ISA UTILITY SPECIALIST EOC TEST 2026 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Branch Removal Cut - ✔✔Pruning cut that removes the smaller of two branches at a
union or a parent stem, without cutting into the branch bark ridge or branch collar, or
leaving a stub.
✔✔Branch Union - ✔✔Point where a branch originates from the trunk or another
branch.
✔✔Chemical Pruning - ✔✔Method of pruning that utilizes certain herbicides to
selectively control targeted branches, typically applied along the side of right-of-way
corridors; also called chemical side trimming.
✔✔Codominant Stem - ✔✔Forked branches nearly the same size in diameter, arising
from a common junction; may have included bark.
✔✔Directional Pruning - ✔✔Selective removal of branches to guide and/or discourage
growth in a particular direction.
✔✔Easement - ✔✔Legal, non-possessory interest in real property that conveys use or
partial use, but not ownership, or all, or more typically a portion, of an owner's property.
,✔✔Epicormic Shoot - ✔✔Shoot arising from a dormant bud or from newly formed
adventitious tissue.
✔✔Excurrent - ✔✔Pattern of tree branching characterized by a central leader and a
pyramidal, cone shaped crown.
✔✔Frond - ✔✔Large, divided leaf structure found in palms and ferns.
✔✔Heading Cut - ✔✔Cutting a shoot or branch back to a bud, stub, or small lateral
branch. Cutting an older branch or stem back to a stub in order to meet a structural
objective.
✔✔Lion Tailing - ✔✔Poor pruning practice in which an excessive number of interior
lateral branches are removed, resulting in a concentration of growth at branch ends.
✔✔Maintenance Interval - ✔✔Planned length of time between vegetation management
activities.
✔✔Mechanical Pruning - ✔✔Vegetation removal using heavy equipment fitted with
power saws or other cutting devices, such as saws mounted on booms or suspended
from a helicopter.
✔✔Monocot - ✔✔Plant with an embryo that has one single seed leaf (grasses and
palms).
✔✔Natural Pruning - ✔✔Process of branch removal in which the pruning cuts are made
at nodes and in relation to the positions of the branch collar and branch bark ridge.
✔✔Node - ✔✔Slightly enlarged growth point on a stem where leaves and buds arise.
✔✔Pollarding - ✔✔Specialty pruning technique in which a tree with a large-maturing
form is kept relatively short. Starting on a young tree, internodal cuts are made at a
chosen height, resulting in sprouts. Requires regular (usually annual) removal of the
sprouts arising from the same cuts. Callus knobs develop at the height from repeated
pruning.
✔✔Pruning System - ✔✔Process used to achieve the desired long-term form of a plant.
✔✔Reduction Cut - ✔✔Pruning cut that removes the larger of two or more branches or
stems, or one or more codominant stem(s), to a live lateral branch, typically at least
one-third the diameter of the stem or branch being removed.
, ✔✔Response Growth - ✔✔New wood produced in response to loads to compensate for
higher strain in marginal fibers; includes reaction wood (tension and compression) and
woundwood.
✔✔Right-of-Way (ROW) - ✔✔Defined area of land, usually a linear strip, reserved for
the passage of traffic or the construction, maintenance, and operation of various
aboveground or underground utilities. Right-of-ways may be granted by easement rights
and may cross a single property or many properties.
✔✔Roundover - ✔✔Discredited pruning technique whereby trees are severely reduced
to a predetermined shape using heading cuts.
✔✔Service Reliability - ✔✔
✔✔Shearing - ✔✔(1) Cutting leaves, shoots, and branches to a desired plane, shape,
or form, using tools designed for that purpose, as with a topiary. (2) Whole tree removal
with devices mounted on excavators or other heavy equipment.
✔✔Structural Development - ✔✔
✔✔Subordination - ✔✔Pruning that reduces the size and ensuing growth of a branch in
relation to other branches or leaders.
✔✔Topiary - ✔✔Pruning system that uses a combination of pruning, supporting, and
training branches to orient a plant into a desired shape.
✔✔Topping - ✔✔Reducing tree size by cutting live branches and leaders to stubs,
without regard to long-term tree health or structural integrity.
✔✔Tree Growth Regulator (TGR) - ✔✔Chemical that slows terminal growth by reducing
cell elongation.
✔✔Urban Forest - ✔✔The sum of all woody and associated vegetation in and around
dense human settlements, from small communities to metropolitan regions, including
street, residential, and park trees, greenbelt vegetation trees on unused public and
private land, trees in transportation and utility corridors, and forests on watershed lands.
✔✔Utility Facilities - ✔✔Infrastructure used to provide utility services, such as poles,
wires, transformers, switches, etc.
✔✔Utility Forest - ✔✔The population of trees that could now or in the future interfere
with the operation of utility facilities.
AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Branch Removal Cut - ✔✔Pruning cut that removes the smaller of two branches at a
union or a parent stem, without cutting into the branch bark ridge or branch collar, or
leaving a stub.
✔✔Branch Union - ✔✔Point where a branch originates from the trunk or another
branch.
✔✔Chemical Pruning - ✔✔Method of pruning that utilizes certain herbicides to
selectively control targeted branches, typically applied along the side of right-of-way
corridors; also called chemical side trimming.
✔✔Codominant Stem - ✔✔Forked branches nearly the same size in diameter, arising
from a common junction; may have included bark.
✔✔Directional Pruning - ✔✔Selective removal of branches to guide and/or discourage
growth in a particular direction.
✔✔Easement - ✔✔Legal, non-possessory interest in real property that conveys use or
partial use, but not ownership, or all, or more typically a portion, of an owner's property.
,✔✔Epicormic Shoot - ✔✔Shoot arising from a dormant bud or from newly formed
adventitious tissue.
✔✔Excurrent - ✔✔Pattern of tree branching characterized by a central leader and a
pyramidal, cone shaped crown.
✔✔Frond - ✔✔Large, divided leaf structure found in palms and ferns.
✔✔Heading Cut - ✔✔Cutting a shoot or branch back to a bud, stub, or small lateral
branch. Cutting an older branch or stem back to a stub in order to meet a structural
objective.
✔✔Lion Tailing - ✔✔Poor pruning practice in which an excessive number of interior
lateral branches are removed, resulting in a concentration of growth at branch ends.
✔✔Maintenance Interval - ✔✔Planned length of time between vegetation management
activities.
✔✔Mechanical Pruning - ✔✔Vegetation removal using heavy equipment fitted with
power saws or other cutting devices, such as saws mounted on booms or suspended
from a helicopter.
✔✔Monocot - ✔✔Plant with an embryo that has one single seed leaf (grasses and
palms).
✔✔Natural Pruning - ✔✔Process of branch removal in which the pruning cuts are made
at nodes and in relation to the positions of the branch collar and branch bark ridge.
✔✔Node - ✔✔Slightly enlarged growth point on a stem where leaves and buds arise.
✔✔Pollarding - ✔✔Specialty pruning technique in which a tree with a large-maturing
form is kept relatively short. Starting on a young tree, internodal cuts are made at a
chosen height, resulting in sprouts. Requires regular (usually annual) removal of the
sprouts arising from the same cuts. Callus knobs develop at the height from repeated
pruning.
✔✔Pruning System - ✔✔Process used to achieve the desired long-term form of a plant.
✔✔Reduction Cut - ✔✔Pruning cut that removes the larger of two or more branches or
stems, or one or more codominant stem(s), to a live lateral branch, typically at least
one-third the diameter of the stem or branch being removed.
, ✔✔Response Growth - ✔✔New wood produced in response to loads to compensate for
higher strain in marginal fibers; includes reaction wood (tension and compression) and
woundwood.
✔✔Right-of-Way (ROW) - ✔✔Defined area of land, usually a linear strip, reserved for
the passage of traffic or the construction, maintenance, and operation of various
aboveground or underground utilities. Right-of-ways may be granted by easement rights
and may cross a single property or many properties.
✔✔Roundover - ✔✔Discredited pruning technique whereby trees are severely reduced
to a predetermined shape using heading cuts.
✔✔Service Reliability - ✔✔
✔✔Shearing - ✔✔(1) Cutting leaves, shoots, and branches to a desired plane, shape,
or form, using tools designed for that purpose, as with a topiary. (2) Whole tree removal
with devices mounted on excavators or other heavy equipment.
✔✔Structural Development - ✔✔
✔✔Subordination - ✔✔Pruning that reduces the size and ensuing growth of a branch in
relation to other branches or leaders.
✔✔Topiary - ✔✔Pruning system that uses a combination of pruning, supporting, and
training branches to orient a plant into a desired shape.
✔✔Topping - ✔✔Reducing tree size by cutting live branches and leaders to stubs,
without regard to long-term tree health or structural integrity.
✔✔Tree Growth Regulator (TGR) - ✔✔Chemical that slows terminal growth by reducing
cell elongation.
✔✔Urban Forest - ✔✔The sum of all woody and associated vegetation in and around
dense human settlements, from small communities to metropolitan regions, including
street, residential, and park trees, greenbelt vegetation trees on unused public and
private land, trees in transportation and utility corridors, and forests on watershed lands.
✔✔Utility Facilities - ✔✔Infrastructure used to provide utility services, such as poles,
wires, transformers, switches, etc.
✔✔Utility Forest - ✔✔The population of trees that could now or in the future interfere
with the operation of utility facilities.
