The Nebraska Notary Public exam is the 20-question online examination administered by the Nebraska Secretary of State through ClassMarker that every applicant for an initial Nebraska notary public commission must pass, completing the test without assistance from others. In the Secretary of State’s published form: you will have three attempts to achieve a passing score of 85% prior to being commissioned, a passing score is valid for 90 days, and if you are not successful after three attempts, you will no longer be eligible to be a notary public in Nebraska. A $15,000 surety bond and a $30 filing fee complete the route to a four-year, statewide commission. Nebraska requires no education course for this commission.
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What this commission is
A Nebraska notary public is a public official appointed and commissioned by the Nebraska Secretary of State — the Notary Division of the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division administers Nebraska notary law — to perform notarial acts anywhere in the state. Nebraska has one class of appointment, referred to as general notaries public, valid in the entire state under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 64-101, and the commission runs four years from its effective date. Section 64-107 states the office’s powers: to administer oaths and affirmations in all cases; to take depositions, acknowledgments, and proofs of the execution of deeds, mortgages, powers of attorney, and other instruments in writing; and to exercise such other powers and duties as Nebraska law authorises — certifying each act over the notary’s signature and official seal. The commission does not authorise the notary to practise law, and section 64-105.03 bars a notary who is not an attorney from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, including assisting another person in drafting, completing, selecting, or understanding a document requiring a notarial act.
Nebraska’s gate to that office is short, high, and final in a way no other examination in this family is, and this page states its structure at the top because third-party material routinely softens it. The paper is 20 questions. The bar is a passing score of 85%. And the attempts are capped at three prior to being commissioned: in the Secretary of State’s words, if you are not successful after three attempts, you will no longer be eligible to be a notary public in Nebraska. There is no later season, no waiting out the bar, and no fourth sitting in the published process — a candidate who treats the first attempt as a rehearsal is spending one of three lifetime opportunities to hold this commission. Around the exam sit the rest of the statutory gate: the qualifications in section 64-101, a $15,000 surety bond with the oath of office endorsed on it, and the online application through the Secretary of State’s Online Notary Portal. Two further registrations — In-Person Electronic Notary Public and Online Notary Public — are separate layers on a commission, each with its own approved training course and its own examination; they are not this exam, and their facts are kept apart throughout this package. The companion Nebraska Notary Public Exam Guide sets out the law, the route, and the sitting in detail.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Examination | Nebraska Notary Exam — developed and administered by the Secretary of State under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 64-101.01, taken online through ClassMarker |
| Commission | Notary public (general notary public), appointed and commissioned by the Nebraska Secretary of State; term of four years from the effective date; valid in the entire state |
| Governing law | Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 64 (Notaries Public), principally sections 64-101 to 64-118 and the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act, sections 64-209 to 64-215; Title 433, Chapter 6 of the Nebraska Administrative Code (Secretary of State notary rules) |
| Who must take it | Every applicant for an initial commission, prior to being commissioned (section 64-101(5): no person shall be appointed unless he or she has taken and passed the written examination). An applicant whose commission has expired applies for a new commission through the initial-commission process. No attorney exemption from the examination appears in the Secretary of State’s published qualifications, in section 64-101, or in Title 433, Chapter 6, in the sources read |
| Format | 20 questions, taken online through ClassMarker. The Secretary of State directs candidates to complete the test without assistance from others. No time limit is published in the sources read, and this page prints none |
| Passing standard | In the Secretary of State’s published form: a passing score of 85% — “You will have three attempts to achieve a passing score of 85% prior to being commissioned.” Title 433, Chapter 6, section 006.01 states the bar as a score of 85% or better |
