Becoming An ISA Certified Arborist

[Ferguson system]

JRoland, Was the test hard? If so, what was difficult?

 

[JRoland]

I studied the green book and listened to the CDs (which is essentially a monotone reading of the arborists study guide).
I didn't find the test as easy as some of the people on here make it out to be....when I got my results sheet back it was broken down by score per category and it was fairly predictable based on my experience (ie I scored higher on rigging and safety than tree planting because I have done more of that). Literally the only thing I studied was the arborists certification study guide and I passed. That being said there were some things on the test that I was unfamiliar with. Gotta keep learning.

 

[Ferguson system]

Thanks for the feedback. I've been preparing for the exam for 1-2 years now. I have completed most of the online coarses and quizzes on ISA's webpage, read a book called the European tree worker and Modern Arboriculture by Alex Shigo. I feel that i am just about ready to take the exam. There are only a handful ISA certified arborists in Norway, so it will give me an advantage to be one of them.

 

[JRoland]

Sounds like you should be prepared. Also when you take the test, it is multiple choice so follow guidelines for multiple choice tests, as far as choosing the "most appropriate answer" etc... I also found that on a lot of tests if there is a "D. All of the above." that's usually the answer, but that was not the case with this test.

 

[cupar]

Isa exam is stupid easy. There's 220 multiple choice answers and you can get a 0 in a section as long as your overall is above 72. They say your suppose to have 3 years experience before you can be isa certified but I know several people who are being pushed through the program with 3 months experience. The last person we had pass admitted to reading the study guide twice and taking the exam hung over and still got 80%+.

It's a shame as the exam used to mean something, now it's a business. I am sure I'm going to be flamed for this but if you saw the dozens of isa certified people around here that have never climbed without spurs and can't tell an ash from a maple apart you'd feel like I do.

 

[JRoland]

I had heard about it being stupid easy too. I didn't find it to be, and have been involved in some facet of tree work or logging since I was In high school 20 years ago. I got a 78%. But also that reflects a lot of time spent doing one type of tree work and not being that well rounded. Also there were 200 questions.