NYS PCO/PCT study guide
NYS PCO/PCT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The NYS PCO/PCT credential refers to New York State's pesticide applicator certification program, administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). DEC's pesticides program sits within its Environmental Protection section, alongside water, air, waste management, and site cleanup. Commercial pesticide applicators (PCO) and pesticide technicians (PCT) work under New York's pesticide regulations, and the exam tests whether a candidate understands both the rules and the practical safety and environmental responsibilities that come with handling pesticides in the state. This study page organizes preparation around five domains of roughly equal weight: Pesticide Use and Regulation (NYSDEC); Pesticide Safety and Handling; Pest Identification and Management; Environmental Protection and Water Resources; and Laws, Rules, and Recordkeeping. The NYS PCO/PCT study guide has 5 sections and about 1,482 words.
01Pesticide Use and Regulation (NYSDEC)
This domain tests how a New York applicator gets from a registered product to a legal application. EPA registers pesticides under FIFRA, but New York requires its own registration before a product may be sold or used here (ECL Article 33; 6 NYCRR Part 326).
344 words, about 2 min02Pesticide Safety and Handling
This domain tests whether you can select PPE, prevent exposure, and react to a spill. Signal words summarize acute toxicity: DANGER (Category I, often with POISON and skull-and-crossbones), WARNING (Category II), CAUTION (III/IV).
291 words, about 1 min03Pest Identification and Management
This domain tests identification before treatment and selection of tactics that fit the site. The sequence is inspect and identify, monitor, compare counts to an action threshold, choose two or more tactics (sanitation, exclusion, biological, chemical), then evaluate.
271 words, about 1 min04Environmental Protection and Water Resources
This domain tests how applications reach air, soil, groundwater, and surface water, and how to prevent it. Spray drift is affected by droplet size, boom height, wind speed and direction, and temperature inversions.
294 words, about 1 min05Laws, Rules, and Recordkeeping
This domain tests the paperwork that proves a legal application. Commercial applicators must keep records of each application, generally for three years, including date, site and customer, pest, product name and EPA registration number, amount used, concentration, area treated, application method, and the certified applicator responsible.
282 words, about 1 min