ISA Certified Arborist — Practice Exam
Pruning: practice questions
Our ISA Certified Arborist bank has 42 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
What can sudden exposure after topping cause?
- Larger, healthier leaves
- Faster wound closure
- Thicker bark and stronger branch attachments as the tree adapts to the light
- Sunburn of tissue beneath the bark, leading to cankers and splitting
Show the answer
D. Sunburn of tissue beneath the bark, leading to cankers and splitting — Removing the crown exposes bark to intense light and heat.
Question 2
Why should oak wilt–susceptible trees not be pruned during active transmission periods?
- Pruned oaks lose their leaves
- Oak wood is too hard to cut then
- Oaks bleed sap heavily
- Pruning wounds can let the pathogen in
Show the answer
D. Pruning wounds can let the pathogen in — Some diseases spread through fresh wounds.
Question 3
Where should a branch removal cut be made?
- Halfway along the branch
- Just outside the branch collar
- Inside the branch collar, removing it
- Flush with the trunk
Show the answer
B. Just outside the branch collar — Flush cuts kill trunk tissue above and below the cut.
Question 4
What is pollarding?
- Removing all of the branches from one side of a tree
- Thinning the crown by about one-quarter every single year
- Cutting each year's new shoots back to the same points annually
- Cutting a tree to the ground every few years so it resprouts
Show the answer
C. Cutting each year's new shoots back to the same points annually — It produces a flush of slender shoots each spring; topping is often wrongly called pollarding.
Question 5
Under the USDA Forest Service size guide, what should you do before removing a branch larger than 10 cm (4 in) in diameter?
- Remove the whole tree instead
- Have a good reason
- Go ahead without concern
- Always paint the wound
Show the answer
B. Have a good reason — Under 5 cm: go ahead; 5–10 cm: think twice.