Second Class Rank

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

Second Class may be worked on at the same time as Scout, Tenderfoot and First Class. It must be earned after Tenderfoot and before First Class.

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 Second 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, the long one Often forgotten Requirement

Three parts, and the first of them is five separate activities including two nights of camping. It is the requirement that sets how long this rank takes.

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

1a. Five separate activities, three outdoors, two with a night away Often forgotten Event

Since joining Scouts BSA. Troop and patrol meetings do not count. On campouts the night is spent in a tent you pitch or a structure you help erect. This is months of programme, not an afternoon.

Five separate troop or patrol activities, at least three outdoors, and at least two of the outdoor ones including overnight camping. Troop and patrol meetings do not count. In a troop that camps monthly this is most of a year, and it is the requirement that decides how long Second Class takes. There is no way to catch it up at the end.

1b. Recite the Leave No Trace principles Task

From memory, and explain how you follow them on all outings.

2. Cooking and tools Requirement

Seven parts: when to light a fire and when not, the fire itself in two stages, stoves, a cooked meal on a campout, and two more knots.

7. Fitness: four weeks, and it cannot start yet Often forgotten Requirement

Requirement 7a begins only after Tenderfoot requirement 6c is complete, and then runs four weeks. Nothing on this sheet is worth checking earlier.

1c. Choose your patrol's campsite and recommend it Task

On one of the campouts from 1a. Explain what to weigh when choosing a patrol site and where a tent should go, then put the recommendation to your patrol leader, senior patrol leader or troop guide.

Usually comes after 1a. Five separate activities, three outdoors, two with a night away.

2a. When a fire is appropriate, and when it is not Task

For cooking or for anything else. The second half of that is the half people skip.

2b. Prepare tinder, kindling and fuel wood Task

With a pocketknife, and a saw or axe if needed. The wood you prepare here is the wood requirement 2c burns.

2d. Lightweight stove and propane stove Task

When each is appropriate, setting one up, lighting it unless local fire restrictions forbid it, and the safety procedures for both.

2e. Plan and cook a hot breakfast or lunch Task

On one campout, choosing foods from MyPlate or the current USDA model, explaining why good nutrition matters, and showing how you transported, stored and prepared what you chose.

Usually comes after 1a. Five separate activities, three outdoors, two with a night away.

2f. The sheet bend Task

Tie it, and describe a situation that calls for it.

2g. The bowline Task

Tie it, and describe a situation that calls for it.

3. Navigation, including a five-mile hike Requirement

Four parts. The hike needs approval from an adult leader and from your parent or guardian before you go.

7a. Thirty minutes a day, five days a week, for four weeks Often forgotten Task

After completing Tenderfoot requirement 6c (the sheet says so), and keeping track of what you do. First Class 8a then begins after this one.

This requirement begins only AFTER Tenderfoot requirement 6c is complete, and it then runs four weeks at thirty minutes a day, five days a week. Tenderfoot 6c is on the Tenderfoot page and so cannot be drawn as a step here. Exercise done before 6c was finished does not count towards this, however much of it there was.

7c. A programme on drugs, alcohol and tobacco Task

At school, in the community or in the troop. Discuss it with your family, then report to your Scoutmaster or another adult leader on which parts of the Scout Oath and Law relate to what you learned.

2c. Build the fire, light it, put it out properly Often forgotten Task

Using a minimum-impact method at an approved location and time, with the wood from 2b. Let the flames burn safely for at least two minutes, then extinguish with minimal impact and deal with the ashes and charred remains.

3a. How a compass works, and orienting a map Task

Plus five map symbols pointed out and explained.

3b. A five-mile hike using map and compass together Often forgotten Event

Or ten miles by bike. Approved by your adult leader and your parent or guardian. A Scout who uses a wheelchair or crutches, or for whom getting around is difficult, may substitute a trip for the hike.

The hike needs approval from your adult leader AND from your parent or guardian. Both, and before you set off.

3d. Find direction without a compass or a device Task

By day and at night.

4. Ten kinds of wild animal Task

Identified or evidenced in your local area or where you camp: birds, mammals, reptiles, fish or molluscs. Tracks, signs or photographs you took yourself all count as evidence.