| Attempts and eligibility | Three attempts prior to being commissioned. In the Secretary of State’s published form: “If you are not successful after three attempts, you will no longer be eligible to be a notary public in Nebraska.” |
| Score validity | A passing exam score is valid for 90 days from the date of examination; on passing, the candidate receives a digital passing examination certificate, saved as a PDF for the online application |
| Education | No education course is required for the base commission. The Secretary of State directs candidates to review the duties and obligations under the Notary Statutes, the Frequently Asked Questions, and the Rules and Regulations on its website to prepare |
| Bond and oath | A $15,000 surety bond, with an incorporated surety company as surety, executed and approved and filed with the Secretary of State; the oath of office is endorsed on the bond — the applicant signs the bond twice, once as principal and once before another notary public when completing the oath of office (section 64-102; Secretary of State Steps) |
| Filing fee | Nebraska fee: $30 filing fee for the initial application, paid online by credit/debit card or eCheck (section 33-102; Secretary of State Steps) |
| Administrator | Nebraska Secretary of State, Notary Division. PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Nebraska Secretary of State |
What the examination covers
The Secretary of State publishes no topic weights for the exam, and this page prints none. The examinable scope is published, and it is bounded: statute section 64-101.01 provides that the examination is developed and administered by the Secretary of State and consists of questions relating to laws, procedures, and ethics for notaries public, and Title 433, Chapter 6, section 006.01(A) names the knowledge areas — the provisions of Neb. Rev. Stat. sections 64-101 through 64-118; the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act, sections 64-209 through 64-215, and any other relevant statutes; and the Secretary of State’s notary Rules and Regulations themselves. The Secretary of State’s own preparation direction points to the same three bodies of material: the Notary Statutes, the Frequently Asked Questions, and the Rules and Regulations on its website. The areas below follow that published scope.
The Act itself: appointment, qualifications, and the commission — sections 64-101 to 64-104
The opening sections are the route rendered as law, and they are examined as such: who the Secretary of State may appoint (section 64-101 — at least 19 years old; a Nebraska resident, or a resident of a bordering state employed in or with a regular place of work or business in Nebraska whose employment address the Secretary of State has evidenced; the certification under oath that the applicant has carefully read and understands the laws relating to the duties of notaries public and will faithfully discharge them; and the bar on appointment of an applicant convicted of a felony or of a crime involving fraud or dishonesty within the previous five years); the $15,000 bond and the oath endorsed on it, without which a general commission does not authorise its holder to act anywhere in Nebraska (section 64-102); the Secretary of State’s affixing of signature and the great seal of the state to the commission and its delivery on filing and approval of the bond (section 64-103); and renewal — within 30 days prior to expiration, by renewal application, the prescribed fee, and a new bond, with any application after expiration made in the same manner as a new application (section 64-104).
Presence and satisfactory evidence of identity — section 64-105
Section 64-105 states the prohibition at the centre of daily practice: a notary shall not perform a notarial act if the principal is not in the presence of the notary at the time of the act, and is not personally known to the notary or identified through satisfactory evidence. The section defines both terms exactly. Satisfactory evidence is identification based on at least one current document issued by a government agency bearing the photographic image of the individual’s face and signature and a physical description — a properly stamped passport without a physical description is expressly satisfactory — or on the oath or affirmation of one credible witness unaffected by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary and personally knows the individual, or the oaths or affirmations of two credible witnesses, each personally knowing the individual and each showing documentary identification of the first kind. Personal knowledge means familiarity resulting from interactions over a period of time sufficient to dispel any reasonable uncertainty about the identity claimed. The Secretary of State’s Frequently Asked Questions work the same ground in practice form — including the signer who has already signed (ask the principal to sign again directly above the prior signature, or use an acknowledgment), the venue correction made by crossing through and writing in — never with correction fluid or tape — and the document containing blanks, which is refused until the blanks are filled in or lined through and initialed by the principal.
