1.1 The BCMA Exam: Format, Eligibility, Fees & the Current Content Outline
Key Takeaways
- The BCMA exam is 165 multiple-choice questions delivered in 4 hours (240 minutes); each question has three or four options and exactly one correct answer.
- Fifteen of the 165 items are unscored pretest questions scattered anonymously through the exam, so 150 items determine the score.
- The passing score is 70 percent, and ISA notes it is subject to change after a new job task analysis.
- The outline effective 15 December 2025 weights Science 37 percent, Practice 37 percent, and Management 26 percent across 17 knowledge areas.
- Eligibility requires a current ISA Certified Arborist credential in good standing plus eight points drawn from four categories: ISA credentials and CEUs, formal education, related credentials, and verifiable work experience.
Everything in this guide is organized around one document: the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist Examination Outline. Before you study a single fact about CODIT or cation exchange, you need to know exactly what the exam is, who is allowed to sit it, and how the 165 questions are apportioned. Candidates lose more marks to misallocated study time than to any single technical topic.
What the Exam Physically Is
The BCMA exam is delivered only in a computer-based environment at Pearson VUE testing centers. There is no paper option and no at-home proctored option in the current program guide.
| Attribute | Current specification |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 165 multiple-choice |
| Options per question | Three or four; exactly one is correct |
| Unscored pretest items | 15, unidentified and scattered throughout |
| Scored items | 150 |
| Time limit | 4 hours (240 minutes) |
| Passing score | 70 percent (subject to change after a job task analysis) |
| Delivery | Computer-based at Pearson VUE test centers |
| Authorization window | 120 days to schedule and sit the exam after enrollment |
| Retake interval | 30 days after the most recent attempt |
Two consequences follow directly from that table. First, 240 minutes ÷ 165 questions ≈ 87 seconds per item. BCMA questions are scenario-driven — a photograph or a paragraph of site description followed by a judgment call — so you cannot afford to re-read a stem three times. Second, because 15 items are unscored experimental questions, an item that feels bizarre or unanswerable may simply be a pretest item that does not count. Flag it, answer it, and move on rather than burning four minutes on it.
Questions are written by a panel of practicing arborists, derived from a periodic job task analysis (JTA), and continuously reviewed against test statistics by the ISA BCMA Test Committee.
Who May Sit It
The BCMA sits above the ISA Certified Arborist credential; fewer than two percent of ISA Certified Arborists hold it. The ISA Credentialing Council requires a candidate to be an ISA Certified Arborist in good standing and to have accumulated a total of eight points from four categories:
| Category | Examples | Points |
|---|---|---|
| A — ISA Certification Program | ISA Certified Arborist (1 point per year certified); Certified Urban Forest Professional; Utility Specialist; Certified Tree Climber; Tree Worker Aerial Lift Specialist; Tree Risk Assessment Qualified | 1 each |
| A — ISA Continuing Education | 1 point for every 60 CEUs earned over the 30 required every three years | 1 per 60 CEUs |
| B — Formal Education (highest degree only) | Two-year associate = 1; four-year undergraduate = 2; master's or terminal = 3; Ph.D. = 4 | 1–4 |
| C — Verifiable Related Credentials | ASCA Registered Consulting Arborist = 3; SAF Certified Forester = 1; state arboriculture license = 1; EAC European Tree Worker = 1; TCIA Tree Care Academy Tree Care Specialist = 1 | 1–3 |
| D — Professional Work Experience | 1 point for every six years of verifiable arboricultural work | 1 per 6 years |
Category B counts the highest degree only — a candidate with a master's earns three points, not one plus two plus three. Documentation (transcripts, certificates, employer letters, or for the self-employed, invoices, contracts, and business licenses) must accompany the application, and ISA may contact the references named.
What It Costs
Members of ISA and current ISA credential holders receive a standard 20 percent discount on application and enrollment fees. Because every BCMA candidate must already hold the Certified Arborist credential, the discounted rate is the operative one.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Application fee | $40 for ISA members and/or credential holders; $50 for all others |
| Exam enrollment fee | $495 for ISA members and/or credential holders |
| Retake fee | $220 per retake attempt |
| Reschedule outside the 120-day authorization window | $50 |
| Recertification fee | $320 |
ISA does not refund exam enrollments. If you no-show or let the authorization period lapse, the enrollment is forfeited and a retake fee applies.
