Pesticide Licensing Information

All exams will be closed book.

One exam will be given for each type of license. Applicator Licenses will still require the Core exam. Certification and Dealer licenses will require only one exam that combines the components of the core and specialty exam.

Anyone taking any pesticide exam must be at least 18 years of age as of the date of the examination.

Before becoming commercially certified, an individual must have at least two years of work or other relevant experience. Examples of acceptable experience include work as a licensed applicator, academic studies, and other relevant work experience. Relevant experience substitutions will be defined and provided with the examination applications. The intent of the experience requirement is for an individual to work as a commercial applicator before applying for the commercial certification examination. You will have to complete and submit a Resume Form along with your Exam Application in order to register for a commercial certification exam.

A contact hour will equal 50 consecutive minutes of training. All pesticide applicators and Licensed Dealers are required to accumulate these contact hours every three years. The number of contact hours required is as follows:

• Commercial Certification - 12 hrs. (per category)
• Private Certification - 12 hrs. (per category)
• Comm. Appl. License - 6 hrs.
• Dealer License - 3 hrs.

At the end of your three year cycle you may be audited to verify that you have attended approved continuing education. If you do not attend the required number of contact hours you will not be able to renew your license or certification. Therefore in order to obtain a future license you would have to take the necessary exam(s) again.

You can obtain contact hours by attending workshops, lectures, and seminars. In addition, there for alternative ways to accumulate contact hours. Information on UMass Extension sponsored pesticide recertification training.

The course must be within the framework of a curriculum that leads to an academic degree in entomology, botany, plant pathology, agriculture, pest control, toxicology, public health, or is relevant to pesticide use, or any course within that curriculum that is necessary to an individual's professional growth and development as a pesticide applicator or handler.

The course should be one developed by a professional group such as an educational corporation, professional association, or university.

Continuing education hours may be earned by teaching a particular course, seminar series, or workshop for the first time, delivering a paper or lecture, or publishing an article or book on pesticide use. A course, seminar, or book may be considered for up to 9 continuing education hours; a published article may be considered the equivalent of up to 5 hours; a lecture or paper may be considered the equivalent of up to 3 hours.

Certified or noncertified applicators taking courses for the purpose of obtaining a baccalaureate or higher degree in the biological sciences will be considered to have met the continuing education requirements specified in this section provided such courses equal at least the required number of hours. Other academic degree programs may qualify at the discretion of the department.

After failing an exam, an applicant may apply for the next available date for re-taking that exam. An applicant who fails any exam twice must wait 3 months before applying for that exam. If an exam candidate fails any exam three times, the candidate will be required to wait 1 year before applying for it again.

The record keeping requirement for the signature of the purchaser or his agent has been changed to the signature of purchaser and his agent. If a certified applicator sends someone else to purchase restricted use pesticides on his or her behalf, the Dealer must obtain the certified applicator's signature as well.