RBT practice test 13

25 questions across all six content areas, weighted like the real exam. Every answer is explained, including why each wrong option is wrong.

25 questions

Question 1Which statement about negative reinforcement is accurate?
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C: It increases the future frequency of the behavior it follows.. All reinforcement, positive or negative, increases behavior. In negative reinforcement, the behavior removes, reduces or prevents a stimulus, and the behavior occurs more often in the future.
- A: Taking away something the client likes to decrease behavior is negative punishment.
- B: Punishment decreases behavior; negative reinforcement increases it.
- D: Adding an unpleasant stimulus after behavior is positive punishment when the behavior decreases.
Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
Question 2Which habit best prevents errors when entering data into a graph?
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A: Checking each entered value against the data sheet. Comparing each entry with the original data sheet catches typing and transfer errors before the supervisor uses the graph.
- B: Rounding changes the data and can introduce errors.
- C: Delaying entry makes graphs out of date and makes errors harder to catch.
- D: Each extra copy is another chance for a transfer error.
Task A.4 · 40-hour curriculum section C · RBT Ethics Code 2.02
Question 3An RBT told their supervisor about another RBT's suspected violation of the RBT Ethics Code and documented each step. Months later the matter has not been resolved and the conduct continues. What does the code direct the RBT to do?
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D: Report the matter to the BACB. The code says that if a suspected violation of the RBT Ethics Code or the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts is not resolved with the supervisor's support, the RBT reports it to the BACB. Other matters may go to another appropriate authority, such as an employer, licensure board or law enforcement.
- A: Telling the supervisor does not end the RBT's duty when the violation is not resolved.
- B: Posting online is not a reporting route and could breach confidentiality.
- C: Confronting a coworker during a session disrupts services and is not a step the code describes.
Task F.1 · 40-hour curriculum section G
Question 4To teach a client to label "dog," the plan has the RBT use photos of many different breeds, cartoon dogs, toy dogs and real dogs at a park. Which generalization strategy is this?
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A: Multiple exemplar training. Multiple exemplar training means teaching with several different examples of the stimulus class so the client learns which features matter and responds correctly to new examples.
- B: Programming common stimuli means including features of the generalization setting in the teaching setting, not teaching with many varied examples.
- C: Indiscriminable contingencies make it hard for the client to tell which responses will be reinforced, usually through intermittent reinforcement.
- D: Using natural contingencies means targeting behaviors that will be reinforced by everyday consequences outside of teaching.
Task C.8 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 5Which skill would most likely be measured in a social skills assessment?
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C: Responding when a peer says hello. Social skills involve interacting with other people, such as greeting, responding, sharing and taking turns.
- A: Doing a puzzle alone is a play or fine motor skill, not an interaction with others.
- B: Matching pictures is a visual discrimination skill.
- D: Writing a name is an academic or fine motor skill.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 6Compared with a paired-stimulus assessment, what is a key advantage of MSWO?
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D: It yields a ranking of items in less time. MSWO produces a preference hierarchy with fewer trials than presenting every possible pair, which makes it practical for frequent use.
- A: MSWO is built on choices from an array.
- B: In MSWO, the chosen item is removed after brief access and not returned to the array.
- C: Like other preference assessments, MSWO identifies preference, not reinforcing effects.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 7During a home session, the RBT sees a caregiver give the client a tablet right after a tantrum. The plan says tantrums should not produce the tablet. What should the RBT do?
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B: Tell the supervisor, who decides how to support the caregiver. What happens at home affects the plan's results. The RBT reports it to the supervisor, who decides whether caregiver training or plan changes are needed.
- A: Caregiver responses that go against the plan affect its results and should be reported.
- C: Planning caregiver training is the supervisor's job.
- D: Correcting the caregiver in front of the client can embarrass them and is not the RBT's decision.
Task E.1 · 40-hour curriculum section F
Question 8A session was scheduled for 2 hours but lasted 1 hour 30 minutes. What should the session note show?
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D: The actual start and end times of the session. Session notes and billing records must reflect the services actually delivered. Recording more time than was delivered is inaccurate and can be fraudulent.
- A: An explanation does not correct a wrong time.
- B: Any time other than the actual time is inaccurate.
- C: Authorization does not make undelivered time billable.
Task E.4 · RBT Ethics Code 2.02 · RBT Ethics Code 1.01
