ISA Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA) — Practice Exam
Tree risk: practice questions
Our ISA Board Certified Master Arborist bank has 21 questions on this topic. Here are 5 of them with answers; the full mock exam draws from every topic, like the real one.
Question 1
Which wood decay types does the BCMA outline list?
- Red rot, blue rot and green rot, named for the stain each fungus leaves in the wood
- White rot, brown rot and soft rot
- Root rot and leaf rot only
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B. White rot, brown rot and soft rot — Decay affects wood strength differently by type and location.
Question 2
How does the overall tree risk rating come together, per the BCMA outline?
- From the highest risk rating among each target and condition of concern
- From the average of all ratings, weighted by tree size and by the number of targets
- From the client's opinion
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A. From the highest risk rating among each target and condition of concern — Likelihood of failure and impact are combined, then consequences.
Question 3
How does the USDA Forest Service define a hazard tree?
- Any tree over 50 feet tall near a road
- A tree with structural defects that may fail where failure may cause damage or injury
- A dead tree in a forest
- Any tree over 50 feet tall growing within striking distance of a road or building
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B. A tree with structural defects that may fail where failure may cause damage or injury — Defects can be injury or disease, or poor architecture.
Question 4
Which risk-reduction strategies does the USDA Forest Service list?
- Ignore low-use sites entirely
- Move the target, correct the tree, convert to a wildlife tree, close the site, or remove the tree
- Top the tree or paint the defect so decay stops spreading, then reinspect in five years
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B. Move the target, correct the tree, convert to a wildlife tree, close the site, or remove the tree — Correcting the tree means pruning or cabling and bracing.
Question 5
Under the USDA Forest Service guidelines, what decay extent signals a high risk of failure?
- Advanced decay on more than 40% of the circumference of a stem, branch or root collar
- Decay on 5% of the circumference
- Any decay at all on any part of the tree, since decay always spreads to the whole stem
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A. Advanced decay on more than 40% of the circumference of a stem, branch or root collar — 25–40% indicates moderate risk.