by Tait Russell
Because much of an applied geologist’s work affects the health, safety, and wellbeing of people and the environment, a professional geologist licensure is an important safeguard. Obtaining licensure shows the geologist has satisfied stringent education, knowledge, and experience requirements. Any consultant in Washington State must be competent, qualified, and have a license to practice geology. Companies, like RGI, that have a high percentage of Licensed Geologists (LGs) show they take their employees’ education, knowledge, and experience seriously.
Not all states require licensure for geologists to conduct consulting work, but Washington is one. Meeting the requirements necessary to become a licensed geologist vary from state to state, but generally require a four-year degree in the geological sciences, four to five years of geological work experience, character references, and passing two board examinations.
In Washington, education requirements include a four-year geoscience degree, and must have taken at least 24 semester or 36 quarter hours of upper division geology courses, including 14 semester or 21 quarter credits from a specific list of geological subjects.
Once the educational requirements have been completed, the candidate must apply for eligibility to sit for the first of two exams, the Fundamentals of Geology exam. The exam is 140 multiple-choice questions with a pass/fail grade and covers basic geological concepts. Passing scores are adjusted (scaled) based on the difficulty level of each question in each test so candidates have the same probability of passing any version of the examination. Four hours are given to complete the test. Nearly 50 percent of the examinees fail their first attempt, so don’t be discouraged if you need a second attempt! If the exam is passed, the applicant becomes a Geologist in Training (GIT).
People with the GIT status must then gain the practical field experience in geology (five years in Washington) before seeking approval for the Practice of Geology exam. In Washington, one year of full-time graduate study in geology or a qualified related area counts as one year of experience, up to a maximum of 2 years. It is acceptable to submit the exam application by its deadline without the full experience, so long as the full amount of experience is gained by the date of the exam itself. This can be important to known because the deadline for applying for the exam is usually about 6 months beforehand.
The Practice of Geology exam is similar to the format of the Fundamentals of Geology exam – four hours to answer a scaled pass/fail multiple-choice test. However, this test will only have 110 questions with more of a focus on practical geological applications and problem solving. Many of the questions require an overall understanding of concepts with multiple questions relating to each other. If passed, the GIT then becomes a Licensed Geologist (LG).
RGI highly encourages all its environmental and geotechnical staff to become Licensed Geologists and supports them in obtaining their licensure. Along with training and providing the field experience in geology, RGI provides some work hours for studying and preparing for the tests. RGI further encourages and supports their employees by reimbursing the cost of registering for the exams. The majority of RGI’s environmental and geotechnical staff have obtained their licensure in Washington with several more staff in their GIT status.
