RBT practice test 8

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 1A plan puts a client's attention-maintained yelling on extinction. A new RBT stops talking to the client for the entire session. What is the problem?
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B: Only yelling should lose attention; other behavior should still get it. Extinction targets the contingency between one behavior and its reinforcer. Attention should still follow appropriate behavior, which also makes it more likely the client will use those behaviors.
- A: Leaving the room is not required; the RBT withholds attention after yelling only.
- C: DRO delivers reinforcement for intervals without the behavior; this RBT gives none at all.
- D: Removing toys is not part of attention extinction and is not in the plan.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 2At the start of November, an RBT realizes that in October they had only one supervision contact. What should the RBT do?
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A: Self-report it to the BACB and plan with the supervisor to meet requirements. The RBT Handbook says that RBTs who find they are not meeting supervision requirements report this to the BACB and, depending on the situation, work with the supervisor, find another supervisor, or consider voluntary inactive status.
- B: Supervision is required each calendar month; later contacts cannot make up a past month.
- C: Recording a contact that did not happen would be falsifying documentation.
- D: The handbook says supervision noncompliance is reported to the BACB.
Task F.3 · RBT Ethics Code 3.01 · RBT Handbook p. 21 · RBT Handbook p. 23
Question 3A teacher asks the RBT whether the student's medication was recently changed. The RBT knows it was, from the caregiver. What should the RBT do?
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A: Not share it without the supervisor's direction. RBTs discuss confidential client information only under their supervisor's direction or when the law allows (Standard 2.10).
- B: Directing the teacher to the student is inappropriate.
- C: Being on the team does not make the teacher authorized to receive medical information.
- D: A promise of secrecy does not authorize disclosure.
Task E.3 · RBT Ethics Code 2.10
Question 4An RBT's romantic relationship with a BCBA ended four months ago. At the RBT's new job, that BCBA is assigned as their RBT Supervisor. What should the RBT do?
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D: Decline their supervision until six months have passed. RBTs do not receive supervision from someone they had a romantic or sexual relationship with until at least six months after it ended. The RBT should raise this so another supervisor can be assigned.
- A: The code sets a waiting period even after the relationship ends.
- B: Good intentions do not replace the waiting period in the code.
- C: Two years is the rule for former clients and stakeholders; for supervision it is six months.
Task F.7 · RBT Ethics Code 1.12
Question 5During assessment, a child ties their shoes correctly when offered a sticker, but at home they usually do not tie their shoes even when asked. Which statement best describes this?
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A: The child has the skill but does not usually use it in typical conditions. Doing the skill correctly when a reinforcer is offered shows that the skill is in the child's repertoire. Not doing it under typical conditions is a performance problem rather than a missing skill, and that difference matters when the supervisor plans teaching.
- B: The child tied their shoes correctly, so the skill has been learned.
- C: The child does not use the skill at home, so it is not used in all settings.
- D: The child tied their shoes correctly, which shows the motor ability is present.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 6On a community outing, an RBT needs to count each time a client greets a cashier, but writing on a data sheet is not practical. Which method keeps an accurate count?
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C: Clicking a hand-held counter after each greeting. Frequency recording can be done with any tool that marks each occurrence as it happens, such as a tally counter, a data app or moving small objects from one pocket to another.
- A: An estimate made later depends on memory and is not a count.
- B: Counting for only part of the outing does not capture every occurrence during the observation period.
- D: A client's later report is not direct observation and may be inaccurate.
Task A.1 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Question 7An RBT has questions about a client's progress for their next individual supervision contact. How can they make the best use of it?
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C: Bring a list of questions with the related data. Preparing specific questions with data helps the RBT get clear direction.
- A: Waiting may leave important questions unanswered.
- B: General questions get general answers.
- D: Supervision should cover the client's services.
Task E.2 · 40-hour curriculum section F
Question 8A graph's vertical axis is labeled "Total minutes of on-task behavior." Today's data sheet lists three on-task episodes lasting 4, 6, and 5 minutes. What value should the RBT plot for today?
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A: 15 minutes. The graph asks for total duration, so the episode durations are added: 4 + 6 + 5 = 15 minutes.
- B: 3 is the number of episodes, not their total duration.
- C: 5 minutes is the mean duration per episode, not the total.
- D: 6 minutes is the longest single episode, not the total.
Task A.4 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Question 9A client eloped 4 times during a 2-hour session on Monday and 9 times during a 3-hour session on Tuesday. What is the client's overall rate of elopement across both sessions?
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D: 2.6 per hour. Overall rate is total count divided by total observation time: (4 + 9) / (2 + 3) = 13 / 5 = 2.6 elopements per hour.
- A: This averages the two session rates (2 and 3 per hour), which gives the 2-hour session as much weight as the longer one.