Disqualification and impartiality — section 64-105.01 and the conduct rules
Section 64-105.01 disqualifies a notary from performing a notarial act in three cases: the notary is a spouse, ancestor, descendant, or sibling of the principal, including in-law, step, or half relatives; the notary — except in the performance of duties under sections 64-211 to 64-215 — has a financial or beneficial interest in the transaction other than receipt of the ordinary notarial fee, or is individually named as a party to the transaction; or the notary does not understand the acknowledgment or notarial certificate used to certify the act. The Frequently Asked Questions state the family bar in its working list — parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, spouse, brothers or sisters, including in-laws and step or half relatives — and add the rule every candidate must carry into the exam room and the office alike: a notary may not notarize the notary’s own signature. Title 433, Chapter 6 adds the practice rules around the act: the notarial certificate or acknowledgment must be completed in its entirety, including dates and the state and county of the act; blank or incomplete documents should not be notarized; a notary may not post-date or pre-date a document; and a notary may not refuse services on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), disability, or marital status.
Signatures by mark and for a person unable to sign — section 64-105.02
Section 64-105.02 prescribes two complete procedures, each examined in its steps. For a signature by mark: the mark is affixed in the presence of the notary and of two witnesses unaffected by the document; both witnesses sign their own names beside the mark; the notary writes below the mark the prescribed words naming the signer and the witnesses; and the notary notarizes the signature by mark through an acknowledgment, jurat, or signature witnessing. For a person physically unable to sign or make a mark: the person directs the notary to sign in the presence of two unaffected witnesses; the notary signs the person’s name in the presence of the person and the witnesses; both witnesses sign beside the signature; the notary writes the prescribed statement below it; and the notary notarizes the signature through the same three acts.
The unauthorized-practice boundary — section 64-105.03
A notary who is not an attorney may not engage in the unauthorized practice of law as section 64-105.03 provides: where certificate wording is not provided or indicated for a document, the non-attorney notary shall not determine the type of notarial act or certificate to be used; the notary shall not assist another person in drafting, completing, selecting, or understanding a document or transaction requiring a notarial act; the notary shall not claim powers the office does not provide, including the power to counsel on immigration matters; advertising in a language other than English must carry the section’s prescribed statement in the same language — “I am not an attorney and have no authority to give advice on immigration or other legal matters” — and the term notario publico, or any equivalent non-English term, may not be used in any business card, advertisement, notice, or sign. A violation is the unauthorized practice of law, subject to the penalties in section 7-101. The Frequently Asked Questions state the working form of the same boundary: a notary is not required to read the document, may not offer advice about its legality, and should not prepare or complete documents unless an attorney or a professional in a relevant area of expertise.
Certificates, the ink stamp seal, and fees — sections 64-210, 33-102, and 33-133
Every official act is authenticated with the notary’s ink stamp seal. The Secretary of State’s Steps prescribe its contents exactly: the words State of Nebraska; General Notary or General Notarial; the notary’s name as commissioned; and the expiration date of the commission — the seal is ordered only after the commission certificate is downloaded, by taking the printed certificate to an office supply store. The certificate itself must be completed in full, and the notary signs consistently with the application signature, which the rules make the verification signature. Nebraska’s fee law is statutory and small enough to be learned whole: the Secretary of State is entitled to $30 for receiving an application for a commission and $30 for receiving a renewal application (section 33-102), and a notary may charge and collect, under section 33-133, $5 for taking an acknowledgment of a deed or other instrument; $5 for each certificate and seal; $2 for taking affidavits and seal; $2 for administering an oath or affirmation; $1 for each protest and $2 for recording the same; $2 for each notice of protest; and mileage at the rate provided in section 81-1176 for each mile traveled in serving notice — with the section’s limitation that an employee of the state or a political subdivision whose governmental employer paid the commission and bonding fees may not charge these fees.
The Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act and the Secretary of State’s rules
The second half of the rule’s published scope is recognition law and the regulator’s own rules. Sections 64-201 to 64-210 define notarial acts for recognition purposes — acts the laws and regulations of this state authorise Nebraska notaries to perform, including administering oaths and affirmations, taking proof of execution and acknowledgments of instruments, and attesting documents — and address the effect of acts performed outside Nebraska for use in Nebraska by the persons the Act lists; section 64-210 itself carries the ink stamp seal requirement within this range. Title 433, Chapter 6 is examined as a whole alongside the Act it administers: its definitions, its notarial-act rules on documents, seals, and signatures, its commission requirements and change-of-record duties, its examination section, and its malfeasance provisions — under which, among the acts listed as likely to result in total revocation, are performing an act when the signor was not in the notary’s physical presence, performing an act without personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence, engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, permitting another person to use the notary’s seal, and failing to respond to the Secretary of State’s written communications within 30 days.
The route, in order
Step 1 — Meet the qualifications, and study from the Secretary of State’s own materials
To qualify under the Secretary of State’s published list, an applicant must be at least 19 years old; be a citizen of the United States or a qualified alien; be a resident of Nebraska, or reside in a bordering state and maintain a regular place of work or business in Nebraska; and have not been convicted of a felony, or a crime involving fraud or dishonesty within the previous five years. The Secretary of State’s Frequently Asked Questions refine the conviction position in two answers: a person convicted of a felony may be commissioned only if he or she has received a full pardon prior to being commissioned, and a person convicted of a crime involving fraud or dishonesty may be commissioned where the conviction occurred five or more years prior to being commissioned. No course stands between the applicant and the exam: the Secretary of State directs candidates to review the duties and obligations under the Notary Statutes, the Frequently Asked Questions, and the Rules and Regulations on its website to assist in preparing for the exam — and cautions, in the same Frequently Asked Questions, that the office does not endorse out-of-state notary associations or their training, which is not required to be a Nebraska notary and which the office does not sanction.
Step 2 — Take and pass the Nebraska Notary Exam, before anything else is filed
The exam is Step 1 of the Secretary of State’s published steps, and its order is the route’s first discipline: the passing score is an upload in the application that follows, so the exam comes first. Follow the exam link on the Secretary of State’s steps page; you will be redirected to ClassMarker to complete the exam online. Complete the test without assistance from others. The exam consists of 20 questions. You will have three attempts to achieve a passing score of 85% prior to being commissioned. Upon passing, you will receive a digital passing examination certificate — save a copy of it as a PDF to upload when you file your application online. The passing exam score will be valid for 90 days from the date of examination, so the bond and the application that follow run on that clock. If you are not successful after three attempts, you will no longer be eligible to be a notary public in Nebraska.
Step 3 — Obtain the $15,000 notary surety bond, and sign it twice
Bonds are available from most Nebraska insurance agents and through various online providers; the Secretary of State’s Office does not provide bonds. Apply for the bond in the name you intend to use as your official notary name, and have the bond reference your home address, not your business address. You must sign the bond twice — once as the principal of the bond, and a second time in front of another notary public when completing the oath of office that section 64-102 requires to be endorsed on the bond — and the signatures must be consistent. The bond runs concurrent with the four-year commission term, with an incorporated surety company as surety, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of the office. Purchase of an errors and omissions policy is optional, and proof of such coverage does not have to be provided to the Secretary of State’s office.
Step 4 — Complete the Nebraska Notary Public Online Application, and pay the $30 filing fee
Go to the Secretary of State’s Online Notary Portal and log in to your account, creating one at the login screen if you do not have one — the account is your user profile for the site — and complete the online process for an initial commission (the same process, as an amendment for a new commission, serves notaries whose commissions have expired). Upload your exam certificate, your bond, and any supporting documents the application calls for, saved as PDFs before you begin. Have payment information ready: the $30 filing fee can be paid online by credit/debit card or eCheck, and State of Nebraska employees may use Interagency Billing Transaction (IBT). The system will not allow you to submit the application if any information is missing; incomplete work can be saved as a draft and finished later through My Work Queue, the application’s progress can be tracked in the Notary Work Queue, and you will receive an email notifying you when your application has been processed.
