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ISA Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA) — Practice Exam

Tree biology: practice questions

Our ISA Board Certified Master Arborist bank has 25 questions on this topic. Here are 5 of them with answers; the full mock exam draws from every topic, like the real one.

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Question 1

Per the USDA Forest Service, how much of a tree's root system lies in the top 3 feet of soil?

  1. About 25 percent, since most roots grow straight down
  2. About 50 percent
  3. All of it below 3 feet
  4. About 90 to 95 percent
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D. About 90 to 95 percent — More than half is in the top 1 foot.

Question 2

What happens to most sapwood cells at maturity, per the Wood Handbook?

  1. All of them stay alive for the life of the tree
  2. They become bark
  3. They turn into roots
  4. Most are dead at maturity, even in the sapwood
Show the answer

D. Most are dead at maturity, even in the sapwood — Living sapwood cells are the agents of heartwood formation.

Question 3

Which BCMA outline topic covers ratios such as root-shoot, live wood to dead wood and live crown ratio?

  1. Tree Biology: assessing tree growth and health
  2. Plant Appraisal: the trunk formula technique for replacement cost
  3. Business Relations
  4. Safety
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A. Tree Biology: assessing tree growth and health — The outline lists these under identifying tree needs and interventions.

Question 4

What forms a branch collar?

  1. Overlapping layers of branch and stem tissue at the branch base
  2. Callus that forms after a branch is cut flush
  3. Callus that forms around a flush cut, gradually rolling over the exposed wood at the trunk
  4. Bark from the leaves
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A. Overlapping layers of branch and stem tissue at the branch base — Branch and stem tissues are separate but contiguous at the union.

Question 5

Which cells form heartwood extractives, per the USDA Wood Handbook?

  1. Dead vessel elements in the outer sapwood, after they stop conducting water
  2. Bark cells
  3. Living parenchyma cells at the heartwood–sapwood boundary
  4. Leaf cells
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C. Living parenchyma cells at the heartwood–sapwood boundary — Extractives are a normal part of the tree's system for protecting its wood.

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