The Content Outline in Force
ISA announced a revised outline on 8 October 2025 following a new JTA, and the revised weights apply to exams taken on or after 15 December 2025. If you are studying from older prep material, check the weights first — several areas moved between domains and every weight changed.
| Area | Knowledge area | Weight | Approx. questions of 165 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science — 37% | Tree Biology | 9% | ~15 |
| Soils | 7% | ~12 | |
| Tree Identification and Selection | 7% | ~12 | |
| Abiotic Disorders | 7% | ~12 | |
| Biotic Disorders | 7% | ~12 | |
| Practice — 37% | Installation | 4% | ~7 |
| Soil Treatment and Irrigation | 4% | ~7 | |
| Plant Health Care | 6% | ~10 | |
| Pruning | 7% | ~12 | |
| Supplemental Support and Lightning Protection Systems | 2% | ~3 | |
| Climbing, Rigging, and Removal | 5% | ~8 | |
| Tree Risk | 7% | ~12 | |
| Plant Appraisal | 2% | ~3 | |
| Management — 26% | Safety | 9% | ~15 |
| Inventory and Management Plans | 5% | ~8 | |
| Business Relations | 5% | ~8 | |
| Trees and Construction | 7% | ~12 |
What changed, and why it matters for your study plan
- Science gained ten points (27% to 37%). Biology, soils, tree identification, and both disorder areas are now the single largest block. Every science area is worth at least 7 percent.
- Management lost nine points (35% to 26%), because Tree Risk and Plant Appraisal moved out of Management and into Practice. The subject matter did not disappear — Tree Risk is still 7 percent, one of the four largest areas — but the domain label changed.
- Diagnostic Process and Water Relations and Irrigation are no longer standalone areas. Diagnosis is now assessed inside Plant Health Care, and irrigation is folded into Soil Treatment and Irrigation.
- Safety is the joint-largest single area at 9 percent, tied with Tree Biology. Candidates who treat ANSI Z133 as a formality lose roughly 15 questions.
Building a defensible study plan from the weights
Multiply each weight by 165 and study in proportion. A useful heuristic: the four 9-percent-and-7-percent areas (Tree Biology, Safety, Soils, Tree ID, Abiotic, Biotic, Pruning, Tree Risk, Trees and Construction) together account for 69 percent of the exam. The two 2-percent areas (Supplemental Support and Lightning Protection, Plant Appraisal) account for six questions between them — worth knowing well enough to answer, not worth a month.
Maintaining the Credential
Recertification runs on a three-year cycle. You may either retake and re-pass the exam, or earn 30 CEUs over three years with at least 10 CEUs in each of science, practice, and management and pay the recertification fee. That tri-partite CEU requirement mirrors the exam's own structure and is itself a testable fact.
Chapter Roadmap
The remaining chapters follow the outline's own order: Science first (biology, soils, abiotic and biotic disorders, identification and selection), then Practice (diagnosis, pruning, plant health care, soil treatment and installation, support systems and climbing, risk, appraisal), then Management (construction, inventories and management plans, safety, business relations and ethics).
A candidate finishes the BCMA exam having answered every question and calculates that she is confident on 118 items. Assuming her confident answers are correct and she guessed randomly on the rest, what is the most important structural fact she should factor into her expectation of the result?
An experienced consulting arborist is planning a BCMA study schedule and wants to allocate hours in proportion to the outline in force for exams taken in 2026. Which allocation reflects the current domain weights?
A candidate has held the ISA Certified Arborist credential for three years, holds a four-year undergraduate degree in horticulture, is ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, and has nine years of verifiable arboricultural work experience. How many eligibility points does she have, and is she eligible to apply?
A newly certified BCMA is planning the next three years and wants to recertify by continuing education rather than by re-examination. What must he accomplish?