RBT practice test 19

B: ABC data show what tends to follow behavior, not what causes it. Descriptive data show correlations. Adults often respond to problem behavior whatever its function, so a consequence that regularly follows a behavior is not proven to maintain it.

• A: Reprimands can work as reinforcers when attention maintains behavior.
• C: ABC data are often collected in classrooms.
• D: Calling out can be defined objectively (for example, speaking without being called on).

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D

A: Decline; at least two years must pass after services end. RBTs do not have romantic or sexual relationships with former clients or stakeholders, such as a client's parent, for at least two years from the date the professional relationship ended.

• B: Ending services does not end the restriction; the code sets a minimum waiting period.
• C: Six months is the rule for receiving supervision from a former partner, not for former clients or stakeholders.
• D: A supervisor cannot waive the two-year minimum in the code.

Task F.7 · RBT Ethics Code 1.12

D: Keep to the current step and tell the supervisor. Changing the steps or criteria of a shaping plan is a supervisor decision. The RBT's observation, backed by data, helps the supervisor decide whether to adjust the plan.

• A: Skipping steps changes the plan without supervisor direction.
• B: Skipping even one step is still a change to the plan.
• C: Caregivers cannot approve clinical changes in place of the supervisor.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: The supervisor, who designs the behavior plan. The supervisor designs crisis procedures as part of the client's plan, using input from caregivers and the team. The RBT is trained in them and implements them as written.

• B: RBTs implement crisis plans; they do not design them.
• C: Caregivers give input, but the supervisor designs the plan.
• D: Crisis procedures are planned in advance, not made up during a crisis.

Task D.7 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: Whole interval recording. Whole interval recording leaves an interval unscored if the behavior stops even briefly, so time spent in the behavior during unscored intervals is lost and the percentage is usually lower than the true value.

• B: Partial interval recording tends to overestimate, because brief occurrences count for the whole interval.
• C: Momentary time sampling can over- or underestimate; it has no built-in tendency to underestimate.
• D: A planned activity check is a group form of momentary time sampling and shares its pattern of error.

Task A.2 · 40-hour curriculum section C

A: Escape from demands. Demand fading reduces the aversive demands that evoke escape-maintained behavior and then reintroduces them gradually.

• B: Attention-maintained behavior is addressed by changing access to attention, not by changing demands.
• C: Tangible-maintained behavior is tied to access to items.
• D: Automatically reinforced behavior is not maintained by removal of demands.

Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E

D: Call-outs may persist due to intermittent reinforcement. Occasional reinforcement of problem behavior is intermittent reinforcement, which can keep the behavior going and make it harder to reduce.

• A: Inconsistent extinction slows progress; it does not speed it up.
• B: Reinforcing call-outs gives the client a competing way to get attention, which does not help hand raising.
• C: Even occasional reinforcement can maintain behavior.

Task D.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.02

C: Duration recording. Continuous measurement captures every occurrence of the behavior during the observation period. Duration recording times each occurrence from start to end, so nothing is missed; the interval and time-sampling procedures record only a sample.

• A: Partial interval recording only notes whether the behavior happened at some point in each interval, so it samples the behavior.
• B: Momentary time sampling checks the behavior only at the moment each interval ends.
• D: Whole interval recording only notes whether the behavior lasted through each entire interval.

Task A.1 · 40-hour curriculum section C

C: The sight of fingers flicking in front of the eyes. Automatic reinforcement is produced directly by the behavior itself, such as the visual sensation created by flicking fingers.

• A: A peer's laughter is attention from another person, a social consequence.
• B: A break given by a teacher is social negative reinforcement.
• D: A snack given by a caregiver is social positive reinforcement.

Task D.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A

A: Labeling coins, which the client got right on 1 of 10 baseline trials. A target is in acquisition when the client cannot yet perform it, as shown by low baseline performance. The other targets have already been mastered and are being maintained.

• B: A mastered target that is probed weekly is a maintenance target.
• C: A target that met mastery criterion is no longer in acquisition.
• D: A mastered skill used in daily life is being maintained, not acquired.

Task C.9 · 40-hour curriculum section A

B: It decreases the future frequency of the behavior it follows. Punishment is defined functionally: a consequence is a punisher only if the behavior it follows occurs less often in the future. What the consequence looks like, or what was intended, does not decide it.

• A: Punishment is defined by its effect on behavior, not by anyone's intent.
• C: A consequence can upset someone without reducing the behavior; only a decrease shows punishment.
• D: Withholding the maintaining reinforcer is extinction.

Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: "Client hit the RBT's arm with an open hand 5 times.". Naming the specific behavior from the definition, with the count, tells the reader exactly what happened.

• B: "Outbursts" is a label and does not say what the client did.
• C: Adding "very" still does not say what the client did.
• D: "Aggressive behavior" restates the label without describing it.

Task E.4 · 40-hour curriculum section F

B: This is shaping, because the criterion moves step by step toward a goal. Shaping can change a dimension of the same behavior, such as duration, without changing its form. Reinforcing faster completion one step at a time is shaping within a response topography.