- B: 6.5 is the mean count per session, not a rate per hour.
- C: 13 is the total count, not divided by the 5 hours observed.
Task A.6 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Question 10A parent asks the RBT what "differential reinforcement" in the plan means. What is the best response?
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D: Explain it in plain words and offer to involve the supervisor. Good communication with caregivers avoids jargon. A plain explanation, such as which behavior earns rewards in the plan and which does not, plus an offer to involve the supervisor for detail, respects the parent and the RBT's role.
- A: Jargon is still jargon when said slowly.
- B: This shuts the parent out of their child's services.
- C: A textbook is not a substitute for a clear, plain-language answer.
Task F.9 · 40-hour curriculum section G
Question 11An adult client's task analysis includes the step "Uses good hygiene." Why is this step a problem?
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B: It is not a single observable action. Each step of a task analysis should be a specific, observable action. A vague step like this should be reported to the supervisor so it can be broken into clear steps.
- A: Length is not the issue; the step does not name an observable action.
- C: Many hygiene routines are taught with chaining.
- D: Adults often have hygiene goals; the problem is how the step is written.
Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 12An RBT works with three clients, and each client's services are overseen by a different BCBA at the organization. A teacher of one client raises a concern. Whom should the RBT tell?
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C: The BCBA who oversees that client's services. The supervisor for a given client has the client-specific knowledge to direct the RBT's work with that client, so client concerns go to that person.
- A: That BCBA may not know or oversee this client.
- B: Ease of contact does not make someone responsible for the client.
- D: Clinical concerns go to a supervisor, not to administrative staff.
Task E.1 · RBT Handbook p. 20 · RBT Ethics Code 2.06
Question 13A plan targets a child's escape-maintained tantrums with escape extinction. A new RBT instead stays silent during tantrums and leaves the task off the table until the child calms. Tantrums increase. What is the most likely reason?
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C: The tantrums still removed the task, so they were reinforced. Extinction must match the function. For escape-maintained behavior, removing the task after the behavior is negative reinforcement. Ignoring does not stop the escape, so the tantrums are strengthened.
- A: Bursts are temporary; the real problem is that tantrums still produced escape.
- B: Attention was withheld, and attention is not the function here, so satiation does not explain it.
- D: Ignoring fails here because it withholds the wrong reinforcer, not because tokens were missing.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 14A client's updated plan adds a response cost procedure. The RBT has not yet used response cost with any client. What must happen before the RBT implements it?
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D: The supervisor verifies the RBT can implement it correctly. Under the RBT Ethics Code, restrictive or punishment-based procedures are used only when they are in a documented behavior-change plan and after the supervisor has verified the RBT's competence.
- A: Reading helps, but the code requires the supervisor to verify competence.
- B: Watching once does not show competence; the supervisor must verify it.
- C: Client agreement does not replace supervisor verification of the RBT's competence.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.05 · RBT Ethics Code 1.06
Question 15Two clients in the same group use the same token board and the same backup items. One client works steadily for tokens, while the other ignores them. What is the most likely explanation?
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C: Each client's history and current motivation give the tokens a different value.. Whether a conditioned reinforcer works depends on the individual's learning history and on the current value of its backup reinforcers. The same system can work well for one client and poorly for another.
- A: Tokens are conditioned reinforcers, and their effect differs between individuals.
- B: Nothing suggests the client cannot learn; the tokens or backups may simply not have been established as valuable for this client yet.
- D: Satiation lowers a reinforcer's value; it would reduce working, not increase it.
Task C.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 16When the RBT stops reinforcing the previous approximation, the client briefly repeats that approximation more often and more forcefully and fusses. What best explains this?
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C: An extinction burst for the earlier approximation. Once an approximation is no longer reinforced, it is on extinction, and a temporary increase in its frequency or intensity, often with emotional responding, is an extinction burst.
- A: Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished behavior after time has passed, not an increase right after reinforcement stops.
- B: Satiation would reduce responding overall, not make the earlier approximation more forceful.
- D: Response generalization is the appearance of untaught forms with the same function, not a brief increase in an old form.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 17A supervisor chooses to teach a client to ask for help because adults in almost every setting respond to requests for help. Which generalization principle is the supervisor using?
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A: Teach behaviors that natural consequences will reinforce. Skills that are reinforced by everyday consequences, such as getting help after asking for it, are more likely to occur and continue outside of teaching. Choosing such targets is one of the strongest ways to promote generalization.