7b. What was hard, what worked, and what next Task

Share the challenges and successes of 7a, set a goal for keeping activity in your life, and make a plan for it.

Usually comes after 7a. Thirty minutes a day, five days a week, for four weeks.

3c. The hazards on that hike, and preventing them Task

It names your hike, so it comes after it, or at least after you know the route.

Usually comes after 3b. A five-mile hike using map and compass together.

5. Aquatics: the beginner test and rescues that stay dry Requirement

Four parts, and the two practical ones happen in the water under proper supervision.

5a. Precautions for a safe swim Task

What has to be in place before anyone gets in.

5b. Pass the beginner test Often forgotten Milestone

Jump feet-first into water over your head, level off, swim 25 feet, stop, turn sharply, resume swimming and return. Where climate or distance makes swimming impossible year-round, a council may authorise an alternative on an individual basis.

5c. Reaching and throwing rescues Task

With your arm or leg, with a suitable object, and by throwing lines and objects.

5d. Why not to swim to a rescue Task

Why a reaching or throwing rescue comes first, and why and how a rescue swimmer avoids contact with the person being rescued.

6. First aid and emergency preparedness Requirement

Five parts, and they move outwards: from what you can treat, to what you must not delay on, to what to do when the emergency is bigger than you.

6a. First aid for the next tier of injuries Task

Object in the eye, animal bite, puncture wounds, serious burns, heat exhaustion, shock, heatstroke, dehydration, hypothermia and hyperventilation.

6b. The hurry cases Often forgotten Task

Stopped breathing, stroke, severe bleeding and ingested poisoning. The ones where waiting is the injury.

6d. When it needs a real emergency response Task

At home and in the backcountry: what counts as an emergency, and what a responder needs to be told.

6e. Coming upon a vehicle accident Task

What you should do at the scene.

8. Citizenship, the flag, and earning something for yourself Requirement

Five parts, and two of them are a small piece of personal finance done in order.

6c. Preventing all of that Task

What you can do on a campout or hike to prevent or reduce the injuries in 6a and 6b. It names them both, so it comes after both.

8a. Take part in a flag ceremony Task

For your school, religious institution, chartered organisation, community or a Scouting activity.

8b. What respect the flag is due Task

Explained.

8c. Decide on something, and earn the money for it Task

With your parents or guardian, based on the cost of a specific item. Write the plan down, follow it, and be ready to say what you changed along the way, changing it is allowed.

8e. Two hours of service Often forgotten Task

In one or more projects approved by your Scoutmaster, and how serving others relates to the Scout Oath. Get the approval before the work.

Two hours of service, approved by your Scoutmaster before the work rather than after it. First Class requirement 9d says its projects must not be the same ones used here or for Tenderfoot 7b, so keep a note of what you did and when: reconstructing it later is how service hours get counted twice by accident.

9. Personal safety awareness Requirement

Two parts, both conversations rather than activities.

8d. Compare the price in three places, then decide Task

At a minimum of three locations. Then, after 8c, decide whether to spend what you earned as you intended, save some or all of it, or use it for something else.

Usually comes after 8c. Decide on something, and earn the money for it.

9a. The three R's of personal safety and protection Task

Explained.

9b. Bullying, and what to do about it Task

Describe it, and say what the right response is, whether it is aimed at you or at somebody else.

10. Scout spirit, and four more points of the Scout Law Often forgotten Task

Four different points, and explicitly not the ones used for Tenderfoot requirement 9. Write down which four you use here as well: First Class 11 wants four different again.

11. Scoutmaster conference Often forgotten Milestone

While working toward Second Class, and after completing Tenderfoot requirement 10. That ordering is stated.

This conference must come AFTER Tenderfoot requirement 10, which is on the Tenderfoot page and so cannot be drawn as a step here. Each rank's conference is a separate event and they run strictly in rank order, even though the rest of the requirements may be worked on at the same time.

12. Board of review Approval

The last step. Not a retest. The requirements are already passed.

Usually comes after 11. Scoutmaster conference.

Board of review, and the rank is earned Milestone

Requirement 12 is the board of review. It is not a retest: the requirements have already been passed, and the board asks how it went and what the Scout got out of it.

Usually comes after 12. Board of review.