RBT Behavior Assessment Practice Questions, Set 3

Question 1An RBT helps with a skills assessment at a client's home while a TV is loud and siblings are playing nearby. The client misses many items. What should the RBT document?

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A: The distractions that were present, so the supervisor can consider them. Environmental conditions such as noise and distractions can affect a client's performance. Documenting them helps the supervisor interpret the results.

B: Noise and distractions can affect how a client performs.
C: Drawing a clinical conclusion about attention is beyond the RBT's role and the data.
D: This is a judgment about the caregiver, not an objective description of the conditions.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task E.3

Question 2In a functional analysis, hand mouthing occurred at similarly high levels in every condition, including the alone condition. What do these results suggest?

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C: The behavior is likely maintained by automatic reinforcement. When behavior stays high across all conditions, including when the client is alone with no social consequences, the results suggest the behavior produces its own reinforcement.

A: Behavior maintained by attention would be high mainly in the attention condition.
B: Behavior maintained by escape would be high mainly in the demand condition.
D: Behavior that persists is being reinforced in some way; automatic reinforcement is still a function.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task D.1

Question 3In a paired-stimulus assessment with 5 items (each paired once with every other item, so each item is presented 4 times), the client chose bubbles 4 times, music 3 times, a ball 2 times, a puzzle 1 time, and blocks 0 times. What is music's selection percentage and rank?

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D: 75%, ranked second. Music was chosen 3 of the 4 times it was presented: 3 ÷ 4 × 100 = 75%. Bubbles (4 of 4, 100%) is higher, so music ranks second.

A: 30% divides by all 10 trials instead of the 4 trials in which music was presented.
B: 60% divides by 5, but music was presented 4 times.
C: Bubbles was chosen on every presentation, so music is not first.

Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 4An RBT is scheduled to help with a curriculum-based assessment tomorrow. What is an appropriate way to prepare?

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B: Review the assessment instructions and gather the materials. Preparing for an assessment means knowing the procedures and having the required materials ready, so the assessment runs as designed.

A: Practicing the items beforehand teaches the test and makes the results inaccurate.
C: Which sections to give is the supervisor's decision, not the RBT's.
D: Telling the client the answers makes the results meaningless.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 5Which entry in the behavior column of an ABC data sheet is written in observable terms?

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A: Hit the table with an open hand 3 times. The behavior column should describe exactly what the client did, so that another observer would picture the same behavior.

B: "Angry" and "lost control" are interpretations, not observable actions.
C: "Frustrated" is a guess about an inner state.
D: "Meltdown" is vague, and "because of hunger" is a guess about the cause.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task A.5

Question 6Why are items in a trial-based preference assessment placed at equal distances from the client?

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B: So choices reflect preference, not ease of reach. If one item is closer or easier to reach, the client may pick it for that reason. Equal placement helps make each choice reflect preference.

A: Equal distance is about fair choice, not timing.
C: Grabbing several items at once is something the procedure tries to prevent.
D: Item placement is visible to the client and is not hidden.

Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 7After a skills assessment, a caregiver asks the RBT, "Is my child behind other kids their age?" What is the best response?

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B: Explain that the supervisor will go over the results with the caregiver. Interpreting assessment results and discussing them with the family is the supervisor's role. The RBT directs questions about services to the supervisor.

A: Interpreting results for the family is outside the RBT's role.
C: This is a false promise; no one can say that every child will catch up.
D: RBTs do not diagnose or explain diagnoses from assessment scores.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · RBT Ethics Code 2.06

Question 8Functional analysis sessions are 10 minutes long. In one attention session, the client hits 15 times. What is the rate of hitting per minute?

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A: 1.5 per minute. Rate = count ÷ time. Here 15 hits ÷ 10 minutes = 1.5 hits per minute.

B: 0.67 comes from dividing 10 by 15, which flips the calculation.
C: 15 is the count for the whole 10-minute session, not per minute.
D: 150 comes from multiplying instead of dividing.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task A.6

Question 9A supervisor gives an RBT a list of six items for a child's MSWO. The RBT thinks the child would also like a candy that is not on the list. What should the RBT do?

