Any of you guys

[diltree]

Mca Test

The test is more difficult then the ISA exam but not as well rounded. I would attribute this to the Tree ID: Latin and common names, the insect ID, and the disease Id sections of the test; none of which are multiple choice or T/F.....either you know it or you don't. The ISA test is more well rounded evenly testing knowlege of all phases of tree care; while the MCA has an obvious bias towards PHC and IPM knowlege. The test was hard for me, I would guess I scored between 60% and 75% hopefully over the required 70% but it was no slam dunk for me there was allot of questions I didn't know for sure.....

 

[Chucky]

Piece of cake when I took it back in '93, except maybe for the oral exam part. Aced Jack Ahern's tree ID slide show. Not to brag, but I was the first one out of there!

http://www.stevedaniels.com/index/Credentials.html

BTW, it is STILL the hardest American arb test out there, hands down. The ISA exam is a distant second.

 

[diltree]

Chucky MCA.......

Checked out you credentials....very nice! I'm sure it was a piece of cake for you, you have a A.S. and a B.S. in the field. Its a little bit tougher for guys with no educational background in agriculture. Trying to ascertain all that information through just reading and no class room time was a daunting task.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

Personally, I didn't like the ID section. In my practice, all of my ID is in the field. I think a representative test for ID should be based on field ID.

Thats the way they used to do it. Problem with that was people taking the test would study all of the trees at the old testing venue (the Ag extension in Waltham). For a while we brought in live samples for five of the id questions, but that was hard to facilitate.

the MCA has an obvious bias towards PHC and IPM knowlege. .....

Interesting you make this point. Many of the guys on the committee are PHC guys (Not me!). I think this distinction is what sets the MCA exam apart.

Hey Chucky, nice low cert #! You've got some real good autographs on that certificate. I won't tell you where I was in '93

 

[inztrees]

.

2nd grade?

 

[Chucky]

Chucky MCA.......

Checked out you credentials....very nice! I'm sure it was a piece of cake for you, you have a A.S. and a B.S. in the field. Its a little bit tougher for guys with no educational background in agriculture. Trying to ascertain all that information through just reading and no class room time was a daunting task.

Yeah, you have a point there. I definitely had good preparation from the likes of Randall Swanson, Harry Pearsall, Dennis Ryan, Tom Houston, and Jack Ahern.

You're really did well I think if you scored in the 70th percentile range on the exam. I commend you for that, considering the lack of classroom time. But you're obviously motivated to get credentialed your own way, and that's great.

There are plenty of good arborists on these tree boards who have no formal classroom training at all, but who are much more knowledgeble than I am in certain areas or arboriculture, especially in the climbing technique realm. That's what's so great about these online forums -- you can learn new things constantly because contributers come from a wide range of backgrounds, talents, and experience.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

close

2nd grade?

Close, but not fair, we've met

 

[booboo]

Thats the way they used to do it. Problem with that was people taking the test would study all of the trees at the old testing venue (the Ag extension in Waltham). For a while we brought in live samples for five of the id questions, but that was hard to facilitate.




Interesting you make this point. Many of the guys on the committee are PHC guys (Not me!). I think this distinction is what sets the MCA exam apart.

Hey Chucky, nice low cert #! You've got some real good autographs on that certificate. I won't tell you where I was in '93

My cert from 1990 has no cert # at all on it. What year did they start putting your # on the cert? Anyone?

 

[OTG BOSTON]

MAA Trivia

My cert from 1990 has no cert # at all on it. What year did they start putting your # on the cert? Anyone?

The correct answer is 1965 (I'm told by a past president), and the first # was 1000.

How do you do your re-certification credits without your cert # ?

 

[booboo]

The correct answer is 1965 (I'm told by a past president), and the first # was 1000.

How do you do your re-certification credits without your cert # ?

Unfortunately, I stopped maintaining my certs back in 1996, when I thought I was leaving the tree business for good, a pretty big mistake in retrospect. Until then, I kept up both the MCA and ISA certs. The ISA cert had a low number on it from when the MCAs were grandfathered into ISA, not sure if that is still the case.
:bang:

 

[nitwit dolt]

Mca

How many guy's past the MCA because of Jim Liacos? Honest question if your from the north shore.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

The ISA cert had a low number on it from when the MCAs were grandfathered into ISA, not sure if that is still the case.
:bang:

I heard about that, so MCA came first and if you were MCA you became ISA automatically. I guess these are two reasons that the MCA is held in such high esteem.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

How many guy's past the MCA because of Jim Liacos? Honest question if your from the north shore.

I had him in school, but was already certified at the time. Great guy, good teacher.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

Exam Results

Of the 34 who took the exam 22 passed (65% passing rate). Of the 22 who passed 10 were full time students at Umass.

For those not from this part of the country, or don't know the business in this area. It is not uncommon for Climbing Arborists' to have a four year degree in Arboriculture.
Some people find it hard to believe that a person would go to school for four years, then graduate and climb trees and drag brush for a living. Around here it is pretty much becoming the standard.

Congradulations to those who passed, your journey has just begun........

 

[booboo]

"so MCA came first and if you were MCA you became ISA automatically."

Right. That's why it really was a serious screw-up to let both certs lapse.

To the guys that just took the test and passed...congrats. It is something to be proud of. Hardest test I ever took, anywhere.

:rockn: