Merit Badge Requirements and Workbooks



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:

  • When working on merit badges, Scouts and Scouters should be aware of some vital information in the current edition of the Guide to Advancement (BSA publication 33088).
    Workbooks prepared before the 2017 edition of the Guide to Advancement was issued contain an attachment with excerpts from either the 2013 or 2015 edition, which should be replaced with an updated document, which includes information from the current edition of the Guide To Advancement . Rather than include that document in each workbook, newer Workbooks just contain a link to it. Click here to download the current version. You can download a complete copy of the Guide to Advancement from http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf
  • 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!

    Scouts should use the workbooks to prepare notes to themselves, and should not assume that filling in the workbook is sufficient to earn the badge.
  • Scouts STARTING a merit badge must use the CURRENT requirements, which are found on Scouting.org
  • Once Scouts have started a merit badge, they 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. Scouts cannot pick and choose from both sets. If  the new requirements are selected, they can, of course, use the work they have 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 new year begins, 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 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 on Windows based systems 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. If you use a "Mac" computer, we strongly suggest that you use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac in lieu of the PDF reader built-in to the system.  The built-in pdf reader may not properly display or print the data entered into the workbook form fields.
  • 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,  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 some of these workbooks (in PDF format only) are also available on sites which are maintained by the BSA, including Scouting.org, and BoysLife.org. We encourage Scouting websites to provide links to either this page or to the copies identified below 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.

 
The workbooks listed below reflect the CURRENT requirements.

If a Scout is working on a merit badge using a previous version of the requirements, and wishes to use a workbook that reflects those requirements, the workbook can still be downloaded from this site. To do so, follow this procedure:
  1. Click on the merit badge name in the listing below, to bring up the web page with the current requirements.
  2. On that page, click on the link below the title, that reads "For the previous requirements, Click here."
    If the Scout is using earlier requirements, repeat this step until the correct version of the requirements is visible.
  3. The workbook that matches the requirements on that page can be downloaded by clicking on one of the links in the box near the bottom of that page.
 