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A: Suggest the candy to the supervisor and use only approved items. The supervisor selects items with the client's needs in mind, including diet, allergies, and caregiver wishes. The RBT shares useful observations and follows the approved protocol.

B: Swapping items is an unapproved change to the protocol and may conflict with dietary rules.
C: Adding an unapproved item changes the protocol and may conflict with dietary rules.
D: Running an unapproved assessment bypasses the supervisor.

Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D · RBT Ethics Code 2.02

Question 10After a skills assessment, a caregiver tells the RBT that the child failed the toileting items and asks the RBT to add toilet training to the child's goals. What should the RBT do?

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D: Tell the caregiver the supervisor will get the request, and pass it on. The supervisor selects and writes goals with the family. The RBT's role is to pass caregiver requests and concerns to the supervisor in a timely way.

A: RBTs do not write or change goals in a client's plan; that is the supervisor's job.
B: Starting a new program without the supervisor goes beyond the RBT's role, even if the supervisor is told later.
C: Toileting is a common target in ABA services, so this statement is false.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D · RBT Ethics Code 2.06 · Task E.1

Question 11In a functional analysis, an attention session lasted 10 minutes with 12 instances of yelling. A demand session lasted 5 minutes with 9 instances of yelling. Which session had the higher rate, and what was that rate?

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D: Demand: 1.8 per minute. Because the sessions were different lengths, compare rates. Attention: 12 ÷ 10 = 1.2 per minute. Demand: 9 ÷ 5 = 1.8 per minute. The demand session had the higher rate.

A: 1.2 per minute is the correct attention rate, but it is lower than the demand rate.
B: 12 is the attention count for the whole 10-minute session, not a rate per minute.
C: 0.9 comes from dividing the demand count by 10 minutes instead of 5.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task A.6

Question 12During a free-operant preference assessment, what does the RBT do?

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A: Allow free access to all items. The RBT stays out of the way and lets the client engage with any items, recording engagement. No items are presented by trial or removed.

B: Presenting items one at a time is single-stimulus assessment.
C: Prompting equal time would hide the client's preferences.
D: Removing items after touch is not part of free-operant assessment.

Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 13Partway through a skills assessment, a client starts crying, pushes the materials away and walks to the door. What should the RBT do?

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A: Pause the assessment, offer a break as the plan allows, and inform the supervisor. Crying, pushing materials away and leaving are signs the client may be withdrawing assent. The RBT pauses, follows the plan, and lets the supervisor decide how to continue. Results taken while the client is distressed would not reflect their skills.

B: Holding a client in place is a restrictive procedure that is not part of an assessment and ignores the client's signs of distress.
C: Items the client was never given cannot be scored as incorrect.
D: Rushing ignores the client's distress and would make the results less accurate.

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

Question 14In a functional analysis session, the RBT sits nearby reading a magazine. Each time the client screams, the RBT says, "Please stop, that's too loud," and then goes back to reading. Which condition is this?

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A: Attention condition. In the attention condition, the adult's attention is withheld until problem behavior occurs, and then brief attention, such as a reprimand or a statement of concern, follows it. This tests whether attention maintains the behavior.

B: The escape condition presents tasks and removes them after problem behavior.
C: In the alone condition, no one gives the client social consequences.
D: In the play condition, attention and preferred items are freely available with no demands.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 15A teen who has not eaten since breakfast picks food items first in an afternoon preference assessment, though they usually pick music. Which statement best explains this?

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C: Deprivation increased the current value of food. Deprivation is an establishing operation: going without food temporarily increases its value as a reinforcer, so food is chosen more often.

A: Satiation decreases an item's value.
B: Extinction is not involved; music was simply less valuable than food at that moment.
D: Nothing in the scenario punished choosing music.

Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D · 40-hour curriculum section A

Question 16During an assessment, a client does not name a picture of a car. The RBT has heard the client say "car" many times during sessions. What should the RBT do?

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D: Score it by the assessment's rules and report the difference to the supervisor. The RBT follows the assessment's scoring rules and reports what was observed. Telling the supervisor that the client says the word elsewhere gives them information to interpret the result.

