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Notary prep course yields a record pass rate on state exam
Wed, 02/20/2019 - 9:37am
A record number of University of Louisiana at Lafayette students have taken and passed the Louisiana state notary examination.
The University’s B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration offers Business Law (BLAW) 340 – Notary Public, a notary preparation course. Students who took the course in the Fall 2018 semester achieved a pass rate of 72 percent on the state notary exam.
That’s an increase of 9 percent over the previous pass-rate record of 63 percent that UL Lafayette students set in 2017.
By comparison, the state average exam pass rate in Fall 2018 was 23 percent.
Attorney Fred W. Davis teaches the course. He’s been a notary for 35 years and is the author of the “Pass My Notary” workbook, which is a required textbook for the class.
“Many students choose to take the notary class so they will have a better chance of passing the state exam. Our students can graduate not only with their degree but with a Louisiana state notarial commission that can make them more marketable to employers,” Davis said.
A notary public is an impartial witness who verifies the identities of people who are signing important documents. According to the National Notary Association, a notary public “protects consumers from fraud and identity theft by witnessing and authenticating the signing of our most important transactions: mortgage documents, powers of attorney, contracts, adoption papers, advance medical directives and other dealings central to our lives and the economy.”
In Louisiana, a notary public must be at least 18 years old and meet other qualifications. They must pass two tests, a pre-assessment and the state notary exam.
BLAW 340 is offered every fall semester on-campus at UL Lafayette and is not available as an online course. For more information, contact Fred Davis at fwd0103@louisiana.edu.
Students who passed the exam are:
- Michael F. Becker
- Justin Cressione
- Shamona Dean
- Roxane Fontenot
- Ryan Haycock
- Trevor LeGrand
- Elizabeth Louviere
- Christine Meaux
- Katherine Moran
- Brandi Nelson
- Kelly Rhodes
- Jeannine Rick
- Beth Thibodeaux
Photo caption: BLAW 340 instructor Fred Davis swears in Brandi Nelson, an accounting student, after she passed the Louisiana notary exam.