Merit Badge Requirements and Workbooks

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Click a merit badge name below for the current requirements.  Right click on a workbook name to save or print the optional workbooks. Workbooks can help Scouts organize notes, listen actively, and document their work. These workbooks can help you but you still need to read the merit badge pamphlet. The work space provided for each requirement should be used by the Scout to make notes for discussing the item with his counselor, not for providing the full and complete answers. Each Scout must do each requirement.

Notes:

• Each workbook contains an attachment with important excerpts from the Guide To Advancement, No. 33088, which should be reviewed by the Scout, his parents, and the Merit Badge Counselor.  The Attachment to all Workbooks prepared before May, 2015, includes information from the 2013 edition of the Guide To Advancement, which should be replaced with a newer attachment, which includes information from the 2015 edition of the Guide To Advancement. Click here to download the revised attachment.
• Some workbooks also include notes directed to the Counselor, and/or worksheets, checklists, and sample forms which may be used to complete various requirements.
• Keep in mind that these workbooks are OPTIONAL aids. A Scout is expected to meet the requirements exactly as stated - no more and no less.
  If a requirement uses words like "show," "demonstrate," or "discuss," then every Scout must do that. Just filling out the workbook is NOT sufficient!
  He should use the workbooks to prepare notes to himself, and should not assume that filling in the workbook is sufficient to earn the badge.
• Scouts STARTING a merit badge must use the CURRENT Boy Scout Requirements
• Once a Scout has started a merit badge, he can continue to work on those requirements even if new requirements are published. The Scout must choose whether to complete the full set of new requirements or the full set of old requirements. A Scout cannot pick and choose from both sets. If he chooses to use the new requirements, he can, of course, use the work he has done on any of the old requirements, if the requirement is unchanged, or only had editorial changes which don't actually change the actual requirement.  For those Scouts who are using the older requirements because they've already started in the badge, the older requirements and workbooks are accessible by following links from the current requirements pages
• If a merit badge pamphlet is updated during the year, a Scout can choose to use either full set of old requirements or new requirements in the pamphlet. Those will show an effective date of the following year (i.e. a pamphlet issued in June of 2008 will say "2009 requirements").   Once the Boy Scout Requirements are updated, all Scouts starting the merit badge must use the new requirements.
• If a BLANK appears in the lists below, it indicates that revisions to the workbook are pending, due to revised requirements.
• You can also download ZIP files containing all of the current worksheets as either word processing and/or PDF formats Keep in mind these are BIG files.

• The word processor versions of the workbooks have been prepared using the Microsoft Office 365 Suite (Word 2013) and are in the DOCX file format, which was introduced in 2007.  Consequently, they are NOT compatible with earlier versions on Microsoft Office or other word processors which do not support that file format, unless the user has downloaded and installed a Compatibility Pack. Users of Microsoft Office XP, 2000 and 2003 can download the Compatibility Pack, by clicking here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3. By installing the Compatibility Pack you will be able to use Microsoft Office XP, 2000, or 2003 to open, edit, and save files using the file formats in newer versions of Word (DOCX), Excel (XLSX), and PowerPoint (PPTX) .
• The PDF versions of the workbooks have been designed with form fields.  Scouts may download these files and then type their notes into the form fields, and save their work locally. They have been tested successfully with the Adobe Acrobat Reader, the Foxit PDF Reader, and the Nuance PDF Reader.  Each of those programs are available as free downloads. Other PDF readers may also work, however, we do know that the PDF reader native to the Firefox web browser does NOT allow data input. We have not been able to test them on "Mac" computers.
• In response to requests we have gotten, we have added light lines in the form field boxes to provide for those Scouts that wish to hand write their responses.

Since 2010, all new and revised workbooks have been prepared by Paul Wolf, with some input from RW Smith, a volunteer affiliated with meritbadge.org. To our knowledge, they now reflect the current requirements in all cases. 