- B: Continuous reinforcement after mastery does not promote generalization; thinning toward everyday schedules does.
- C: Teaching in only one setting tends to limit generalization rather than promote it.
- D: Using one instructor can make the skill depend on that person instead of generalizing across people.
Task C.8 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 18A note reads: "The client covered their ears, said 'too loud,' and was overwhelmed by the noise." Which part cannot be directly observed?
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D: Was overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed is an inferred internal state, not something an observer can see. Covering ears and speaking are actions an observer can see and hear.
- A: Covering the ears is a visible action.
- B: What the client said can be heard and recorded.
- C: Noise is a feature of the environment that observers can hear.
Task A.5 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Question 19A client's plan uses escape extinction for refusal. During a session, the client's aggression escalates until it meets the conditions written in the crisis plan. What should the RBT do?
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B: Switch to the crisis plan steps, since safety now comes first. Behavior plans and crisis plans work together. When the crisis plan's conditions are met, its safety steps take over. Afterward, the RBT documents what happened and reports to the supervisor.
- A: Extinction does not override the crisis plan once crisis conditions are met.
- C: The crisis plan sets the steps; giving in is not the planned response.
- D: Leaving the client during a crisis is unsafe and not in the plan.
Task D.7 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 20During home sessions, an RBT implements attention extinction for a client's yelling, as written. The RBT sees that a parent often responds to the yelling with long talks. What is the best next step?
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C: Tell the supervisor so they can address consistency with the family. Inconsistent extinction can keep the behavior going. The RBT keeps implementing the plan and reports the observation to the supervisor, who works with caregivers on consistency.
- A: The RBT may not stop or change a plan on their own; that is the supervisor's decision.
- B: Adding a procedure that is not in the plan is outside the RBT's role.
- D: Staying consistent is right, but information that could affect progress should go to the supervisor.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.06
Question 21Which description best fits a curriculum-based assessment?
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C: It tests the client on the skills listed in the curriculum to be taught. A curriculum-based assessment tests the client on the skills listed in a teaching curriculum, so the results point directly to which skills in that curriculum to teach next.
- A: Comparing a score with same-age peers describes a norm-referenced assessment.
- B: Rating how often problem behavior occurs in situations is an indirect functional assessment method.
- D: Recording what happens before and after behavior describes ABC data collection, a descriptive functional assessment.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 22In a classroom, a marble is added to a jar each time the whole class follows the transition rule. When the jar is full, the whole class earns a party. What kind of contingency is this?
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C: An interdependent group contingency. In an interdependent group contingency, everyone receives the reinforcer based on the performance of the group as a whole. Here the class earns marbles, and the party, only when the group meets the rule.
- A: In an independent group contingency, each student earns reinforcement based on their own behavior.
- B: In a dependent group contingency, the group's reinforcement depends on the behavior of one student or a small subgroup.
- D: Response cost removes reinforcers; here marbles are added.
Task C.11 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 23An RBT meets a new family for the first session. How should they introduce themselves?
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D: With their name and role, noting they work under a supervisor. Representing oneself accurately as an RBT includes explaining the role: an RBT carries out services under the direction of a supervisor.
- A: RBTs implement plans; the supervisor designs the program.
- B: This misrepresents the credential the RBT holds.
- C: Starting without introductions does not build rapport or explain the RBT's role.
Task F.9 · RBT Ethics Code 1.05 · 40-hour curriculum section G
Question 24A client starts screaming while sitting alone with a puzzle. No one has spoken to the client for about 5 minutes. How should the RBT record the antecedent?
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B: Alone with puzzle; no adult interaction for about 5 minutes. The antecedent includes the conditions just before the behavior, including the absence of attention. Writing this objectively gives the supervisor useful information without guessing the function.
- A: The lack of interaction is an important antecedent condition, so "nothing happened" loses information.
- C: "Bored" is a guess about an inner state.
- D: "Wanted attention" is a guess about function, not an observation.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 25A client keeps struggling with the step "brush teeth" in a hygiene task analysis. The supervisor splits it into smaller steps (top teeth, bottom teeth, front, back). Why?
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D: The step was too big to learn as written. Task analyses are adjusted to the learner. When a step is too big to learn, breaking it into smaller steps makes each one possible to prompt, reinforce and score.
- A: Making the task longer is not the aim; making each step learnable is.
- B: Splitting a step does not by itself reduce reinforcement.
- C: Step size should fit the learner; more steps are not always better.
Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E