Question 9An RBT changes jobs, and for now no RBT Supervisor or RBT Requirements Coordinator is on record for them with the BACB. While their certification is inactive for this reason, what is the RBT not allowed to do?
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C: Represent themselves as an active RBT. An RBT with no supervisor or coordinator on record is inactive and may not practice, bill or represent themselves as an active RBT. The registry shows them as inactive until a supervisor adds them as a supervisee.
- A: Looking for a new position is allowed; the RBT simply cannot practice until a supervisor adds them.
- B: Inactive RBTs still use their BACB account, for example to check their status.
- D: Getting a supervisor to add them in the BACB portal is how they become active again.
Task F.6 · RBT Handbook p. 31 · 40-hour curriculum section G
Question 10A teacher reprimands a student each time the student calls out. Over several weeks, calling out increases. What is the reprimand most likely doing?
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B: Functioning as positive reinforcement. Consequences are named by their effect. A reprimand that is followed by more calling out is functioning as reinforcement, probably because it delivers attention.
- A: A punisher decreases behavior; calling out increased.
- C: Nothing is removed, and the behavior did not decrease.
- D: No reinforcer was withheld, so this is not an extinction burst.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 11An RBT teaches food names with picture cards. The client's parent mentions that the child has never seen most of the foods pictured, which are not part of the family's diet. What should the RBT do?
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A: Tell the supervisor what the parent said. Teaching materials should reflect the client's life and culture. The RBT shares the information with the supervisor, who can change the stimuli in the plan.
- B: Unfamiliar items make the targets less meaningful and useful for the client.
- C: Asking the family to change their diet for the program is not appropriate.
- D: Removing a target is a plan change the RBT cannot make alone.
Task F.10 · RBT Ethics Code 1.07 · RBT Ethics Code 2.06
Question 12Which display is best for showing how a client's rate of a behavior changed across 20 sessions?
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A: A line graph. Line graphs show change in a measure across time, so they are the standard display for session-by-session data.
- B: A single mean hides the session-by-session changes.
- C: The definition says what is measured, not how the measure changed.
- D: A scatterplot shows when behavior tends to occur during the day, not change across sessions.
Task A.4 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Question 13During total task chaining for dressing, a child starts to put on shoes before socks. The plan says to interrupt errors and prompt the correct step. What should the RBT do?
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C: Interrupt, prompt socks, and record a prompted step. Following the plan's error correction stops the wrong step, prompts the right one, and keeps accurate data on how much help was needed.
- A: Letting the error finish practices the wrong order and reinforces it.
- B: Requiring independence on unmastered steps is not the plan's procedure.
- D: Changing the steps of the task analysis is a plan change for the supervisor.
Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 14During an assessment item, an RBT realizes they mouthed the first sound of the answer just before the client responded correctly. What should the RBT do?
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D: Score the response as prompted and mention the error to the supervisor. Mouthing the first sound is a prompt, so the response was not independent. Honest scoring and reporting the error keep the data accurate.
- A: The client had help, so the response was not independent.
- B: Hiding the trial makes the record inaccurate and conceals an error.
- C: The client did respond correctly with a prompt; scoring it incorrect misstates what happened, and re-giving the item is not in the rules.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · RBT Ethics Code 2.02
Question 15At the end of the day, an RBT realizes they forgot to collect data on one target during a clinic session. What should the RBT do?
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C: Tell the supervisor and document that no data were collected for that target. Data must reflect what was actually observed and recorded. A gap that is honestly documented is far less harmful than invented data, which is falsification and can mislead every decision made from the graph.
- A: Entering numbers that were never observed is falsifying data.
- B: Recollections from someone who was not recording are not session data and should not be presented as such.
- D: Copied data are not observations of that session and misrepresent it.
Task A.8 · RBT Ethics Code 2.02 · RBT Ethics Code 1.01
Question 16After implementing exclusionary time-out as written in a client's plan, what should the RBT document?
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C: The behavior, the start and end times, and what happened. Accurate records of punishment procedures (what triggered them, how long they lasted and what occurred) let the supervisor monitor safety and effectiveness.
- A: This leaves out details the supervisor needs to evaluate the procedure.
- B: Use of a punishment procedure must still be documented.
- D: Caregiver approval is not a step the RBT completes after each use.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.02
Question 17A client's whining is on attention extinction. The RBT follows the plan, but a grandparent who is often in the room sometimes comforts the client when they whine. What is the most likely effect on the whining?
