Sri Lanka Notary's Preliminary Exam

It is for candidates seeking admission and enrolment as a notary public in Sri Lanka. Typically that means law graduates or attorneys-at-law who have completed the required practical training and now need to pass the preliminary stage before appointment and licensing. Confirm your eligibility category with the official body before you apply.

It is a written, paper-based examination, mainly multiple choice, with questions drawn from the ten subject areas in the syllabus. Expect scenario-based items that ask you to apply a rule rather than simply recall it. The official body publishes the current structure and any changes on its website.

It is a broad paper rather than a deep one, so difficulty comes from coverage, not from trick questions. Most candidates need several months of structured reading across all ten areas, with extra time on property, succession and notarial procedure. Do not leave ethics or anti-money-laundering rules to the last week.

The official body sets and publishes the current number of questions, the duration and the passing mark. Those figures change from time to time, so check the official website or your admission notice rather than relying on what other candidates tell you. Plan your pace once you know the confirmed format.

Retake arrangements, including any limit on attempts or waiting period, are set by the official body and are not fixed indefinitely. Check its current rules before you apply. If a retake is allowed, treat the first attempt as diagnostic and rebuild your study plan around the areas where you lost marks.

Start with the Notaries Ordinance and notarial practice, because it frames everything else. Then take contracts, property and land registration, and persons and succession, which carry the most weight. Add trusts, wills and estate administration, then obligations and civil procedure, criminal law, company law, and finally ethics and anti-money-laundering duties.

Candidates most often lose marks by knowing a rule but not its procedure: which register, which form, which time limit, which authority. Others neglect stamp duty and registration mechanics, or misread scenario questions that turn on a single fact. Weak drafting and attestation practice, and skipped ethics rules, also cost easy marks.

Practise writing complete instruments from blank paper: deeds of transfer, powers of attorney, wills and affidavits. Learn the mandatory clauses, the attestation and identification requirements, and the registration and stamping steps for each. Compare your drafts against the statutory forms and have a practitioner review them.

Only from the official body that conducts the examination. It publishes the current dates, fees, application procedure and required documents on its own website. This page is independent study material and is not affiliated with that body, so always verify administrative details at the official source before acting.