RBT Practice Exam Test 2 | Free Mock Test Questions 2025

Take our RBT Practice Exam for Free. Ready to test your knowledge and boost your confidence before the real Registered Behavior Technician® exam?

This practice test is built to closely mirror the actual RBT exam format, with thoughtfully designed questions that reflect the latest RBT Task List. It includes 20 scenario-based questions that challenge your understanding of core concepts in behavior analysis.

Once you complete the quiz, you’ll get immediate feedback with detailed answer explanations to help reinforce key principles and identify areas for improvement. Whether you’re just starting out or reviewing for test day, this practice exam is a smart step in your prep plan.

You’re asked to run a session alone with 3 learners while your BCBA is out sick. Two require physical prompting for daily living skills, and one shows high-frequency aggression. What should you do?

Proceed with the session using your best judgment.

Only work with the least intensive client to reduce risk.

Refuse to run the session and report to your supervisor.

Start with one client at a time and rotate carefully.

A parent asks you to use essential oils as a “calming strategy” for their child during sessions. Your BCBA hasn’t approved it. What’s your ethical response?

Use the oils discreetly, as requested.

Explain you cannot use unapproved interventions.

Ask your coworkers how they handled it.

Try it once and document the outcome.

During data collection, you notice your co-RBT is logging data for a behavior that never occurred. What’s your obligation?

Ignore it as it’s not your business.

Correct it yourself and move on.

Report it to your supervisor immediately.

Confront the RBT privately first.

A BCBA instructs you to implement a punishment-based procedure that you are not trained in. What’s the best course of action?

Implement it anyway to follow orders.

Refuse and call HR.

Ask another RBT how to do it.

Request formal training and clarification.

A client begins showing a new self-injurious behavior during your session. It’s not in the current behavior plan. What should you do?

Notify your supervisor immediately and ensure safety.

Add the behavior to your data sheet and track it.

Create a response plan using similar behaviors as a guide.

Ignore it unless it becomes more severe.

Which of the following best describes a situation where extinction would be contraindicated?

The behavior is maintained by automatic reinforcement.

The behavior poses immediate danger to the client.

The behavior occurs only during transition periods.

Reinforcement has never been identified.

A parent asks for session notes to help with an insurance audit. You’re unsure if you’re allowed to share them. What’s the right action?

Email the notes immediately.

Print them and hand them over.

Tell them to ask the BCBA or clinical lead.

Refuse and tell them it’s a HIPAA violation.

You’re collecting partial interval data. A behavior occurs for 2 seconds during a 10-second interval. What should you record?

Mark "no" — it didn’t occur the full time.

Mark “yes” — behavior occurred at all.

Skip the interval — not enough time.

Wait for three intervals before marking.

Which of the following is an example of overgeneralization?

Client doesn’t say hello in new contexts.

Client says “hello” to every object and person.

Client only greets when prompted.

Client never initiates greeting independently.

You witness a parent hitting their child after a session. What’s your obligation as an RBT?

Confront the parent immediately.

Call your supervisor and report the incident.

Ignore it since it’s outside session hours.

Call the police on your own.

During a home session, the client's father tells you to stop implementing extinction because it’s upsetting the child. He insists you go back to giving attention during tantrums. What should you do?

Respect the father's wishes and discontinue extinction.

Ignore the father and continue the extinction plan.

Pause and immediately call your supervisor for direction.

Try to explain the extinction plan and convince the father to agree.

Your supervisor asks you to implement a punishment procedure, but it's not listed in the current behavior plan. What should you do?

Implement it only if it’s mild.

Refuse unless the procedure is documented.

Implement it and document it later.

Ask the parent for permission instead.

What is the main risk of using punishment procedures without reinforcement strategies?

The behavior will stop faster

The client might become aggressive

It teaches faster responses

It builds rapport with the learner

Your client begins displaying new aggression behaviors not listed in the current plan. What’s your next step?

