If your question is not here, write to us - we answer every message.
Take the 6-hour course if you are applying for the first time, or if your commission has already expired - no matter how many terms you have held in the past. The 3-hour refresher is only for notaries who hold a current, unexpired commission, have completed an approved 6-hour course before, and will take the exam and submit the application before that commission expires. When in doubt, the 6-hour course always satisfies the requirement.
As early as you can. In many counties the state exam is offered monthly, and in some only a few times a year, so the scheduling - not the studying - is usually what makes people miss the window. If your commission lapses before you pass and file, you must take the 6-hour course and start over as a new applicant.
Your access does not expire. Come back for review any time, including after you pass - the material is the same law you will be applying every day.
English, Spanish, and Chinese - Mandarin and Cantonese. Every lesson - video, reading and practice explanations - exists in each of them, with more languages planned as the catalog grows.
No. The California notary exam is in English only, in person. That is precisely why we teach the concepts in your language while keeping every legal term in English, and why our practice questions are written in English with explanations in your language.
Yes, at any time, and your progress and study time carry over. Many students read a difficult lesson in their first language and then re-watch it in English before the exam.
No. Each language edition is written in that language against the official state sources and reviewed for accuracy, so it reads like a teacher rather than a dictionary. The legal terms of art stay in English by design.
California regulations require an approved education vendor to establish the identity of every student, and to print the ID type, number, expiration date and issuing state or country on the Proof of Completion. Your certificate would not be accepted without it. We never collect Social Security numbers, and your ID details are visible only to you and to our staff.
While a lesson tab is open and you are actively watching or reading, the site counts the time on the server. It pauses when you switch away, and it can never run faster than real time. State law requires the full 6 or 3 hours of instruction, and there is no partial credit.
You can navigate freely, but each lesson has a minimum time before it counts as complete, and the certificate requires every lesson plus the full required hours. The requirement is the instruction time itself, so there is no way to shorten it - by design.
Immediately. The moment the last lesson and the required hours are complete, your signed PDF is available to download and print. It is valid for two years from issuance and must be attached to your notary public application at the exam.
No. The regulations restrict that information to you and to us as the vendor, and the site enforces it - there is no public certificate page and no shareable link.
Our vendor application is in progress, and we say so plainly rather than implying otherwise. California law requires the Secretary of State to approve a course of study that covers all the material on the exam, and this course is built to that standard. We will publish our vendor identification number here as soon as it is issued. Note that approval of a course of study is not an endorsement or recommendation by the Secretary of State.
If you are not happy with the course for any reason within 60 days of purchase, email us and we refund you in full. The complete policy is shown before you pay - California requires the refund policy to be disclosed before any fee is charged.
No. Notary School provides education about California notary law based on the state's official sources. We are not a law firm and cannot advise you about your particular situation.
Tell us and we check it against the official source the same day. Confirmed errors are corrected immediately and recorded in our public corrections log. Accuracy is the whole product - a report is a favor to us, not a complaint.