn from the Arkansas Notary Public Act, and you need at least 20 correct (80 percent) to pass.¹ The answers come straight from state statutes and the Secretary of State’s Notary Public Handbook.

Exam Format and Passing Score

You take the exam online through the Secretary of State’s application system after creating your application but before submitting it or paying the $20 fee.² It’s 25 multiple-choice questions, minimum 20 correct to pass, and both new and renewing notaries take it.¹ Because it’s open-book, the challenge is knowing where each rule lives, not memorizing every line.

Who Qualifies to Be an Arkansas Notary

Several questions test eligibility, sometimes through borderline scenarios. To qualify, you must be:

At least 18 years old
A U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien
A legal resident of Arkansas, a resident of a bordering state who works or operates a business in Arkansas, or the nonresident spouse of a U.S. military service member employed in the state
Able to read and write English
Free of any felony conviction
Free of any notary commission revoked within the past ten years

A common scenario asks whether a Tennessee resident who commutes to a job in Arkansas can be commissioned. The answer is yes, because Tennessee borders Arkansas and the person works in the state.²

What Notaries Are Authorized to Do

Arkansas notaries may perform seven notarial acts:

Acknowledgments (confirming a signer appeared, was identified, and signed voluntarily)
Oaths and affirmations (placing a person under a solemn obligation to tell the truth, either religious or non-religious)
Affidavits (notarizing a written statement whose truth the signer swears or affirms)
Depositions (administering oaths for sworn testimony taken outside court)
Witnessing or attesting signatures
Certifying copies
Protesting negotiable instruments (formally noting that a check, draft, or promissory note has gone unpaid)

Expect a question that asks you to distinguish acts. An acknowledgment confirms identity and willingness to sign; an affidavit involves swearing to the truth of a written statement. Each takes a different notarial certificate, so mixing them up is a wrong answer.

Personal Appearance and Verifying Identity

This is the most heavily tested area, because personal appearance is the main defense against fraud. The signer must be physically present at the moment of notarization, and a certificate signed when the signer wasn’t present is incomplete.³ You cannot notarize a document that someone drops off and picks up later, and for traditional (non-electronic) notarizations, a video call does not satisfy personal appearance.⁴

Once the signer is in front of you, Arkansas recognizes three ways to verify identity: your personal knowledge of the person, a credible witness who can vouch for them, or a current government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport.⁵ If a question asks what to do when identity cannot be established, the answer is always to refuse the notarization.

What Must Appear on Your Seal

Under Arkansas Code 21-14-107, every notarial certificate must include your seal in blue or black ink, and the seal must contain:

Your name exactly as you sign your official signature
The county where your bond is filed
The words “Notary Public” and “Arkansas”
Your commission expiration date
Your commission number, if one has been issued

The seal may be a rubber stamp or an embosser, but it must be clear enough to photocopy, and it must be placed under or near your official signature on the certificate.³ A typical question drops one required element from a described seal and asks whether the notarization is valid. If any required item is missing, the notarization is defective.

What Notaries Cannot Do

Prohibited conduct is tested heavily because these are the mistakes that trigger revocation. You cannot notarize your own signature, and you cannot notarize any document where you are a party to the transaction or stand to gain a direct or indirect financial benefit.⁶ If a question describes a notary who is a beneficiary of the document being signed, the correct answer is to decline.

There is a narrow exception for bank and corporate employees, who may notarize documents executed to or by their employer. That exception ends the moment you are personally a party to the instrument, even if you’re acting as a company representative.

You also cannot practice law. That means no legal advice, no drafting legal documents for others, and no representing people in legal proceedings. A related question involves the term “notario publico.” In many Latin American countries, a notario publico is a licensed legal professional with much broader authority than a U.S. notary. Any Arkansas notary who advertises using that term must include a disclaimer stating they are not a licensed attorney and have no authority over immigration matters.⁷

How Much Notaries Can Charge

Arkansas doesn’t set a fixed dollar cap for notarial acts. A notary may charge a reasonable fee, but two conditions apply: the amount must be reasonable as determined by the notary, and the fee must be disclosed to and agreed upon by the client before the notarization. A notary who knowingly violates these rules commits a violation and, upon conviction, faces a fine of at least $100 per offense.⁸

So if a question asks whether $50 for a single acknowledgment is permissible, the answer turns on whether the client was told and agreed in advance, not on the number itself. Charging an unreasonable fee, or any fee without prior disclosure and agreement, exposes the notary to both criminal penalty and revocation.

