First Class Rank

Be a Scout in a troop, working on First Class Milestone

First Class may be worked on at the same time as Scout, Tenderfoot and Second Class. It must be earned after Second Class, and it is the rank Star then requires you to hold.

Work to the requirements in force when you start Document

Rank requirements are republished yearly. A Scout beginning work on the next rank uses the requirements as they stand then.

Usually comes after Be a Scout in a troop, working on First Class.

Rank requirements are republished yearly. Guide to Advancement 4.0.0.1 states that once a new or revised requirement appears on the program web page, a Scout beginning work on the next rank uses it as stated there. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

1. Camping and outdoor ethics Often forgotten Requirement

Ten activities counted from the day you joined (which means the five from Second Class are among them), and an explanation of what camping costs the places you camp in.

Usually comes after Work to the requirements in force when you start.

1a. Ten activities, six outdoors, three with a night away Often forgotten Event

Since joining Scouts BSA, so Second Class 1a's five are counted among these ten rather than added to them. Meetings do not count, and the night is spent in a tent you pitch or a structure you help erect.

1b. What camping costs the outdoors, and other people Task

The potential impacts on the environment and on other users, and why the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace matter for protecting it.

2. Cooking: one project in five stated stages Often forgotten Requirement

Plan the menu, budget and buy for it, work out the gear for it, handle the food safely, then cook exactly that menu as camp cook. Four of the five parts name each other.

Requirement 2 is one project, and 2b and 2e both name the menu planned in 2a. Cooking three excellent meals on a campout you did not plan for does not satisfy 2e. Read all five parts before starting any of them, and plan the menu for a campout you know is happening.

8. Fitness: the last four weeks of a three-rank chain Often forgotten Requirement

Requirement 8a begins only after Second Class 7a is complete. It is the third and final block of a chain that started at Tenderfoot 6a.

2a. Plan the menu for one of your campouts Often forgotten Task

A breakfast, a lunch and a dinner, at least two of them requiring cooking, drawn from MyPlate or the current USDA model, and an explanation of how it meets the needs of the activity. Everything else in requirement 2 is built on this menu.

Usually comes after 1a. Ten activities, six outdoors, three with a night away.

2d. Handle the food safely, and clear up properly Task

Safe handling and storage of fresh meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables and other perishables, and proper disposal of camp garbage, cans, plastic containers, waste water and rubbish.

3. Tools: lashings, and two more hitches Requirement

Four parts, ending in something you actually build.

8a. Four more weeks, thirty minutes a day Often forgotten Task

After completing Second Class requirement 7a (the sheet says so) five days a week for four weeks, keeping track of what you do.

This requirement begins only AFTER Second Class requirement 7a is complete, and then runs four weeks at thirty minutes a day, five days a week. Second Class 7a is on another page and so cannot be drawn as a step here. It is the last link of a chain (Tenderfoot 6a, Tenderfoot 6c, Second Class 7a, then this) of roughly three months in which nothing may be started early or overlapped.

2b. Budget it, quantify it, buy it Task

Using the menu from 2a, a list showing a budget and the food amounts to feed three or more youth. Then secure the ingredients.

Usually comes after 2a. Plan the menu for one of your campouts.

3a. When to use lashings, and when not to Task

Discussed both ways round.

3b. The timber hitch and the clove hitch Task

Tie both.

3c. Square, shear and diagonal lashings Task

Demonstrated by joining two or more poles or staves together.

4. Navigation, on paper and by satellite Requirement

An orienteering course and a GPS route. The sheet asks for both, old method and new.

8b. What worked, and what happens next Task

Share the challenges and successes of 8a, and set a goal for keeping physical activity in your daily life.

Usually comes after 8a. Four more weeks, thirty minutes a day.

2c. Work out the pans, utensils and gear Task

What it will take to cook and serve these particular meals.

3d. Build something with them Task

A useful camp gadget or structure, made with lashings.

4a. An orienteering course of at least a mile Event

Using map and compass, and requiring you to measure the height or width of designated items along the way.

4b. Navigate with GPS, and arrive Task

A handheld unit, a phone app or another electronic system: find where you are, choose a destination, plan the route, then follow it and get there.

5. Nature and weather Requirement

Ten plants, and then three requirements about weather that are really about planning.

2e. Serve as cook, and cook the menu you planned Often forgotten Milestone

On one campout: supervise your assistants on a stove or a cooking fire, prepare the breakfast, lunch and dinner planned in 2a, and supervise the cleanup. The menu has to be the one from 2a.

Usually comes after 2a. Plan the menu for one of your campouts and 1a. Ten activities, six outdoors, three with a night away.

