Merit Badges

Eagle Scout Rank

Seven requirements, three of them six months long, one of them needing four separate approvals before any work starts, and a deadline that does not move.

Scouts BSA Ranks Deadlines Eagle Scout Merit Badges Rank Service Project

Star Rank

Eight requirements, five of which only count from the day First Class was approved, and two four-month clocks that run concurrently rather than one after the other.

Scouts BSA Ranks Boards of Review Merit Badges Rank Requirements Service Project

Becoming a Merit Badge Counselor

Two approvals, not one: to hold the position at all, and to counsel each particular badge. Then it renews every year.

Merit Badges For Adults Merit Badge Counselors Merit Badges Process Registration

Eight requirements, two six-month clocks that run side by side rather than end to end, three hours of service that have to be conservation-related, and the only other place in the whole rank ladder that asks a Scout to teach.

Scouts BSA Ranks Boards of Review Conservation Merit Badges Rank Requirements Service Project Teaching

Swimming Merit Badge

Nine requirements, twenty-five parts, and one of them is a gate: the swimmer test comes before six of the other eight, because the badge says so in advance rather than leaving it to be worked out.

Eagle-Required Merit Badges Eagle Required Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Sustainability Merit Badge

Nine requirements, six of which are choices: five "do one of three" and one "do two of six". Answer them and two-thirds of the branches disappear; two of the ones that remain are measured in weeks.

Eagle-Required Merit Badges Eagle Required Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Whitewater Merit Badge

Twelve requirements, and the third is a gate over the other nine: earn the Canoeing merit badge if you are in a canoe, or the Kayaking merit badge if you are in a kayak, before doing requirements 4 through 12. That one answer also decides requirement 4's option and requirement 7, and if you choose a tandem canoe, it doubles requirement 10.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Veterinary Medicine Merit Badge

Seven requirements built round two catalogues. Requirements 1 and 2 list eleven kinds of veterinary work; requirements 4, 6 and 7 each pick from those lists by name. Nothing in this badge asks you to handle an animal.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Requirements

Snow Sports Merit Badge

Requirements 4 and 5 both say "the option you choose in requirement 7", so the choice printed seventh has to be made fourth. And only two of the four options state an adaptive alternative.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Weather Merit Badge

Twelve requirements, nine of them explanations and drawings. Three take arranging: a week-long weather log from an instrument you make, or a visit to a weather professional; a five-minute safety talk to a group, with the outline approved first; and discussing the safety rules with your family.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements Safety STEM

Wood Carving Merit Badge

Seven requirements. Safety and first aid; the Totin' Chip and the Safety Checklist for Carving; the care and use of five carving tools and of sharpening devices; four basic cuts shown on scrap wood or a project; why different woods suit different projects; then two carvings, one in the round and one low-relief or chip carving, with the wood for each explained in requirement 5.

Elective Merit Badges Arts Hobbies Merit Badges Requirements Safety

Small-Boat Sailing Merit Badge

Nine requirements, three gates. The swimmer test stands in front of everything but requirement 1; requirement 4 says "before going afloat" and requirement 5 says the wind work comes before setting sail, both of which point at the ten-part requirement 6. And the boat itself has to qualify: capsizable, able to sail to windward, and not a sailboard.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Surveying Merit Badge

Eight requirements, and two of them are the same afternoon: requirement 4 levels from the corner markers set up for requirement 2, so both need the counselor's five-sided lot still standing, while requirement 3, numbered between them, is map drawing done indoors afterwards. The counselor supplies the site and the instruments, so nothing can start until a field session is arranged, and requirement 5 needs a property approved and then a deed fetched from a courthouse.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Water Sports Merit Badge

Six requirements and one of them is a whole day behind a boat. Requirements 1 and 2 are open to anybody; the swimmer test at requirement 3 gates 4 through 6; and 4, 5 and 6 all need a boat, a driver and an observer, so they are one session rather than three.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Wilderness Survival Merit Badge

Ten requirements, and the one that decides how long the badge takes is requirement 5(e): improvise a natural shelter and spend a night in it. That is a campout, a permitted site and a forecast, buried as the fifth letter of the fifth requirement. Requirement 6 (three fires by three methods, none of them matches) is the other one that costs more than it reads.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements

Wildland Fire Management Merit Badge

Eleven requirements, most of them discussions. Three take arranging: a demonstration with three wildland fire hand tools, a choice of five ways to take action that each need a place or a person, and a suppression-tactics exercise that reuses the diagram from requirement 5(c).

