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 word processor versions of the workbooks have been prepared using the version of Microsoft Word in the Microsoft Office 365 Suite 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 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.
Workbooks which were last updated prior to March 2021,
contain one of the following statements:
"No one may add or subtract from the official requirements found in
Boy Scout Requirements (Pub. 33216 – SKU 637685)
or
"No one may add or subtract from the official requirements found in
Scouts BSA Requirements (Pub. 33216)."
Since BSA has discontinued publication of that book and now states that the
official requirements are those posted on Scouting.org,
that statement should
be considered to read as follows:
"No one may add or subtract from the official requirements
found on Scouting.org."
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Page updated on: March 20, 2021