5a. Ten kinds of native plant Task

Identified or evidenced: fallen leaves or fruit you found, a collection you made, or photographs you took.

5b. Two ways to get a forecast Task

And why a forecast matters when planning an event.

5c. Three natural signs of weather turning Task

What each one may bring, and what to do about it.

5d. The extreme weather your area actually gets Task

How to judge the risk ahead of time, how to plan around it, and how to prepare for and respond to it.

6. Aquatics: the swimmer test and a line rescue Often forgotten Requirement

Five parts. The swimmer test here is the same one the Swimming merit badge uses, so passing it does work on two pages at once.

6a. Pass the swimmer test Often forgotten Milestone

The Scouting America swimmer test: the sheet points at the Swimming merit badge requirements for what it involves. Where climate or distance makes swimming impossible year-round, a council may authorise an alternative on an individual basis.

6b. Precautions for a safe trip afloat Task

What has to be in place before a boat goes out.

6c. The parts of a boat and a paddle Task

A canoe, kayak or other boat, and the parts of a paddle or an oar.

6d. Where to sit, and why it matters Task

Proper body positioning by type and size of vessel, and the reason for it.

6e. A line rescue, as tender and as rescuer Task

With a helper and a practice subject about thirty feet from shore in deep water. Both roles, not one.

7. First aid and emergency preparedness Requirement

Six parts, and half of them are about the emergency rather than the injury: utilities, a plan for your home, and water when there is none.

7a. Bandaging Task

A sprained ankle, and injuries to the head, the upper arm and the collarbone.

7b. Moving somebody who cannot walk Task

By yourself and with a partner: out of a smoke-filled room, and at least 25 yards with a sprained ankle.

7c. Heart attack signals, and CPR Task

The five most common signals, and the steps of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

7d. The utilities where you live and meet Task

What services there are, what can go wrong with them, and how to respond when it does.

7e. An emergency action plan for your home Often forgotten Task

Covering fire, storm, power outage and water outage.

7f. Getting drinkable water in an emergency Task

How to obtain potable water when the supply has failed.

9. Citizenship, environment and service Often forgotten Requirement

Four parts. One needs an appointment with somebody, one needs two outings, and one needs you to know what you already did for the last two ranks.

9a. Meet someone, and talk about rights and obligations Often forgotten Task

A person approved by your leader (an elected official, judge, attorney, civil servant, principal or teacher) on the constitutional rights and obligations of a citizen. This one needs arranging in advance.

9b. Investigate a local environmental issue Task

Look into something affecting your community, share what you found with your patrol or troop, and say what could be done about it.

9c. Cut your rubbish between two outings Often forgotten Task

Note what you produce on one Scouting or family outing. Before your next similar outing, decide how to reduce, recycle or repurpose it. Then do it, and compare. Two outings, with a decision in between.

This one needs TWO outings: the one you take note of your rubbish on, and the next similar one you change your packing for. It cannot be done on a single trip and it cannot be reconstructed afterwards, so take the notes on the next outing you go on whether or not you are ready to start the rank.

9d. Three hours of service, and not the same projects Often forgotten Task

Approved by your Scoutmaster, and explicitly not the same project or projects used for Tenderfoot 7b or Second Class 8e. Then explain how serving others relates to the Scout Law.

The three hours must NOT come from the same project or projects used for Tenderfoot requirement 7b or Second Class requirement 8e. That is a dependency pointing backwards at two other pages, and it is the reason to have kept a note of what those projects were and when. Approval from your Scoutmaster comes before the work.

10. Invite somebody into Scouting Task

Tell someone eligible to join (or a Scout who has gone quiet) about what you have been doing, invite them to something real, help them join or come back, and tell your Scoutmaster how it went.

11. Scout spirit, and the last four points of the Scout Law Often forgotten Task

Four different points, different from those used for previous ranks. With Tenderfoot 9 and Second Class 10 that accounts for all twelve.

12. Scoutmaster conference Often forgotten Milestone

While working toward First Class, and after completing Second Class requirement 11. That ordering is stated.

This conference must come AFTER Second Class requirement 11, which is on another page and so cannot be drawn as a step here. The conferences run strictly in rank order even though the requirements may be worked on simultaneously.

13. Board of review Approval

The last step of the last skills rank. Not a retest.

Usually comes after 12. Scoutmaster conference.

Board of review, and the rank is earned Milestone

Requirement 13 is the board of review. After this the ladder changes shape: Star, Life and Eagle are earned through months of service, position of responsibility and merit badges rather than through skills.