Tenderfoot Rank
The eleven requirements of the Tenderfoot rank, drawn so the thirty days and the campout that most of it depends on are visible.
12 steps (23 parts inside them). · Version 1, published 11 August 2026 · About Tenderfoot Rank
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody.
The steps
Stage 1 of 11
1 step
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1. Camping and outdoor ethics Requirement
Three parts, and the middle one is a night away. Most of the rest of this rank is done on that same campout, so it is worth getting on the calendar first.
3 parts
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1b. One night on a patrol or troop campout Often forgotten Requirements 2a and 2b are done on a campout, and 1c, 5a and 5d all need an outing you have actually been on. If this campout is missed, five other requirements wait for the next one, which in most troops is a month away.
Stage 2 of 11
2 steps
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2. Cooking, on the campout Requirement
All three parts belong to a campout rather than a meeting, and two of them say so outright.
3 parts
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2a. Help cook one of the meals Usually comes after 1b. One night on a patrol or troop campout.
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2b. Clean up safely afterwards Usually comes after 1b. One night on a patrol or troop campout.
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6. Fitness, and this one is thirty days long Often forgotten Requirement
Record, plan and track for at least thirty days, then improve. It is the longest thing on the sheet by a wide margin, and Second Class and First Class both continue it.
This requirement takes at least thirty days of elapsed time and cannot be compressed. Requirement 6b asks you to keep track of your activity for at least 30 days, and 6c asks for improvement after practising for 30 days. Start it on the first day you can: everything else on this sheet can be caught up at the end, and this cannot.
3 parts
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6a. Record your best at four tests Often forgotten
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6b. Write a plan, then track it for thirty days Often forgotten Usually comes after 6a. Record your best at four tests.
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6c. Show improvement in each of the four Often forgotten Usually comes after 6b. Write a plan, then track it for thirty days and 6a. Record your best at four tests. Second Class requirement 7a begins "After completing Tenderfoot requirement 6c" and asks for four more weeks of activity; First Class 8a then begins "After completing Second Class requirement 7a" and asks for four weeks again. Finishing 6c is what starts the next one, so a gap here delays two ranks, not one.
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Stage 3 of 11
1 step
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3. Tools, and the knots put to work Requirement
Scout rank asked you to tie three knots. This asks what you used them for.
Stage 4 of 11
1 step
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4. First aid and the things that grow Requirement
A long list of first aid, the plants to keep away from, how to avoid needing either, and a kit to carry.
4 parts
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4c. How to not need any of that Usually comes after 4a. First aid for the injuries a campout produces and 4b. Poisonous and hazardous plants.
Stage 5 of 11
1 step
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5. Hiking, and not getting lost Requirement
Four parts. Two of them need an outing you have actually been on.
Stage 6 of 11
1 step
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7. Citizenship: the flag, and an hour of service Requirement
Two parts, and the second one is the first service requirement on the ladder.
2 parts
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7b. One hour of service Often forgotten The service project has to be approved by your Scoutmaster. Approval comes before the work: an hour already served on something nobody approved is the commonest way to lose service time on this rank. First Class 9d later says its projects must not be the same ones used here or for Second Class 8e, so write down what you did and when.
Stage 7 of 11
1 step
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8. Teach somebody the square knot, using Teaching EDGE Task
Describe the steps of the EDGE method and then actually use it on another person. The knot is the one from requirement 3a.
Usually comes after 3a. A practical use of the square knot.
Stage 8 of 11
1 step
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9. Scout spirit, and four points of the Scout Law Often forgotten Task
How you have done your duty to God, and how you have lived four different points of the Scout Law. Write down which four: Second Class 10 asks for four different ones and First Class 11 for four different again.
Stage 9 of 11
1 step
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10. Scoutmaster conference Often forgotten Milestone
While working toward Tenderfoot, and after completing Scout rank requirement 7. That ordering is stated, and it is the one part of "work them simultaneously" that does not apply.
This conference must come AFTER Scout rank requirement 7, which is on the Scout rank page and so cannot be drawn as a step here. The two conferences are separate events and the later one cannot be backdated to cover both.
Stage 10 of 11
1 step
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11. Board of review Approval
The last step. Not a retest. The requirements are already passed.
Usually comes after 10. Scoutmaster conference.
Stage 11 of 11
1 step
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Board of review, and the rank is earned Milestone
Requirement 11 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 11. Board of review.
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.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.