ZIP File of ALL available current worksheets (VERY Large Files!) All docx files.zip All pdf Files.zip  
Merit Badge Requirements
(Click on a merit badge name below)
Workbooks
Last updated
Word Processor Format
(DOCX)
Portable Document Format
(PDF)
Pages
ID# Scoutbook ID# Merit Badge Name
Eagle Required Merit Badges
1 20 Camping October 2021 Camping.docx Camping.pdf 21
160 154 Citizenship in Society Checklist August 2022 Cit-Society-checklist.docx Cit-Society-checklist.pdf 4
"Workbook "September 2022 Cit-Society-workbook.docx Cit-Society-workbook.pdf 10
2 24 Citizenship in the Community June 2020 (DOCX) / July 2020 (PDF) Cit-Comm.docx Cit-Comm.pdf 5
3 25 Citizenship in the Nation "May 2022 Cit-Nation.docx Cit-Nation.pdf 8
4 26 Citizenship in the World June 2020 Cit-World.docx Cit-World.pdf 11
5 30 Communication June 2020 Communication.docx Communication.pdf 11
38 38 Cooking January 2023 Cooking.docx Cooking.pdf 32
39 35 Cycling December 2022 Cycling.docx Cycling.docx 13
6 42 Emergency Preparedness December 2022 Emerg-Prep.docx Emerg-Prep.pdf 14
7 46 Environmental Science December 2022 Env-Science.docx Env-Science.pdf 18
129 47 Family Life December 2022 Family-Life.docx Family-Life.pdf 8
8 51 First Aid May 2022 First-Aid.docx First-Aid.pdf 17
61 62 Hiking December 2022 Hiking.docx Hiking.pdf 13
9 72 Lifesaving January 2021 Lifesaving.docx Lifesaving.pdf 9
10 84 Personal Fitness December 2022 Pers-Fitness.docx Pers-Fitness.pdf 12
11 85 Personal Management October 2022 Pers-Manage.docx Pers-Manage.pdf 21
152 142 Sustainability June 2020 Sustainability.docx Sustainability.pdf 21
14 116 Swimming December 2022 Swimming.docx Swimming.pdf 8
All Current Merit Badges in Alphabetical Order
15 3 AMERICAN BUSINESS December 2022 Am-Business.docx Am-Business.pdf 10
17 4 AMERICAN CULTURES June 2020 Am-Culture.docx Am-Culture.pdf 5
16 5 AMERICAN HERITAGE October 2021 Am-Heritage.docx Am-Heritage.pdf 14
121 6 AMERICAN LABOR June 2020 Am-Labor.docx Am-Labor.pdf 8
28 7 ANIMAL SCIENCE December 2022 Animal-Science.docx Animal-Science.pdf 18
158 152 ANIMATION May 2022 Animation.docx Animation.pdf 5
132 8 ARCHAEOLOGY January 2021 Archaeology.docx Archaeology.pdf 16
19 9 ARCHERY December 2022 Archery.docx Archery.pdf 9
20 10 ARCHITECTURE December 2022 Architecture.docx Architecture.pdf 7
21 11 ART June 2020 Art.docx Art.pdf 7
22 12 ASTRONOMY May 2022 Astronomy.docx Astronomy.pdf 13
23 13 ATHLETICS May 2022 Athletics.docx Athletics.pdf 10
127 14 AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE June 2020 Auto-Maint.docx Auto-Maint.pdf 16
25 15 AVIATION May 2022 Aviation.docx Aviation.pdf 9
26 16 BACKPACKING June 2020 Backpacking.docx Backpacking.pdf 13
27 17 BASKETRY June 2020 Basketry.docx Basketry.pdf 2
29 18 BIRD STUDY June 2020 Bird-Study.docx Bird-Study.pdf 16
32 19 BUGLING June 2020 Bugling.docx Bugling.pdf 2
1 20 CAMPING October 2021 Camping.docx Camping.pdf 21
33 21 CANOEING May 2022 Canoeing.docx Canoeing.pdf 11
34 22 CHEMISTRY June 2020 Chemistry.docx Chemistry.pdf 10
147 135 CHESS June 2020 Chess.docx Chess.pdf 6
160 154 CITIZENSHIP IN SOCIETY Checklist August 2022 Cit-Society-checklist.docx Cit-Society-checklist.pdf 4
Workbook September 2022 Cit-Society-workbook.docx Cit-Society-workbook.pdf 10
2 24 CITIZENSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY June 2020 (DOCX) / July 2020 (PDF) Cit-Comm.docx Cit-Comm.pdf 5
3 25 CITIZENSHIP IN THE NATION May 2022 Cit-Nation.docx Cit-Nation.pdf 8
4 26 CITIZENSHIP IN THE WORLD June 2020 Cit-World.docx Cit-World.pdf 11
133 27 CLIMBING May 2022 Climbing.docx Climbing.pdf 8
35 28 COIN COLLECTING May 2022 Coin-Collect.docx Coin-Collect.pdf 6
128 29 COLLECTIONS January 2021 Collections.docx Collections.pdf 8
5 30 COMMUNICATION June 2020 Communication.docx Communication.pdf 11
137 31 COMPOSITE MATERIALS December 2022 Composite-Mat.docx Composite-Mat.pdf 15
38 33 COOKING January 2023 Cooking.docx
Cooking.pdf
32
131 34 CRIME PREVENTION June 2020 Crime-Prev.docx Crime-Prev.pdf 9
39 35 CYCLING December 2022 Cycling.docx Cycling.pdf 13
40 36 DENTISTRY May 2022 Dentistry.docx Dentistry.pdf 10
154 148 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY and
Scouts BSA Cyber Chip
