Foresters Licensure Examination · Philippines · Professional Regulatory Board for Foresters, Professional Regulation Commission
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersMeasuring and mapping forest land: chain, compass and plane-table survey, levelling and contouring, area computation, GNSS and the reading of topographic maps. General surveying is covered in the Agricultural Engineering track (surveying-levelling); this subject applies it to forest boundaries and compartments.
In the exams: IFoS Forestry Paper II Section A (surveying and forest engineering); PRC Forest Engineering and Utilization (survey); state Range Forest Officer exams
How our questions for Foresters Licensure Examination spread across the units of Forest Surveying & Mapping. Difficulty: 1 easy, 8 medium, 17 hard.
| Computation of areas and volumes | 5 | |
| Chain and tape survey | 4 | |
| Compass survey: bearings, declination, closing error | 4 | |
| Topographic maps and map reading | 3 | |
| National mapping agencies and systems | 3 | |
| Plane-table survey | 2 | |
| Levelling and contouring | 2 | |
| GNSS in forest survey and its accuracy under canopy | 2 | |
| Demarcation of forest boundaries and compartments | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A steel tape standardised at 20 °C measures 100 m at 35 °C. With α = 11.6 × 10⁻⁶ per °C, what is the temperature correction?
A. +17.4 mm
α(T − T₀)L = 11.6 × 10⁻⁶ × 15 × 100 m = 0.0174 m = 17.4 mm, added because the tape has expanded and reads short.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
A closed compass traverse of perimeter 1000 m has ΣL = +1.2 m and ΣD = −1.6 m. What are the closing error and relative precision?
C. 2.0 m; 1 in 500
√(1.2² + 1.6²) = 2.0 m; 2/1000 = 1 in 500. 2.8 adds the components directly.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
At small mapping scales, which plane-table setup error matters least?
D. Centring
A small centring displacement is invisible at small scale, whereas orientation errors rotate every ray.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
For the same offsets (0, 4, 6, 5, 0 m at 10 m), what area does Simpson's rule give?
B. 160 m²
(10/3) × [(0 + 0) + 4(4 + 5) + 2(6)] = (10/3) × 48 = 160 m².
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
A parcel has corner coordinates (0, 0), (100, 0), (100, 100) and (0, 100) m. What is its area by the coordinate method?
D. 1.0 ha
½|Σ(xᵢyᵢ₊₁ − xᵢ₊₁yᵢ)| = 10,000 m² = 1 ha.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
Two road cross-sections of 12 and 18 m² are 20 m apart. What is the earthwork volume by the average end-area method?
A. 300 m³
20 × (12 + 18)/2 = 300 m³.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
Why does a graphic scale bar remain useful when a map is photocopied at a different size?
A. It changes size with the map
A representative fraction becomes wrong when the map is enlarged or reduced; the bar scales with it.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
Why are legal boundary surveys often required to be done by licensed surveyors despite handheld GNSS?
A. Law sets accuracy and control rules
Legal surveys must meet standards and connect to national control.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
A boundary register records for each pillar its number, coordinates, bearing and distance to the next pillar, and condition. Its main purpose is to:
B. To relocate pillars and prove encroachment
Accurate records allow pillars to be re-established and support enforcement.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
Which datum is used by GPS?
B. WGS 84
WGS 84 is a global Earth-centred datum; the others are older local datums.
Further reading: See the manual sources: Punmia et al.; Bannister et al.; Ghilani and Wolf; Iliffe and Lott; NSSDA 1998
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