Please submit comments about errors, omissions, or suggestions about the format of any of the WORKBOOKS to: Workbooks@USScouts.Org
Comments or suggestions for changes to the wording of the requirements for any MERIT BADGE should be sent to the BSA at: Advancement.Team@Scouting.Org

Copies of all of these workbooks (in PDF format only) are also available on the Meritbadge.org website, and a few are also available on sites which are maintained by the BSA, including Scouting.org, BoysLife.org, or boyslifeorg.files.wordpress.com,. However, if you find copies on any other site, they have been placed there without our permission, and we would be grateful to be notified of those cases. Please write us at Workbooks@USScouts.Org with the website address.

The workbooks are all © Copyright - U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.
The requirements are all © Copyright - Boy Scouts of America – and are used with permission.
The name American Heritage™ is a trademark owned by American Heritage Publishing Company, Inc. and is used by permission.

Please note that the dates listed below represent the months the workbooks were last revised and uploaded. 
The PDF files will indicate that date in the first page header. 
The WORD processor files, however, will always indicate the CURRENT month, whenever the file is opened for editing. 

Merit Badge Requirements (Click on a merit badge name below)		Workbooks Last updated	Word Processor Format (DOCX)	Portable Document Format (PDF)
ZIP File of ALL available current worksheets (VERY Large Files!)			All files	All Files
Eagle Required Merit Badges
1	Camping	January 2016	Camping	Camping
2	Citizenship in the Community	March, 2016	Cit-Comm	Cit-Comm
3	Citizenship in the Nation	November, 2013	Cit-Nation	Cit-Nation
4	Citizenship in the World	February, 2016	Cit-World	Cit-World
5	Communication	January 2014	Communication	Communication
38	Cooking	February, 2016	Cooking	Cooking
39	Cycling	February, 2015	Cycling	Cycling
6	Emergency Preparedness	March, 2016	Emerg-Prep	Emerg-Prep
7	Environmental Science	March, 2016	Env-Science	Env-Science
129	Family Life	February, 2015	Family-Life	Family-Life
8	First Aid	March, 2016	First-Aid	First-Aid
61	Hiking	April, 2016	Hiking	Hiking
9	Lifesaving	February, 2016	Lifesaving	Lifesaving
10	Personal Fitness	February, 2015	Pers-Fitness	Pers-Fitness
11	Personal Management	March, 2016	Pers-Manage	Pers-Manage
152	Sustainability	February, 2015	Sustainability	Sustainability
14	Swimming	February, 2015	Swimming	Swimming
All Current Merit Badges in Alphabetical Order
15	AMERICAN BUSINESS	January 2016	Am-Business	Am-Business
17	AMERICAN CULTURES	December, 2013	Am-Culture	Am-Culture
16	AMERICAN HERITAGE™	February, 2015	Am-Heritage	Am-Heritage
121	AMERICAN LABOR	January 2016	Am-Labor	Am-Labor
28	ANIMAL SCIENCE	December, 2013	Animal-Science	Animal-Science
158	ANIMATION	May, 2015	Animation	Animation
132	ARCHAEOLOGY	July 2016	Archaeology	Archaeology
19	ARCHERY	January 2016	Archery	Archery
20	ARCHITECTURE	February, 2015	Architecture	Architecture
21	ART	October, 2013	Art	Art
22	ASTRONOMY	October, 2013	Astronomy	Astronomy
23	ATHLETICS	December, 2013	Athletics	Athletics
127	AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE	December, 2013	Auto-Maint	Auto-Maint
25	AVIATION	February, 2014	Aviation	Aviation
26	BACKPACKING	September, 2015	Backpacking	Backpacking
27	BASKETRY	February, 2015	Basketry	Basketry
