This might sound like a bit of a plug for the SBA exam syllabus but having completed my first year's beekeeping I've been doing the BBKA Module 1 and Basic exam through our local association a bit further south I took the Module 1 - General Husbandry exam yesterday having done an evening every other week for the past 12 weeks to cover the coursework.

I'm not sure how the SBA Certification differs, if at all, from the BBKA stuff, but as a new beekeeper I definitely recommend looking into the Basic exam and the first 3 Module, theory, papers especially if your association does what ours did and gets a bunch of you together to work through the correspondence course material. It's a great way to confirm what you think you know and highlight the stuff that, actually, you don't. Down here at least, a lot of people have never bothered doing the exams so in our group we had what was effectively a commercial beekeeper sitting an exam designed for someone like me with a year's experience. A great way to tap up some practical knowledge.

Again, I don't know how comparable it is to the situation here, but around the South West of England, councils are starting to tighten down requirements for beekeepers wanting to keep bees on allotments, last year you had to be a member of your local Association, this year they want you to have the basic certificate too. Those of us currently not holding the basic certificate are still waiting to see if they make that requirement retroactive or just for new [potential] beekeepers.