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D: It may persist longer because it is still sometimes reinforced. Extinction only works if the reinforcer is withheld every time. Occasional reinforcement creates an intermittent schedule, and behavior on an intermittent schedule tends to be more resistant to extinction.
- A: Attention after whining is the reinforcer for whining, so it slows the decrease.
- B: Nothing in the scenario predicts a shift to other settings; the issue is reinforcement still occurring.
- C: DRO reinforces the absence of behavior; occasional attention after whining reinforces the whining itself.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 18An RBT realizes that last week they entered one client's data into another client's record. What should the RBT do?
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B: Tell the supervisor and correct it the proper way. RBTs are honest and accurate with their supervisor and in documentation. If they find an error, they report it and correct it in the way the organization requires (Standards 2.02 and 3.02).
- A: Wrong data in two records can lead to wrong decisions for two clients.
- C: Deleting data destroys the record and is not an acceptable correction.
- D: Fixing it without telling the supervisor hides an error that may have affected decisions.
Task E.2 · RBT Ethics Code 2.02 · RBT Ethics Code 3.02
Question 19Which operational definition of appropriate toy play is observable?
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C: Uses a toy the way it is made to be used, such as rolling a car. This describes what the client does with the toy and gives an example observers can match.
- A: "Nicely" is a judgment that is not defined.
- B: This repeats the target name without saying what it looks like.
- D: Enjoyment is an inferred feeling.
Task A.5 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Question 20At the start of supervision, a supervisor gives an RBT a written list saying session data must be entered before leaving and that the RBT should arrive 10 minutes early. Which supervision activity is this?
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B: Developing performance expectations. Clear performance expectations tell the RBT exactly what is expected. Developing them is the first supervision activity listed in the handbook and is part of effective supervision.
- A: No practice of a skill is taking place.
- C: Evaluation happens after supervision, by checking outcomes.
- D: These are job expectations, not an ethical problem.
Task F.4 · RBT Handbook p. 17
Question 21A plan says to reinforce correct responses after an unpredictable number of them: sometimes after 2, sometimes after 8, and on average after 5. Which schedule is this?
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C: Variable ratio 5. Reinforcement depends on the number of responses, and that number changes around an average of 5. That is a variable ratio (VR 5) schedule.
- A: A fixed ratio 5 would reinforce after exactly 5 responses every time.
- B: A variable interval schedule depends on time passing, not on a count of responses.
- D: A variable-time schedule delivers reinforcement after varying amounts of time regardless of behavior.
Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
Question 22What is an extinction burst?
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D: A temporary increase in frequency, duration or intensity when extinction begins. When a behavior stops producing its reinforcer, it often gets worse before it gets better: more often, longer or more intense. This early increase is an extinction burst.
- A: That describes spontaneous recovery.
- B: That describes resurgence.
- C: That describes response variation.
Task D.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 23A task-analysis data sheet uses codes: I = independent, G = gestural, M = model, P = physical. On step 4, the RBT has to show the client how to do the step before the client does it. What should be recorded for step 4?
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D: M. Showing the client how to perform the step is a model prompt, so the step is scored M.
- A: The client needed help, so the step was not independent.
- B: A gestural prompt is a point or motion; the RBT demonstrated the step.
- C: A physical prompt involves touching or guiding the client, which did not happen.
Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 24Which feature shows that a procedure is NCR and not DRO?
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B: Delivery does not depend on whether problem behavior occurred. In NCR, the scheduled reinforcer is delivered regardless of behavior. In DRO, it is delivered only if problem behavior did not occur during the interval.
- A: Both NCR and DRO can use the reinforcer that maintains the problem behavior.
- C: Both procedures often use timers.
- D: Both procedures can deliver the reinforcer at the end of a set interval.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 25During play at home, a child has been asking for bubbles for several minutes, then walks away to the toy kitchen and ignores the bubbles. What should the RBT do?
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A: Follow the child and teach within the new activity. Naturalistic teaching relies on the learner's current motivation. When interest shifts, the RBT follows the child's lead to a new activity and keeps teaching there.
- B: The child's motivation for bubbles has dropped, so prompting a mand for them is unlikely to work.
- C: Forcing a return to an item the child no longer wants works against naturalistic teaching.
- D: Moving to a new activity is not a refusal, and the session can continue.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E

