RBT practice test: Behavior Assessment

Content area B, Behavior Assessment, is 8 of the 75 scored questions on the exam (11%). These 20 questions mix its 3 tasks; there are 106 practice questions for this area in 5 sets.

20 questions

Question 1Compared 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 2Which situation would test whether a client can mand?
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A: Holding a favorite snack in view but out of reach and waiting for a request. A mand is a request controlled by motivation for a specific item or action. Having a wanted item visible but out of reach sets up an opportunity to request it.
- B: Naming a pictured item tests a tact.
- C: Repeating a spoken model tests an echoic.
- D: Answering a question with no item present tests an intraverbal.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · 40-hour curriculum section A
Question 3Why do functional analyses require careful supervision and safety rules?
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A: The conditions are designed to evoke problem behavior. Test conditions are designed to create the situations in which problem behavior occurs. The supervisor sets safety rules, such as when to end a session, and the RBT follows them.
- B: Functional analyses test existing behavior; they are not designed to teach new problem behavior.
- C: Functional analysis conditions test reinforcement, not punishment.
- D: Assessments are done with informed consent from the client or their caregivers.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 4A supervisor asks an RBT to present a client's items one at a time and record whether the client reaches for or engages with each one. Which preference assessment is this?
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C: Single stimulus. In a single-stimulus assessment, items are presented one at a time and the RBT records approach or engagement. It does not require the client to choose between items.
- A: MSWO presents several items in an array.
- B: A free-operant assessment makes all items available together.
- D: A paired-stimulus assessment presents two items per trial.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 5To assess a multi-step skill such as handwashing, the RBT records which steps the client completes independently. What is the written list of steps called?
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C: A task analysis. A task analysis breaks a complex skill into smaller, ordered steps. Scoring each step shows exactly where the client needs teaching.
- A: A scatterplot shows when a behavior happens across times of day.
- B: A functional analysis tests what maintains problem behavior.
- D: A preference hierarchy ranks items by how much the client prefers them.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task C.5
Question 6Because a client's self-injury could be dangerous, the supervisor replaces the alone condition with an ignore condition in which an adult stays in the room but provides no social consequences. Why?
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A: An adult can watch for safety while giving no social consequences. The ignore condition tests whether behavior continues without social consequences, like the alone condition, while an adult stays present to keep the client safe.
- B: Giving attention would turn it into an attention condition.
- C: Presenting tasks would turn it into a demand condition.
- D: Delivering items would turn it into a tangible condition.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 7A client consistently picks a fruit snack first in preference assessments. When the snack is delivered for correct responses in a matching program, correct responding does not increase over several sessions. What is the best interpretation?
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B: The snack may not reinforce this response; report it to the supervisor. A highly preferred item does not always function as a reinforcer for a given response. The RBT reports the data so the supervisor can decide on next steps, such as a reinforcer assessment or different items.
- A: An extinction burst follows the removal of reinforcement, which is not what happened here.
- C: Preference results can be accurate even when an item does not reinforce a particular response, and the RBT does not decide to stop assessments.
- D: No data show that responding decreased, and changes to programs are the supervisor's call.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 8Which assessment note is written in objective, observable terms?
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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
Question 9A supervisor interviews a client's caregivers about when the client's hitting happens, what usually happens before it and how adults respond. Which type of functional assessment is this?
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C: Indirect assessment. Interviews and rating scales gather information from people who know the client rather than observing the behavior directly, so they are indirect assessments.
- A: Descriptive assessment involves directly observing the behavior as it happens.
- B: A functional analysis arranges test conditions and measures the behavior directly.
- D: A scatterplot is filled in by observing when the behavior occurs across the day.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 10A supervisor's paired-stimulus protocol has 6 items, with each item paired once with every other item. How many trials does the full assessment take?
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B: 15. The number of unique pairs is n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 = 6 × 5 ÷ 2 = 15 trials.
- A: 12 is twice the number of items, not the number of unique pairs.
- C: 30 counts each pair twice (6 × 5) without dividing by 2.
- D: 36 is 6 × 6, which would include items paired with themselves and repeated pairs.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 11Before a long skills assessment, the supervisor asks the RBT to run a brief preference assessment. What is the most likely reason?
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A: To find items that can reinforce participation during the assessment. A long assessment asks a lot of the client. Knowing which items the client currently prefers lets the team reinforce cooperation and offer breaks with items the client will work for.
- B: Function is found with a functional assessment, not a preference assessment.
- C: Mastered skills are found with the skills assessment itself.
- D: A preference assessment ranks items; it does not choose teaching targets.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task B.1
Question 12An RBT collected 20 ABC entries for a client's aggression. In 14 of them, the antecedent was "adult presented a task." What percentage of the entries had this antecedent?
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C: 70%. Percentage = entries with the antecedent ÷ total entries × 100. Here 14 ÷ 20 = 0.70, so 70%. The supervisor interprets what this pattern means.
- A: 14 is the number of entries, not the percentage.
- B: 30% is the share of entries without this antecedent (6 of 20).
- D: 60% of 20 would be 12 entries, not 14.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task A.6
Question 13Why are preference assessments repeated often, in some cases before each session?
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A: Preferences shift with satiation, deprivation, and time. The value of an item changes with motivating operations such as satiation and deprivation, and with time. Frequent brief assessments keep the team's list of likely reinforcers current.
- B: There is no BACB rule requiring a preference assessment every session; frequency is a clinical decision.
- C: Items lose value temporarily with satiation; it is not permanent.
- D: Teaching choice-making is not the purpose of repeating an assessment.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D · 40-hour curriculum section A
Question 14Which 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 15In ABC data, what do the letters A, B and C stand for?
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B: Antecedent, behavior, consequence. ABC data record the antecedent (what happened just before), the behavior (what the client did) and the consequence (what happened just after).
- A: Attention and compliance are not what the A and C stand for.
- C: These are other ABA terms, not the parts of ABC data.
- D: This ABC model comes from cognitive therapy, not from ABC data in behavior analysis.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 16During a free-operant preference assessment, what does the RBT typically record?
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B: How long the client engages with each item. Free-operant assessments measure the duration of engagement with each available item. More time spent with an item indicates stronger preference.
- A: Order of selection with removal is MSWO data.
- C: Approach to one presented item is single-stimulus data.
- D: Choosing between pairs is paired-stimulus data.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 17A supervisor wants to know whether an adult client can order food at a café. Which method gives the most direct information?
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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
Question 18In the attention condition of a functional analysis, why does the adult withhold attention except after the target behavior?
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A: Low attention makes attention more valuable, testing whether it maintains behavior. Going without attention acts as an establishing operation that makes attention more valuable. If behavior then increases when it produces attention, attention likely maintains it.
- B: Withholding attention is a motivating condition, not a punishment procedure.
- C: A break from demands is the consequence tested in the escape condition.
- D: A functional analysis assesses behavior; it does not teach play skills.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 19During a 10-minute free-operant assessment, a client engages with a puzzle for a total of 4 minutes. What percentage of the session did the client spend with the puzzle?
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B: 40%. Percentage of session = engagement time ÷ session length × 100 = 4 ÷ 10 × 100 = 40%.
- A: 4% treats the minutes as a percentage without dividing by the session length.
- C: 60% is the percentage of the session not spent with the puzzle.
- D: 67% divides puzzle time by the 6 minutes not spent with the puzzle instead of by the 10-minute session.
Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D
Question 20Which of these is an example of a skill strength?
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C: Follows 2-step instructions at home and at school without help. A strength is a skill the client already performs well. Following 2-step instructions independently in two settings is a skill the client has.
- A: Crying and dropping to the floor is problem behavior, not a skill.
- B: Needing full physical prompts shows a deficit in that skill.
- D: A skill the client has not learned is a deficit.
Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D