29	BIRD STUDY	December, 2013	Bird-Study	Bird-Study
32	BUGLING	December, 2013	Bugling	Bugling
1	CAMPING	January 2016	Camping	Camping
33	CANOEING	February, 2015	Canoeing	Canoeing
34	CHEMISTRY	January 2016	Chemistry	Chemistry
147	CHESS	December, 2013	Chess	Chess
2	CITIZENSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY	March, 2016	Cit-Comm	Cit-Comm
3	CITIZENSHIP IN THE NATION	November, 2013	Cit-Nation	Cit-Nation
4	CITIZENSHIP IN THE WORLD	February 2016	Cit-World	Cit-World
133	CLIMBING	December, 2013	Climbing	Climbing
35	COIN COLLECTING	February, 2014	Coin-Collect	Coin-Collect
128	COLLECTIONS	December, 2013	Collections	Collections
5	COMMUNICATION	January, 2014	Communication	Communication
137	COMPOSITE MATERIALS	January, 2014	Composite-Mat	Composite-Mat
38	COOKING	February, 2016	Cooking	Cooking
131	CRIME PREVENTION	January, 2014	Crime-Prev	Crime-Prev
39	CYCLING	February, 2015	Cycling	Cycling
40	DENTISTRY	January, 2014	Dentistry	Dentistry
154	DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY and Boy Scout Cyber Chip	March, 2016	Digital-Tech	Digital-Tech
60	DISABILITIES AWARENESS	January, 2014	Disability-Aware	Disability-Aware
41	DOG CARE	January, 2014	Dog-Care	Dog-Care
42	DRAFTING	February, 2015	Drafting	Drafting
43	ELECTRICITY	January, 2014	Electricity	Electricity
44	ELECTRONICS	January, 2014	Electronics	Electronics
6	EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS	August, 2016	Emerg-Prep	Emerg-Prep
45	ENERGY	February, 2015	Energy	Energy
46	ENGINEERING	January, 2014	Engineering	Engineering
134	ENTREPRENEURSHIP	October, 2014	Entrepreneur	Entrepreneur
7	ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE	March, 2016	Env-Science	Env-Science
129	FAMILY LIFE	February, 2015	Family-Life	Family-Life
48	FARM MECHANICS	January, 2014	Farm-Mech	Farm-Mech
49	FINGERPRINTING	January, 2014	Fingerprinting	Fingerprinting
50	FIRE SAFETY	May, 2015	Fire-Safety	Fire-Safety
8	FIRST AID	March, 2016	First-Aid	First-Aid
51	FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT	February, 2015	Fish-and-Wildlife	Fish-and-Wildlife
52	FISHING	February, 2015	Fishing	Fishing
136	FLY FISHING	January, 2014	Fly-Fishing	Fly-Fishing
54	FORESTRY	July, 2016	Forestry	Forestry
151	GAME DESIGN	December, 2013	Game-Design	Game-Design
55	GARDENING	June, 2014	Gardening	Gardening
56	GENEALOGY	January, 2014	Genealogy	Genealogy
145	GEOCACHING	December, 2013	Geocaching	Geocaching
58	GEOLOGY	January, 2014	Geology	Geology
59	GOLF	January, 2014	Golf	Golf
122	GRAPHIC ARTS	January, 2014	Graphic-Arts	Graphic-Arts
61	HIKING	April, 2016	Hiking	Hiking
62	HOME REPAIRS	January, 2014	Home-Repair	Home-Repair
63	HORSEMANSHIP	October, 2013	Horsemanship	Horsemanship
64	INDIAN LORE	January, 2014	Indian-Lore	Indian-Lore
65	INSECT STUDY	July, 2015	Insect-Study	Insect-Study
144	INVENTING	December, 2013	Inventing	Inventing
66	JOURNALISM	January, 2014	Journalism	Journalism
149	KAYAKING	December, 2013	Kayaking	Kayaking
67	LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE	January, 2014	Landscape-Arch	Landscape-Arch
68	LAW	January, 2014	Law	Law
69	LEATHERWORK	October, 2013	Leatherwork	Leatherwork
9	LIFESAVING	February, 2016	Lifesaving	Lifesaving
71	MAMMAL STUDY	February, 2015	Mammal-Study	Mammal-Study
130	MEDICINE	January, 2014	Medicine	Medicine
74	METALWORK	September, 2016	Metalwork	Metalwork
155	MINING IN SOCIETY	March, 2016	Mining-in-Society	Mining-in-Society