Step 5 — Download the commission certificate, then order the ink stamp seal
Once the approval email arrives, log into the portal and download your commission certificate. Print it and take it to any office supply store to order your notary ink stamp seal, engraved with: State of Nebraska; General Notary or General Notarial; your name as commissioned; and the expiration date of the commission. The seal comes last because it carries the commissioned name and the expiration date — both of which exist only once the commission issues — and because the only required notary supply a commissioned Nebraska notary needs to lawfully notarize is the inked stamp seal. A notary journal is not required under Nebraska law, though the Secretary of State highly recommends using one.
Step 6 — Hold the four-year term, renew inside 30 days, and treat expiration as a new commission
The commission runs four years from its effective date, statewide. Renewal is a timed filing, not an entitlement: under section 64-104 and the Secretary of State’s renewal steps, a renewal application may only be submitted within the 30 days prior to the expiration date, with a new $15,000 bond signed twice as at Step 3, the online renewal application, and the $30 filing fee — and a renewed commission requires a new seal carrying the new commission dates. The renewal steps publish no examination step for a timely renewal. Let the commission expire, however, and the position changes completely: a renewal application made after expiration is made in the same manner as a new application, the Secretary of State routes expired notaries to the initial-commission process, and the exam — with its three attempts and its permanent consequence — stands at the front of that route again. An In-Person Electronic Notary Public registration or an Online Notary Public registration may be sought while applying for the initial commission or added afterward by amendment, under their own separate qualifications and instructions.
What makes this examination demanding
The demand is the combination of a short paper, a high line, and a closed door. Twenty questions means each question carries five points of the score: the arithmetic of the published figures is that a passing score of 85% on a 20-question paper leaves room for at most three missed questions — miss a fourth and the attempt is spent. Three attempts is the whole allowance prior to being commissioned, and the consequence of spending all three without reaching 85% is stated by the Secretary of State without qualification: you will no longer be eligible to be a notary public in Nebraska. Preparation therefore cannot be casual in either direction — a candidate cannot treat the first sitting as a free look at the paper, because there are only three sittings; and a candidate cannot narrow the study to a few favourite topics, because three wrong answers drawn from anywhere in the published scope — the Act’s general provisions, the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act, the Secretary of State’s rules — consume the entire margin. Two clocks punish drift around the sitting: the passing score is valid for 90 days from the date of examination, so a candidate who passes and then delays the bond or the application watches the pass expire; and the test must be completed without assistance from others, so the knowledge has to be the candidate’s own at the moment of the sitting, not assembled during it.
The credential at work
The Nebraska commission is held across the state’s banks and credit unions, law offices, title and real estate closings, healthcare and government counters, courts and county offices, and agricultural and small-business paperwork — anywhere a signature must be acknowledged, sworn, or proved before a commissioned public official rather than a party to the transaction. It is a four-year, statewide public appointment as a general notary public, verifiable through the Secretary of State, and it is the base on which the separate In-Person Electronic Notary Public and Online Notary Public registrations are built for notaries whose acts are performed electronically or remotely.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Practice in the examination’s own shape. The Nebraska Notary Exam is 20 questions against a passing score of 85%, with three attempts prior to being commissioned and permanent ineligibility beyond them, and the program in the works practises in that shape: complete 20-question sets, scored against the 85% line, taken without assistance — so that a candidate learns, in practice, exactly how much room three missed questions leave, and husband their real attempts for a paper they have already passed in rehearsal.
Written from the primary sources. The program is written from the Secretary of State’s own publications — the Steps to Obtain an Initial Notary Commission, the Notary Frequently Asked Questions, the renewal steps, and Title 433, Chapter 6 — and from Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 64, principally sections 64-101 to 64-118 and sections 64-209 to 64-215, the scope the examination rule itself publishes. Where a figure in circulation cannot be verified in those sources — a time limit, a question-format breakdown — the program prints none and says so.
The whole candidate, not only the test-taker. Around the practice, the program carries the route as the Secretary of State publishes it — the exam first and its 90-day score validity, the bond in the commissioned name signed twice with the oath endorsed on it, the online application and its $30 filing fee, the commission certificate before any seal is ordered, and the 30-day renewal window with expiration treated as a new commission — because on this route the sequence failures are as fatal as the knowledge failures, and one of them is irreversible.