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Practice test 2

Study the tasks first

Each task in this content area has a study page with the definitions, worked examples and common mistakes: see B. Behavior Assessment in the task list.

What this test covers

Questions in this test by task
Task	Questions
B.1 Preference assessments	7
B.2 Skill assessments	7
B.3 Functional assessment	6

4 easier, 12 exam-level and 4 harder questions. Each task link opens its study page.

Question 1Compared with a paired-stimulus assessment, what is a key advantage of MSWO?

Question 2Which situation would test whether a client can mand?

Question 3Why do functional analyses require careful supervision and safety rules?

Question 4A supervisor asks an RBT to present a client's items one at a time and record whether the client reaches for or engages with each one. Which preference assessment is this?

Question 5To assess a multi-step skill such as handwashing, the RBT records which steps the client completes independently. What is the written list of steps called?

Question 6Because a client's self-injury could be dangerous, the supervisor replaces the alone condition with an ignore condition in which an adult stays in the room but provides no social consequences. Why?

Question 7A client consistently picks a fruit snack first in preference assessments. When the snack is delivered for correct responses in a matching program, correct responding does not increase over several sessions. What is the best interpretation?

Question 8Which assessment note is written in objective, observable terms?

Question 9A supervisor interviews a client's caregivers about when the client's hitting happens, what usually happens before it and how adults respond. Which type of functional assessment is this?

Question 10A supervisor's paired-stimulus protocol has 6 items, with each item paired once with every other item. How many trials does the full assessment take?

Question 11Before a long skills assessment, the supervisor asks the RBT to run a brief preference assessment. What is the most likely reason?

Question 12An RBT collected 20 ABC entries for a client's aggression. In 14 of them, the antecedent was "adult presented a task." What percentage of the entries had this antecedent?

Question 13Why are preference assessments repeated often, in some cases before each session?

Question 14Which description best fits a curriculum-based assessment?

Question 15In ABC data, what do the letters A, B and C stand for?

Question 16During a free-operant preference assessment, what does the RBT typically record?

Question 17A supervisor wants to know whether an adult client can order food at a café. Which method gives the most direct information?

Question 18In the attention condition of a functional analysis, why does the adult withhold attention except after the target behavior?

Question 19During a 10-minute free-operant assessment, a client engages with a puzzle for a total of 4 minutes. What percentage of the session did the client spend with the puzzle?

Question 20Which of these is an example of a skill strength?

Study the tasks first

What this test covers