75	MODEL DESIGN AND BUILDING	January, 2014	Model-Design	Model-Design
76	MOTORBOATING	December, 2014	Motorboating	Motorboating
156	MOVIEMAKING	October, 2013	Moviemaking	Moviemaking
77	MUSIC	January, 2014	Music	Music
78	NATURE	January, 2014	Nature	Nature
24	NUCLEAR SCIENCE	January, 2014	Nuclear-Science	Nuclear-Science
79	OCEANOGRAPHY	January, 2014	Oceanography	Oceanography
80	ORIENTEERING	January, 2014	Orienteering	Orienteering
81	PAINTING	January, 2014	Painting	Painting
10	PERSONAL FITNESS	February, 2015	Pers-Fitness	Pers-Fitness
11	PERSONAL MANAGEMENT	March, 2016	Pers-Manage	Pers-Manage
82	PETS	October, 2013	Pets	Pets
83	PHOTOGRAPHY and Boy Scout Cyber Chip	June, 2016	Photography	Photography
84	PIONEERING	October, 2013	Pioneering	Pioneering
85	PLANT SCIENCE	January, 2014	Plant-Science	Plant-Science
86	PLUMBING	January, 2014	Plumbing	Plumbing
87	POTTERY	January, 2014	Pottery	Pottery
153	PROGRAMMING and Boy Scout Cyber Chip	March, 2016	Programming	Programming
89	PUBLIC HEALTH	February, 2015	Public-Health	Public-Health
90	PUBLIC SPEAKING	January, 2014	Public-Speaking	Public-Speaking
91	PULP AND PAPER	October, 2013	Pulp-and-Paper	Pulp-and-Paper
93	RADIO	January, 2014	Radio	Radio
94	RAILROADING	March, 2016	Railroading	Railroading
95	READING	January, 2014	Reading	Reading
96	REPTILE AND AMPHIBIAN STUDY	July, 2016	Reptile-Amphibian	Reptile-Amphibian
123	RIFLE SHOOTING	February, 2015	Rifle-Shooting	Rifle-Shooting
146	ROBOTICS	December, 2013	Robotics	Robotics
98	ROWING	January, 2014	Rowing	Rowing
12	SAFETY	October, 2013	Safety	Safety
99	SALESMANSHIP	January, 2014	Salesmanship	Salesmanship
100	SCHOLARSHIP	January, 2014	Scholarship	Scholarship
143	SCOUTING HERITAGE	October, 2013	Scouting-Heritage	Scouting-Heritage
138	SCUBA DIVING	December, 2013	Scuba	Scuba
101	SCULPTURE	January, 2014	Sculpture	Sculpture
150	SEARCH AND RESCUE	January, 2014	Search-Rescue	Search-Rescue
124	SHOTGUN SHOOTING	June, 2015	Shotgun-Shooting	Shotgun-Shooting
157	SIGNS, SIGNALS, AND CODES	March, 2015	Signs-Signals-and-Codes	Signs-Signals-and-Codes
103	SKATING	March, 2016	Skating	Skating
105	SMALL-BOAT SAILING	June, 2015	Small-Boat-Sailing	Small-Boat-Sailing
135	SNOW SPORTS	January 2016	Snow-Sports	Snow-Sports
106	SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION	January, 2014	Soil-Water	Soil-Water
107	SPACE EXPLORATION	January, 2014	Space-Explore	Space-Explore
13	SPORTS	June, 2015	Sports	Sports
108	STAMP COLLECTING	January, 2014	Stamp-Collecting	Stamp-Collecting
109	SURVEYING	January, 2014	Surveying	Surveying
152	SUSTAINABILITY	February, 2015	Sustainability	Sustainability
14	SWIMMING	February, 2015	Swimming	Swimming
110	TEXTILE	January, 2014	Textile	Textile
111	THEATER	January, 2014	Theater	Theater
112	TRAFFIC SAFETY	September, 2016	Traffic-Safety	Traffic-Safety
113	TRUCK TRANSPORTATION	January, 2014	Truck-Transport	Truck-Transport
114	VETERINARY MEDICINE	January, 2014	Vet-Medicine	Vet-Medicine
115	WATER SPORTS	February, 2015	Water Sports	Water Sports
116	WEATHER	October, 2013	Weather	Weather
148	WELDING	December, 2013	Welding	Welding
125	WHITEWATER	February, 2015	Whitewater	Whitewater
117	WILDERNESS SURVIVAL	January, 2014	Wilderness-Survival	Wilderness-Survival
118	WOOD CARVING	February, 2015	Wood-Carving	Wood-Carving
119	WOODWORK	January, 2014	Woodwork	Woodwork

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Page updated on: September 25, 2016

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