Create a new behavior plan on your own

Use whatever method stops the aggression

Immediately inform your supervisor and collect data

Call the parent and ask for advice

How is differential reinforcement used to reduce challenging behavior?

Reinforce appropriate alternatives, not the problem behavior

Punish the undesired behavior only

Reinforce all behaviors equally

Ignore all behavior during sessions

You're graphing latency data from a session with frequent prompts. What risk is most relevant?

Latency will appear higher than it really is

Prompting may reduce observable latency, skewing accuracy

Prompts guarantee valid latency readings

Latency and duration can be combined for a better view

You’re told to collect latency data on the client’s response to a demand. The client starts engaging in a tantrum every time the demand is given. What should you do about the data?

Record the tantrum as a separate data point

Stop presenting the demand

Record latency only once the tantrum ends

Ask the client to calm down before timing begins

A BCBA conducts a pairwise functional analysis with escape and control conditions. Rates of target behavior are nearly identical in both. What’s the most appropriate next step?

End the FA and switch to indirect methods.

Redesign the FA to include attention and tangible conditions.

Repeat sessions until divergence occurs.

Use a latency-based FA instead.

What is response blocking, and when is it ethically allowed?

Preventing a behavior before it starts; used freely in self-injury cases

Blocking behavior with any physical method

Physically stopping a behavior; only allowed if documented and approved

A strategy to prevent behaviors using verbal warnings

You’re instructed to reinforce a behavior every third occurrence. You accidentally reinforce it every second time instead. What’s your best course of action?

Keep going and fix the schedule next session

Correct it mid-session without telling anyone

Note the error and inform your supervisor

Restart the session from the beginning

Your client’s behavior plan includes extinction, but the parent begins giving the child an iPad during tantrums. What do you report?

Nothing — parents can modify behavior plans at home

Only report it if the BCBA asks

Report it to the supervisor as it breaks extinction procedures

Remove the iPad from the child to maintain the plan

A newly certified BCBA is asked to supervise a case involving feeding disorders, but they’ve only worked with ASD in classroom settings. What should they do?

Accept the case and study feeding interventions independently.

Accept the case but refer to an experienced colleague for plan design.

Decline the case and refer the family to a BCBA with feeding expertise.

Accept the case if they feel confident, even without direct experience.

A teacher says, “You can work with this student instead of your usual one today. Their needs are similar.” What’s the problem?

This is okay if both students have autism

RBTs can switch clients as long as they have training

This is acceptable under teacher delegation rights

You may only work with clients assigned and approved by your supervisor

The data you collect shows a trend opposite to what the supervisor predicted. What’s your role?

Record data as observed and communicate with your BCBA

Adjust the data slightly to match the expected outcome

Discard the outlier days

Create a graph to explain why the behavior changed

A BCBA is supervising three RBTs across five clients. One RBT has not received supervision for four weeks. What is the most immediate ethical concern?

The BCBA must increase supervision for all RBTs immediately.

Lack of supervision may put the client’s treatment and the RBT’s certification at risk.

This is acceptable if the RBT is experienced.

The RBT can work independently with indirect supervision.

You’re asked to graph behavior data, but you notice a fellow RBT has changed the data to make it look better. What do you do?

Fix it yourself without telling anyone

Confront the RBT directly and delete their data

Say nothing to avoid conflict

Report it to your supervisor immediately

A BCBA is conducting a multiple baseline design across settings. Behavior improves in Setting A after the intervention is introduced. Before the intervention begins in Setting B, behavior improves unexpectedly. What should the BCBA do next?

Continue the study as planned since the effect occurred in Setting A.

Repeat baseline in Setting B to re-establish control.

End the study and change to a reversal design.

Apply intervention in Setting B immediately to prevent regression.

A child on your caseload is being reinforced with candy. You learn from the parent that the child is diabetic and shouldn't be eating sugar. What do you do?