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Practice test 9

What this test covers

Questions in this test by task
Task	Questions
A.1 Continuous measurement	1
A.4 Entering data and updating graphs	1
A.5 Describing behavior in observable, measurable terms	1
A.6 Calculating and summarizing data	1
B.2 Skill assessments	2
B.3 Functional assessment	1
C.2 Conditioned reinforcers	1
C.5 Task analysis and chaining	2
C.8 Generalization	1
C.10 Shaping	1
C.11 Token economies	1
D.4 Extinction	3
D.5 Positive and negative punishment	1
D.7 Crisis and emergency procedures	1
E.1 Communicating team concerns to your supervisor	1
E.2 Seeking clinical direction	1
E.3 Reporting variables that affect progress	1
F.3 Ongoing supervision	1
F.7 Multiple relationships	1
F.9 Interpersonal and professional skills	2

0 easier, 13 exam-level and 12 harder questions. Each task link opens its study page.

Question 1A plan puts a client's attention-maintained yelling on extinction. A new RBT stops talking to the client for the entire session. What is the problem?

Question 2At the start of November, an RBT realizes that in October they had only one supervision contact. What should the RBT do?

Question 3A teacher asks the RBT whether the student's medication was recently changed. The RBT knows it was, from the caregiver. What should the RBT do?

Question 4An RBT's romantic relationship with a BCBA ended four months ago. At the RBT's new job, that BCBA is assigned as their RBT Supervisor. What should the RBT do?

Question 5During assessment, a child ties their shoes correctly when offered a sticker, but at home they usually do not tie their shoes even when asked. Which statement best describes this?

Question 6On a community outing, an RBT needs to count each time a client greets a cashier, but writing on a data sheet is not practical. Which method keeps an accurate count?

Question 7An RBT has questions about a client's progress for their next individual supervision contact. How can they make the best use of it?

Question 8A graph's vertical axis is labeled "Total minutes of on-task behavior." Today's data sheet lists three on-task episodes lasting 4, 6, and 5 minutes. What value should the RBT plot for today?

Question 9A client eloped 4 times during a 2-hour session on Monday and 9 times during a 3-hour session on Tuesday. What is the client's overall rate of elopement across both sessions?

Question 10A parent asks the RBT what "differential reinforcement" in the plan means. What is the best response?

Question 11An adult client's task analysis includes the step "Uses good hygiene." Why is this step a problem?

Question 12An RBT works with three clients, and each client's services are overseen by a different BCBA at the organization. A teacher of one client raises a concern. Whom should the RBT tell?

Question 13A plan targets a child's escape-maintained tantrums with escape extinction. A new RBT instead stays silent during tantrums and leaves the task off the table until the child calms. Tantrums increase. What is the most likely reason?

Question 14A client's updated plan adds a response cost procedure. The RBT has not yet used response cost with any client. What must happen before the RBT implements it?

Question 15Two clients in the same group use the same token board and the same backup items. One client works steadily for tokens, while the other ignores them. What is the most likely explanation?

Question 16When the RBT stops reinforcing the previous approximation, the client briefly repeats that approximation more often and more forcefully and fusses. What best explains this?

Question 17A supervisor chooses to teach a client to ask for help because adults in almost every setting respond to requests for help. Which generalization principle is the supervisor using?

Question 18A note reads: "The client covered their ears, said 'too loud,' and was overwhelmed by the noise." Which part cannot be directly observed?

Question 19A client's plan uses escape extinction for refusal. During a session, the client's aggression escalates until it meets the conditions written in the crisis plan. What should the RBT do?

Question 20During home sessions, an RBT implements attention extinction for a client's yelling, as written. The RBT sees that a parent often responds to the yelling with long talks. What is the best next step?

Question 21Which description best fits a curriculum-based assessment?

Question 22In a classroom, a marble is added to a jar each time the whole class follows the transition rule. When the jar is full, the whole class earns a party. What kind of contingency is this?

Question 23An RBT meets a new family for the first session. How should they introduce themselves?

Question 24A client starts screaming while sitting alone with a puzzle. No one has spoken to the client for about 5 minutes. How should the RBT record the antecedent?

Question 25A client keeps struggling with the step "brush teeth" in a hygiene task analysis. The supervisor splits it into smaller steps (top teeth, bottom teeth, front, back). Why?

What this test covers