A: Changing a score on one's own, outside the scoring rules, makes the data inaccurate.
B: Repeating until the client is correct changes the item and inflates the score.
C: Leaving out an item hides information the supervisor needs.

Task B.2 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 17Functional analysis sessions are video recorded so they can be scored later. How should the RBT handle the recordings?

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C: Store and share them only as privacy rules allow. Video of a client is confidential and identifying. RBTs follow BACB, employer and legal requirements for storing and sharing client information.

A: Sharing client video outside the organization breaches confidentiality.
B: A personal phone is not an approved place to store client records.
D: Sending client video to someone outside the treatment team breaches confidentiality.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · RBT Ethics Code 2.08 · RBT Ethics Code 2.10

Question 18In an MSWO, what does the RBT record on each trial?

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D: Which item the client selected. MSWO data are the order of selection: which item was picked on each trial. That order gives the ranking.

A: Counting items touched does not identify the selection.
B: Engagement duration is free-operant data.
C: Approach to a single item is single-stimulus data.

Task B.1 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Question 19During 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 20A functional analysis is scheduled for tomorrow. Which preparation task is appropriate for the RBT?

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B: Gather the materials and data sheets the protocol lists. Preparing for an assessment includes having the planned materials, timers and data sheets ready. The supervisor designs the conditions and interprets results.

A: Choosing conditions and their order is part of designing the analysis.
C: Writing hypotheses about function is the supervisor's role.
D: Practicing the conditions would expose the client beforehand and could change the results.

Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D

Task	Questions
B.1 Preference assessments	6
B.2 Skill assessments	7
B.3 Functional assessment	7

RBT practice test: Behavior Assessment, set 3

Question 1An RBT helps with a skills assessment at a client's home while a TV is loud and siblings are playing nearby. The client misses many items. What should the RBT document?

Question 2In a functional analysis, hand mouthing occurred at similarly high levels in every condition, including the alone condition. What do these results suggest?

Question 3In a paired-stimulus assessment with 5 items (each paired once with every other item, so each item is presented 4 times), the client chose bubbles 4 times, music 3 times, a ball 2 times, a puzzle 1 time, and blocks 0 times. What is music's selection percentage and rank?

Question 4An RBT is scheduled to help with a curriculum-based assessment tomorrow. What is an appropriate way to prepare?

Question 5Which entry in the behavior column of an ABC data sheet is written in observable terms?

Question 6Why are items in a trial-based preference assessment placed at equal distances from the client?

Question 7After a skills assessment, a caregiver asks the RBT, "Is my child behind other kids their age?" What is the best response?

Question 8Functional analysis sessions are 10 minutes long. In one attention session, the client hits 15 times. What is the rate of hitting per minute?

Question 9A supervisor gives an RBT a list of six items for a child's MSWO. The RBT thinks the child would also like a candy that is not on the list. What should the RBT do?

Question 10After a skills assessment, a caregiver tells the RBT that the child failed the toileting items and asks the RBT to add toilet training to the child's goals. What should the RBT do?

Question 11In a functional analysis, an attention session lasted 10 minutes with 12 instances of yelling. A demand session lasted 5 minutes with 9 instances of yelling. Which session had the higher rate, and what was that rate?

Question 12During a free-operant preference assessment, what does the RBT do?

Question 13Partway through a skills assessment, a client starts crying, pushes the materials away and walks to the door. What should the RBT do?

Question 14In a functional analysis session, the RBT sits nearby reading a magazine. Each time the client screams, the RBT says, "Please stop, that's too loud," and then goes back to reading. Which condition is this?

Question 15A teen who has not eaten since breakfast picks food items first in an afternoon preference assessment, though they usually pick music. Which statement best explains this?

Question 16During an assessment, a client does not name a picture of a car. The RBT has heard the client say "car" many times during sessions. What should the RBT do?

Question 17Functional analysis sessions are video recorded so they can be scored later. How should the RBT handle the recordings?

Question 18In an MSWO, what does the RBT record on each trial?

Question 19During 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 20A functional analysis is scheduled for tomorrow. Which preparation task is appropriate for the RBT?

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