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Practice test 14

What this test covers

Questions in this test by task
Task	Questions
A.4 Entering data and updating graphs	2
A.5 Describing behavior in observable, measurable terms	1
A.8 Unreliable data and poor procedural fidelity	1
B.1 Preference assessments	1
B.2 Skill assessments	2
C.1 Positive and negative reinforcement	2
C.4 Naturalistic teaching	1
C.5 Task analysis and chaining	2
C.8 Generalization	1
D.2 Antecedent interventions	1
D.4 Extinction	1
D.5 Positive and negative punishment	2
D.6 Secondary effects of extinction and punishment	1
E.1 Communicating team concerns to your supervisor	1
E.2 Seeking clinical direction	1
E.4 Objective session notes	1
F.1 Core ethics principles	1
F.4 Effective supervision practices	1
F.6 Public statements and social media	1
F.10 Cultural humility and responsiveness	1

3 easier, 18 exam-level and 4 harder questions. Each task link opens its study page.

Question 1Which statement about negative reinforcement is accurate?

Question 2Which habit best prevents errors when entering data into a graph?

Question 3An RBT told their supervisor about another RBT's suspected violation of the RBT Ethics Code and documented each step. Months later the matter has not been resolved and the conduct continues. What does the code direct the RBT to do?

Question 4To teach a client to label "dog," the plan has the RBT use photos of many different breeds, cartoon dogs, toy dogs and real dogs at a park. Which generalization strategy is this?

Question 5Which skill would most likely be measured in a social skills assessment?

Question 6Compared with a paired-stimulus assessment, what is a key advantage of MSWO?

Question 7During a home session, the RBT sees a caregiver give the client a tablet right after a tantrum. The plan says tantrums should not produce the tablet. What should the RBT do?

Question 8A session was scheduled for 2 hours but lasted 1 hour 30 minutes. What should the session note show?

Question 9An RBT changes jobs, and for now no RBT Supervisor or RBT Requirements Coordinator is on record for them with the BACB. While their certification is inactive for this reason, what is the RBT not allowed to do?

Question 10A teacher reprimands a student each time the student calls out. Over several weeks, calling out increases. What is the reprimand most likely doing?

Question 11An RBT teaches food names with picture cards. The client's parent mentions that the child has never seen most of the foods pictured, which are not part of the family's diet. What should the RBT do?

Question 12Which display is best for showing how a client's rate of a behavior changed across 20 sessions?

Question 13During total task chaining for dressing, a child starts to put on shoes before socks. The plan says to interrupt errors and prompt the correct step. What should the RBT do?

Question 14During an assessment item, an RBT realizes they mouthed the first sound of the answer just before the client responded correctly. What should the RBT do?

Question 15At the end of the day, an RBT realizes they forgot to collect data on one target during a clinic session. What should the RBT do?

Question 16After implementing exclusionary time-out as written in a client's plan, what should the RBT document?

Question 17A client's whining is on attention extinction. The RBT follows the plan, but a grandparent who is often in the room sometimes comforts the client when they whine. What is the most likely effect on the whining?

Question 18An RBT realizes that last week they entered one client's data into another client's record. What should the RBT do?

Question 19Which operational definition of appropriate toy play is observable?

Question 20At the start of supervision, a supervisor gives an RBT a written list saying session data must be entered before leaving and that the RBT should arrive 10 minutes early. Which supervision activity is this?

Question 21A plan says to reinforce correct responses after an unpredictable number of them: sometimes after 2, sometimes after 8, and on average after 5. Which schedule is this?

Question 22What is an extinction burst?

Question 23A task-analysis data sheet uses codes: I = independent, G = gestural, M = model, P = physical. On step 4, the RBT has to show the client how to do the step before the client does it. What should be recorded for step 4?

Question 24Which feature shows that a procedure is NCR and not DRO?

Question 25During play at home, a child has been asking for bubbles for several minutes, then walks away to the toy kitchen and ignores the bubbles. What should the RBT do?

What this test covers