January 2023 Digital-Tech.docx Digital-Tech.pdf 16
60 37 DISABILITIES AWARENESS December 2022 Disability-Aware.docx Disability-Aware.pdf 8
41 38 DOG CARE June 2020 Dog-Care.docx Dog-Care.pdf 15
42 39 DRAFTING June 2020 Drafting.docx Drafting.pdf 6
43 40 ELECTRICITY January 2021 Electricity.docx Electricity.pdf 8
44 41 ELECTRONICS January 2021 Electronics.docx Electronics.pdf 5
6 42 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS December 2022 Emerg-Prep.docx Emerg-Prep.pdf 14
45 43 ENERGY June 2020 Energy.docx Energy.pdf 18
46 44 ENGINEERING June 2020 Engineering.docx Engineering.pdf 9
134 45 ENTREPRENEURSHIP June 2020 Entrepreneur.docx Entrepreneur.pdf 7
7 46 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE December 2022 Env-Science.docx Env-Science.pdf 18
159 153 EXPLORATION June 2020 Exploration.docx Exploration.pdf 10
129 47 FAMILY LIFE December 2022 Family-Life.docx Family-Life.pdf 8
48 48 FARM MECHANICS December 2022 Farm-Mech.docx Farm-Mech.pdf 4
49 49 FINGERPRINTING June 2020 Fingerprinting.docx Fingerprinting.pdf 4
50 50 FIRE SAFETY October 2021 Fire-Safety.docx Fire-Safety.pdf 13
8 51 FIRST AID May 2022 First-Aid.docx First-Aid.pdf 17
51 52 FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT October 2021 Fish-and-Wildlife.docx Fish-and-Wildlife.pdf 7
52 53 FISHING January 2021 Fishing.docx Fishing.pdf 10
136 54 FLY FISHING January 2021 Fly-Fishing.docx Fly-Fishing.pdf 10
54 55 FORESTRY June 2020 Forestry.docx Forestry.pdf 9
151 140 GAME DESIGN December 2022 Game-Design.docx Game-Design.pdf 14
55 56 GARDENING June 2020 Gardening.docx Gardening.pdf 5
56 57 GENEALOGY January 2023 Genealogy.docx Genealogy.pdf 10
145 58 GEOCACHING June 2020 Geocaching.docx Geocaching.pdf 11
58 59 GEOLOGY December 2022 Geology.docx Geology.pdf 7
59 90 GOLF December 2022 Golf.docx Golf.pdf 6
122 61 GRAPHIC ARTS June 2020 Graphic-Arts.docx Graphic-Arts.pdf 6
161 155 HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONS August 2022 Health-Pro.docx Health-Pro.pdf 6
61 62 HIKING December 2022 Hiking.docx Hiking.pdf 13
62 63 HOME REPAIRS June 2020 Home-Repair.docx Home-Repair.pdf 3
63 64 HORSEMANSHIP June 2020 Horsemanship.docx Horsemanship.pdf 7
64 65 INDIAN LORE June 2020 Indian-Lore.docx Indian-Lore.pdf 12
65 66 INSECT STUDY June 2020 Insect-Study.docx Insect-Study.pdf 8
144 67 INVENTING December 2022 Inventing.docx Inventing.pdf 10
66 68 JOURNALISM June 2020 Journalism.docx Journalism.pdf 12
149 136 KAYAKING and Kayaking BSA June 2020 Kayaking.docx Kayaking.pdf 13
67 69 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE June 2020 Landscape-Arch.docx Landscape-Arch.pdf 4
68 70 LAW June 2020 Law.docx Law.pdf 8
69 71 LEATHERWORK June 2020 Leatherwork.docx Leatherwork.pdf 5
9 72 LIFESAVING January 2021 Lifesaving.docx Lifesaving.pdf 9
71 73 MAMMAL STUDY December 2022 Mammal-Study.docx Mammal-Study.pdf 8
130 74 MEDICINE March 2021 Medicine-18.docx Medicine-18.pdf 9
74 75 METALWORK June 2020 Metalwork.docx Metalwork.pdf 14
155 147 MINING IN SOCIETY May 2022 Mining-in-Society.docx Mining-in-Society.pdf 14
75 76 MODEL DESIGN AND BUILDING June 2020 Model-Design.docx Model-Design.pdf 5
76 77 MOTORBOATING April 2021 Motorboating.docx Motorboating.pdf 12
156 23 MOVIEMAKING June 2020 Moviemaking.docx Moviemaking.pdf 4
77 78 MUSIC June 2020 Music.docx Music.pdf 8
78 79 NATURE December 2022 Nature.docx Nature.pdf 7
24 80 NUCLEAR SCIENCE June 2020 Nuclear-Science.docx Nuclear-Science.pdf 16
79 81 OCEANOGRAPHY June 2020 Oceanography.docx Oceanography.pdf 10
80 82 ORIENTEERING November 2020 Orienteering.docx Orienteering.pdf 10
81 83 PAINTING June 2020 Painting.docx Painting.pdf 4
10 84 PERSONAL FITNESS December 2022 Pers-Fitness.docx Pers-Fitness.pdf 12
11 85 PERSONAL MANAGEMENT October 2022 Pers-Manage.docx Pers-Manage.pdf 21
82 86 PETS June 2020 Pets.docx Pets.pdf 6
83 87 PHOTOGRAPHY and
Scouts BSA Cyber Chip
January 2021 Photography.docx Photography.pdf 11
84 88 PIONEERING May 2022 Pioneering.docx Pioneering.pdf 7
85 89 PLANT SCIENCE December 2022 Plant-Science.docx Plant-Science.pdf 10
86 90 PLUMBING June 2020 Plumbing.docx Plumbing.pdf 7
87 91 POTTERY June 2020 Pottery.docx Pottery.pdf 9
153 144 PROGRAMMING and