Elective Merit Badges Conservation Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements Safety

Soil and Water Conservation Merit Badge

Seven requirements. Six are explanations with things to make among them: pictures or drawings of erosion and erosion control, two watersheds outlined on a contour map, drawings of the hydrologic cycle and of waste treatment, and a demonstration of water in soil. Requirement 7 is any two of six projects: a trip and report, planting 100 trees, bushes or vines, seeding a fifth of an acre, a soil survey, a list of problem places, or a project your counselor approves.

Elective Merit Badges Conservation Merit Badges Requirements STEM

Space Exploration Merit Badge

Eight requirements. The one with a launch day is requirement 3: build, launch and recover a model rocket, then launch again for a specific objective, to the National Association of Rocketry safety code. Two more are things you make: a collector's card and a design for an inhabited base. Requirements 5 and 6 are choices.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Requirements Safety STEM

Sports Merit Badge

Six requirements. The long one is requirement 5: two sports for a season (or three months), with a personal training program, a chart kept throughout, and the completed chart shared with your counselor at the end. Requirement 4 is choosing the two sports and planning that season with your counselor first. Requirements 1 to 3 are safety, first aid, health and sportsmanship, and 6 is a career or a hobby.

Elective Merit Badges Health Merit Badges Requirements Safety

Stamp Collecting Merit Badge

Eight requirements. Most are things to show: an example of each of ten kinds of stamp or postal item (3), a catalog and examples of condition (4), at least three collector's tools (5), and an album page (6). Requirement 7 is any two of six activities, and 8 is ONE collection mounted in an album; one of those, 8(e), is your own mail watched for 30 days.

Elective Merit Badges Hobbies Merit Badges Requirements

Textile Merit Badge

Six requirements. Start by getting five fabric swatches (two natural, two synthetic, one cellulosic), because requirement 2(b) asks about each fiber you obtained. Requirement 3 is two of seven projects: a visit, weaving on a loom you made, examining fabrics under a magnifying glass, felt, natural dyes, waterproofing, or identifying fibers. The rest explain terms, fiber types and ecological concerns, and careers.

Elective Merit Badges Arts Hobbies Merit Badges Requirements

Theater Merit Badge

Five requirements. See or read three full-length plays and review each (not on television, video or as a movie); write a one-act play of at least 10 minutes; discuss theater safety, then do THREE of ten roles such as acting, directing, set, costume, makeup, lighting, sound or stage management; a mime of one scene your counselor chooses; and nineteen stage terms.

Elective Merit Badges Arts Merit Badges Requirements

Traffic Safety Merit Badge

Eight requirements. Most are explanations: impaired, distracted and fatigued driving, vehicle safety features, traffic law, road design and signs, and sharing the road. Requirement 3 is hands-on, with adult supervision and a vehicle you have access to: lights, wipers, tires, a flat tire and tire sealant, and stopping distances marked off away from traffic. Requirement 7 is an interview, a pledge or an event you organize.

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Requirements Safety

Truck Transportation Merit Badge

Ten requirements, mostly lists and explanations: truck lines in your town, trucks in commerce and the supply chain, gasoline and diesel engines, how a trucking company is organized, government agencies, kinds of trucks and trucking terms. Requirement 4 is a visit to a truck terminal, including a talk with a professional truck driver about safety. Requirement 8 is a written plan for shipping 500 pounds of freight 500 miles within three days.

Elective Merit Badges Business Merit Badges Requirements Safety

Welding Merit Badge

Seven requirements. Hazards and first aid (1), safety data sheets, safety gear worn and equipment care (2), welding terms (3), cutting methods (4), and two welding processes with one set up and its area approved by your counselor (5). Only after 1 through 5 come the six welds of requirement 6, on the equipment prepared in 5(b), with your counselor inspecting the T and lap joints before they are welded. Then careers and the American Welding Society (7).

Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Requirements Safety STEM