Preparation only. This is preparation for an examination administered by the Nebraska Secretary of State. PassProfessor is not affiliated with the Secretary of State, and nothing in the program substitutes for the exam, the bond, the application, or any commission requirement.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Nebraska Notary Public program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program.
Frequently asked questions
Who commissions a Nebraska notary public?
The Nebraska Secretary of State. The Notary Division of the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division administers Nebraska notary laws, and the single class of appointment — the general notary public — is valid in the entire state for a term of four years.
What is the passing score on the Nebraska Notary Exam?
In the Secretary of State’s published form, a passing score of 85%: “You will have three attempts to achieve a passing score of 85% prior to being commissioned.” Title 433, Chapter 6, section 006.01 states the same bar as a score of 85% or better.
What happens if I fail all three attempts?
In the Secretary of State’s published form: “If you are not successful after three attempts, you will no longer be eligible to be a notary public in Nebraska.” The three attempts are the whole allowance prior to being commissioned; there is no fourth attempt in the published process.
How many questions are on the exam, and how is it taken?
The exam consists of 20 questions, taken online: the Secretary of State’s steps page redirects candidates to ClassMarker to complete the exam online, and directs them to complete the test without assistance from others.
How long is a passing score good for?
Ninety days from the date of examination. On passing you receive a digital passing examination certificate; save it as a PDF, because it is uploaded with the online application that the bond and the $30 filing fee complete.
Is there a course I must take first?
No. Nebraska requires no education course for the base commission. The Secretary of State directs candidates to review the Notary Statutes, the Frequently Asked Questions, and the Rules and Regulations on its website to prepare, and states that association training offered by out-of-state notary associations is not required and is not sanctioned or endorsed by the office.
I am an attorney. Am I exempt from the exam?
No exemption on that basis appears in the Secretary of State’s published qualifications, in Neb. Rev. Stat. section 64-101, or in Title 433, Chapter 6, in the sources read: the statute provides that no person shall be appointed a notary public unless he or she has taken and passed the written examination. Attorneys appear in the Act in a different place — the unauthorized-practice-of-law bar in section 64-105.03 is addressed to a notary public who is not an attorney — which is not an examination exemption.
What bond is required, and what does the state charge?
A $15,000 surety bond from an incorporated surety company, concurrent with the four-year commission term, signed twice — once as principal, and once before another notary public when completing the oath of office endorsed on the bond. The state’s filing fee is $30 for the initial application, paid online by credit/debit card or eCheck. The Secretary of State’s Office does not provide bonds.
How do I renew, and what if my commission has already expired?
Renewal may only be submitted within the 30 days prior to your expiration date, with a new $15,000 bond, the online renewal application, and the $30 filing fee; the renewal steps publish no examination step for a timely renewal, and a new seal with the new commission dates is required. After expiration, the application is made in the same manner as a new application — the Secretary of State routes expired notaries through the initial-commission process, exam included.
Must a Nebraska notary keep a journal?
No. Notary journals are not required under Nebraska law; the Secretary of State highly recommends using one, and publishes an example journal on its website. The only required notary supply is the inked stamp seal, engraved with State of Nebraska, General Notary or General Notarial, your name as commissioned, and the expiration date of the commission.
Are the In-Person Electronic Notary Public and Online Notary Public registrations part of this exam?
No. They are separate registrations layered on a valid commission, each with its own approved training course, administered through the Secretary of State’s Office, that must be completed before its own examination, and its own application and fee. This program covers the base Nebraska Notary Exam for the general notary public commission itself; the electronic and online registrations’ facts are stated separately in the companion guide as a boundary, not merged into this exam.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Nebraska Secretary of State?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Nebraska Secretary of State. The program confers no commission and reports nothing to the Secretary of State.