Scouts BSA Cyber Chip
December 2022 Programming.docx Programming.pdf 13
89 71 PUBLIC HEALTH January 2021 Public-Health.docx Public-Health.pdf 16
90 193 PUBLIC SPEAKING June 2020 Public-Speaking.docx Public-Speaking.pdf 14
91 94 PULP AND PAPER June 2020 Pulp-and-Paper.docx Pulp-and-Paper.pdf 7
93 95 RADIO June 2020 Radio.docx Radio.pdf 17
94 96 RAILROADING May 2022 Railroading.docx Railroading.pdf 13
95 997 READING May 2022 Reading.docx Reading.pdf 5
96 98 REPTILE AND AMPHIBIAN STUDY December 2022 Reptile-Amphibian.docx Reptile-Amphibian.pdf 16
123 99 RIFLE SHOOTING June 2020 Rifle-Shooting.docx Rifle-Shooting.pdf 13
146 112 ROBOTICS
October 2021 Robotics.docx
Robotics.pdf 10
98 100 ROWING August 2021 Rowing.docx Rowing.pdf 11
12 101 SAFETY March 2021 Safety.docx Safety.pdf 10
99 102 SALESMANSHIP December 2022 Salesmanship.docx Salesmanship.pdf 11
100 104 SCHOLARSHIP June 2020 Scholarship.docx Scholarship.pdf 6
143 103 SCOUTING HERITAGE June 2020 Scouting-Heritage.docx Scouting-Heritage.pdf 7
138 105 SCUBA DIVING June 2020 Scuba.docx Scuba.pdf 7
101 106 SCULPTURE June 2020 Sculpture.docx Sculpture.pdf 3
150 137 SEARCH AND RESCUE June 2020 Search-Rescue.docx Search-Rescue.pdf 13
124  107 SHOTGUN SHOOTING June 2020 Shotgun-Shooting.docx Shotgun-Shooting.pdf 11
157 151 SIGNS, SIGNALS, AND CODES June 2020 Signs-Signals-and-Codes.docx Signs-Signals-and-Codes.pdf 12
103 108 SKATING June 2020 Skating.docx Skating.pdf 9
105 109 SMALL-BOAT SAILING December 2022 Small-Boat-Sailing.docx Small-Boat-Sailing.pdf 12
135 110 SNOW SPORTS December 2022 Snow-Sports.docx Snow-Sports.pdf 18
106 111 SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION October 2021 Soil-Water.docx Soil-Water.pdf 10
107 112 SPACE EXPLORATION June 2020 Space-Explore.docx Space-Explore.pdf 10
13 113 SPORTS 2017 requirements December 2022 Sports-a.docx Sports-a.pdf 10
2021 requirements Sports.docx Sports.pdf 11
108 114 STAMP COLLECTING June 2020 Stamp-Collecting.docx Stamp-Collecting.pdf 6
109 445 SURVEYING June 2020 Surveying.docx Surveying.pdf 6
152 142 SUSTAINABILITY June 2020 Sustainability.docx Sustainability.pdf 21
14 116 SWIMMING December 2022 Swimming.docx Swimming.pdf 8
110 117 TEXTILE June 2020 Textile.docx Textile.pdf 10
111 118 THEATER January 2021 Theater.docx Theater.pdf 6
112 120 TRAFFIC SAFETY May 2022 Traffic-Safety.docx Traffic-Safety.pdf 14
113 121 TRUCK TRANSPORTATION Jul y 2020 Truck-Transport.docx Truck-Transport.pdf 9
114 122 VETERINARY MEDICINE June 2020 Vet-Medicine.docx Vet-Medicine.pdf 6
115 123 WATER SPORTS June 2020 Water Sports.docx Water Sports.pdf 2
116 124 WEATHER June 2020 Weather.docx Weather.pdf 3
148 133 WELDING June 2020 Welding.docx Welding.pdf 1
125 125 WHITEWATER June 2020 Whitewater.docx Whitewater.pdf 16
117 126 WILDERNESS SURVIVAL February, 2018 Wilderness-Survival.docx Wilderness-Survival.pdf 7
118 127 WOOD CARVING June, 2017 Wood-Carving.docx Wood-Carving.pdf 4
119 128 WOODWORK January  2021 Woodwork.docx Woodwork.pdf 9

  • Page updated on: January 24, 2023



Scouts Using the Internet Cartoon - Courtesy of Richard Diesslin - Click to See More Cartoons
© 1994-2022 - U.S. Scouting Service Project | Site Map | Disclaimer | Project Team | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

Materials found at U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. Websites may be reproduced and used locally by Scouting volunteers for training purposes consistent with the programs of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) or other Scouting and Guiding Organizations. No material found here may be used or reproduced for electronic redistribution or for commercial or other non-Scouting purposes without the express permission of the U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. (USSSP) or other copyright holders. USSSP is not affiliated with BSA or WOSM and does not speak on behalf of BSA or WOSM. Opinions expressed on these web pages are those of the web authors. You can support this website with in two ways: Visit Our Trading Post at www.ScoutingBooks.com or make a donation by clicking the button below.
(U.S. Scouting Service Project Donation)


(Ruth Lyons Memorial Donations)