When a Commission Can Be Revoked

The Secretary of State may revoke a commission for:

A material misstatement or omission on the application
Conviction of official misconduct
False or misleading advertising about the notary’s powers
A court finding that the notary engaged in the unauthorized practice of law
A court finding that the notary improperly notarized documents
A court finding that the notary charged illegal fees
Failure to complete the requirements for appointment

After revocation, the notary must immediately surrender the journal, all papers related to notarial acts, and the official seal to the Secretary of State. A revoked notary cannot reapply for ten years from the date of revocation.⁷

Is a Journal Required

This one trips people up. Arkansas does not require notaries to keep a journal of their notarial acts for traditional notarizations, though the Secretary of State strongly recommends one because it’s admissible as evidence in Arkansas courts.⁶ If the question is whether journal keeping is mandatory, the answer is no. The revocation statute does, however, reference the journal as something to be surrendered upon revocation, so the state clearly expects most notaries to maintain one.

Electronic and Remote Online Notarization

Arkansas authorizes both electronic notarization (eNotary) and remote online notarization (RON), and the two are not the same. For standard eNotary acts, the notary and signer must be in the same physical location while the document is electronically signed and notarized, using an approved eNotary solution provider instead of a physical stamp.⁹

Remote online notarization is different. The notary must be physically located in Arkansas, but the signer can be anywhere. The session runs on a secure video platform with identity-proofing and credential-analysis tools built in; consumer video apps like FaceTime or Zoom do not qualify. The solution provider must retain a recording of each remote notarial act for five years, and eNotaries must complete refresher training every two years.⁹

The Commissioning Steps in Order

Sequence questions show up on the exam, and the order matters:

Create an online application through the Secretary of State’s filing portal.
Take and pass the 25-question exam, accessed through a link inside the application.
Submit the application and pay the $20 fee online.²
Obtain a $7,500 surety bond covering the full ten-year commission term. The bond protects the public from financial harm caused by notary errors or misconduct.
Purchase an official seal meeting the requirements above.
Receive two Oath of Commission certificates from the Secretary of State, then take both certificates and the original bond to the Recorder of Deeds in your county of commission (usually the Circuit Clerk), who will swear your oath and sign both certificates.
File one signed certificate and the bond with the Recorder of Deeds; return the other signed certificate to the Secretary of State.¹⁰

Two things trip up test-takers: the application fee is paid after the exam, not before, and you are not authorized to notarize anything until the oath is sworn and both filings are complete.

Renewing Your Commission

An Arkansas commission lasts ten years.² At renewal you retake and pass the exam, same as a new applicant. You can file a renewal application no earlier than 60 days before your current commission expires, and if you’re more than 60 days past expiration you cannot renew at all and must file a brand-new application.¹⁰ A calendar reminder well before the expiration date is worth setting, because a lapse means starting the process from the beginning.

1
Arkansas Secretary of State. Arkansas Notary Public Frequently Asked Questions
2
Arkansas Secretary of State. Arkansas Notary Public Handbook
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Justia. Arkansas Code 21-14-107 – Signature – Seal
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Arkansas Secretary of State. Arkansas Notary Public and eNotary Handbook
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Justia. Arkansas Code 21-14-309 – Online Notarization Process
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Arkansas Secretary of State. Arkansas Notary Public and eNotary Handbook
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Justia. Arkansas Code 21-14-112 – Denial or Revocation of Notary Commission
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Justia. Arkansas Code 21-6-309 – Notaries Public
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Arkansas Secretary of State. eNotary – Arkansas Secretary of State
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Arkansas Secretary of State. Arkansas Notary Public Frequently Asked Questions