• A: Shaping does not require a change in form; a dimension such as duration can be shaped.
• C: Backward chaining teaches the last step first; it is not about reducing total time.
• D: DRL reinforces a lower rate of a behavior, while this plan reinforces shorter duration of one routine.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: Those of the BACB, their employer and the law. Standard 2.08 says RBTs protect confidentiality by following all related requirements established by the BACB, employers and the law (e.g., privacy laws, licensure requirements).

• A: The code says RBTs follow the requirements of the BACB, employers and the law.
• C: Employer rules, BACB requirements and other laws also apply.
• D: Confidentiality rules come from the BACB, employers and the law.

Task F.5 · RBT Ethics Code 2.08

B: Each note must describe what happened in that session. A copied note will not match what actually happened and makes the record inaccurate. Each note documents its own session.

• A: Notes may be electronic; the problem is accuracy, not format.
• C: Length is not the issue; a copied note does not describe this session.
• D: No approval makes an inaccurate note acceptable.

Task E.4 · RBT Ethics Code 2.02 · RBT Ethics Code 1.01

D: Watching the client order at a café and recording each step. Direct observation of the client performing the skill in the real setting shows exactly which steps they can complete and which need teaching.

• A: A self-report is indirect and may not match what the client actually does.
• B: Ratings from memory are indirect and can be inaccurate.
• C: Old scores may not reflect the client's current skills.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D

B: It returned to about its baseline level. The behavior dropped during intervention and rose back to about the first baseline level when baseline conditions returned. That shows the behavior changed with the conditions.

• A: The final phase is much higher than the intervention phase.
• C: The final phase is higher, not lower.
• D: The final phase is at about the same level as the first baseline.

Task A.7 · 40-hour curriculum section C

C: 6. To find the median, put the values in order (3, 5, 6, 9, 12) and take the middle one, which is 6.

• A: 7 is the mean (35 / 5), not the median.
• B: 9 is the range (12 minus 3), not the median.
• D: 12 is the middle value of the list as recorded; the values must be put in order first.

Task A.6 · 40-hour curriculum section C

A: Share the observation and data with the supervisor. Collaborating includes offering what the RBT observes. Passing the pattern and data to the supervisor lets them decide whether it matters for the plan.

• B: Changing the schedule is a team decision, not the RBT's.
• C: Observations from the RBT are valuable input for the supervisor's analysis.
• D: A pattern does not prove a cause, and interpreting it for the family is the supervisor's role.

Task F.9 · 40-hour curriculum section F · 40-hour curriculum section G

B: An RBT buys a used car from a client's parent. Buying from or selling to a client's family adds a business relationship to the professional one. The other examples are all part of the RBT's ordinary professional role.

• A: Training from a supervisor is part of the same professional relationship.
• C: Different settings do not create a second role.
• D: Collaborating with another provider is a professional activity, not a second role.

Task F.7 · RBT Ethics Code 1.10

A: Natural environment training. Natural environment training teaches skills where and when they are actually used, with the natural result (finding the item) as the reinforcer.

• B: DTT uses repeated, adult-led trials, usually in a structured setting, not one real request during shopping.
• C: Precision teaching focuses on building fluency with timed practice and charting.
• D: Backward chaining teaches the last step of a chain first; a single request is not a chained task.

Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: Decline, tell the supervisor and document the request. Designing interventions is beyond an RBT's scope. When asked to do something outside their scope, RBTs inform their supervisor and document that communication (Standard 1.06).

• A: Drafting the plan is still outside the RBT's role, even with later sign-off.
• B: Writing a plan is designing an intervention, which is outside the RBT's role.
• D: Giving outside guidance is still giving intervention advice the supervisor has not approved.

Task E.2 · RBT Ethics Code 1.06 · 40-hour curriculum section F

D: Tokens given without the target behavior weaken the contingency. A token economy works because tokens follow specific target behaviors. Giving tokens for nothing weakens that relationship, and it may also reinforce whatever the client was doing at the time.

• A: A client's mood does not decide whether tokens are given; the target behavior does.
• B: Tokens are conditioned reinforcers whether or not they are given contingently.
• C: Response cost removes tokens; giving tokens is not response cost.

Task C.11 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: Pointed to 7 of 10 pictures named by the RBT, with no prompts. Objective notes describe what the client actually did in terms that can be counted or observed, so another person reading the note would picture the same performance.

• A: "Seemed bored" and "did not really try" are guesses about inner states.
• C: "Did not feel like answering" is a guess about the client's feelings.
• D: "Did great" is a judgment, and a comparison with other children is not something the RBT observed.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task A.5

D: Intertrial interval. The intertrial interval is the short pause between the end of one trial (the consequence) and the instruction that starts the next. RBTs often use it to record data and reset materials.

• A: Latency is the time from an instruction to the start of the client's response, not the pause between trials.
• B: A prompt delay is the time between the instruction and the prompt within a trial.
• C: A limited hold is a time window in which a response must occur to be reinforced, not the gap between trials.

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E