A Cub Scout who has completed second grade (or is age 9) works on 12 of 24 achievements from four different thematic groups (God, Country, Family and Self) to earn the Bear badge. After he earns his Wolf or Bear badge, a boy may work on electives in different interest area's until he is old enough to begin work on his next rank. For every 10 electives a boy completes, he earns an Arrow Point.

In the story of Mowgli's Brothers, the young boy named Mowgli is brought before the Wolf pack council for a decision on whether he may join the pack. Akela the leader asks whether anyone will speak for the man cub. Baloo the bear, who teaches the wolf cubs the law of the pack, says that he will. As he grows older, Baloo teaches Mowgli the law of the pack and the secret words that let him talk to the jungle animals.

To earn the Bear Badge, a Cub Scout must complete 12 achievements out of a possible 24 that are offered in the book. The achievements are grouped in 4 major areas, GOD, COUNTRY, FAMILY, and SELF. Within each group, a required number of achievements must be completed, as indicated below. Also, any achievements that they do NOT use to earn the Bear Badge may be used to earn Arrow Points.

If the Cub Scout has not previously earned the Bobcat Badge, it must be earned first.

(Note that these achievements, as were the Wolf activities, are primarily done at home and signed off by an adult family member after the boy has completed each one. The book is then shown to the Den Leader who records the progress and also signs the boy's book.)

AFTER a Bear Cub Scout earns his Bear Badge he may begin working on earning Arrow Points in the Electives section of his book. He may work on his "Arrow Point Trail" at any time, however he cannot receive Arrow Points until AFTER he has earned the Bear Badge.

There is a big difference in the achievements for arrow points for Bear. In this rank the Cub Scout can go back and do requirements from the ACHIEVEMENTS section of the book and use them as requirements for arrow points, as long as they do not count any requirements that they used to earn the Bear Badge.

The Achievement requirements and the Elective requirements can be freely mixed to count toward earning arrow points. In the following descriptions, we will use the term "Arrow Points" to refer to either type of requirement.