Replace the candy with fruit

Stop reinforcement and report to BCBA

Ask the parent for alternative options and continue

Use the candy, but reduce the quantity

A child learns to respond “blue” when shown a blue card, but fails when the card is slightly darker. What phenomenon is occurring?

Overgeneralization

Stimulus fading

Faulty stimulus control

Limited stimulus generalization

Your BCBA tells you to use a variable ratio schedule to reinforce manding. What is the best explanation of this?

After a variable number of responses

After a fixed number of responses

After a variable amount of time

After a fixed amount of time

Your BCBA assigns you to model a behavior reduction strategy to a new RBT. You’ve only observed it twice. What should you do?

Demonstrate it and let the BCBA know afterward

Ask the BCBA for guidance and express discomfort

Model it anyway since it was assigned to you

Have the new RBT observe the client first

A client slaps others every 3 minutes after a loud alarm goes off. The alarm is most likely functioning as which type of stimulus?

Consequence

Reinforcer

A child’s aggression temporarily increases after a BCBA puts the behavior on extinction. What is this called?

Spontaneous recovery

Extinction burst

Resurgence

Overcorrection

Liam is told to record the amount of time from the therapist’s direction to when a child starts picking up toys. What is he being asked to measure?

Duration

Interresponse Time

Latency

Frequency

You’re collecting data on elopement, but the client starts escaping during tasks you weren’t told to track. You’ve seen this pattern grow. What should you do?

Begin documenting the new elopement pattern

Add a second behavior to your data sheet and track both

Ignore the new elopement—it’s not your target

Reinforce staying during all tasks regardless of data requirements

A parent gives a BCBA a $20 coffee gift card at the end of a long week. The BCBA politely declines, but the parent insists. The BCBA keeps the card and logs it in their notes. Which part of the BACB Ethics Code is most relevant?

Accepting gifts is allowed if documented.

Gifts under $50 are permitted if infrequent.

The BCBA should have refused and documented the offer.

The BCBA must accept small gifts to build rapport.

You overhear a colleague discussing a client's aggressive behaviors by name in a public break room. What should you do?

Privately remind them of confidentiality and report to your supervisor.

Ignore it—it wasn’t said loudly.

Warn them in front of others to set an example.

Record the conversation to prove the violation.

An RBT refuses to implement a toileting program because it conflicts with the family’s religious practices. What’s the most appropriate action for the supervising BCBA?

Continue the program as written and remind the RBT of their role.

Modify the intervention plan based on family preferences.

Report the RBT for failing to implement the plan.

Replace the RBT with one from a different background.

In a multiple baseline graph across settings, all three baselines are flat. After the intervention is introduced, behavior improves in Settings A and C, but not B. What should the BCBA conclude?

The intervention is effective across all settings.

The intervention should be withdrawn to confirm the effect.

The intervention may be effective, but Setting B requires further review.

The BCBA should end the study due to variability.

A BCBA observes a sudden spike in self-injurious behavior after a change in medication. The trend increases across three days, followed by a sharp decline without any intervention. What is the most appropriate interpretation of the graphed data?

The medication had no impact; the behavior followed a typical extinction burst.

The behavior change reflects a naturally occurring variable.

The medication likely contributed to the spike, but causality cannot be confirmed without further analysis.

The reduction in behavior indicates the medication was effective.

A BCBA observes that the RBT is using response blocking for stereotypy, but the intervention was not part of the behavior plan. What is the most ethical course of action?

Ignore it since it may reduce the behavior.

Immediately stop the RBT and report them to the BACB.

Provide immediate corrective feedback, document it, and review the plan with the team.

Remove the client from services until a team review is conducted.

Noah’s BCBA says to teach tooth brushing by first reinforcing picking up the toothbrush, then toothpaste, then brushing. What is this called?

Extinction

Prompt fading

Shaping

Response generalization

Your client is in the middle of a self-injurious episode. The written plan does not include physical intervention, but the parent is pleading for you to restrain the child. What’s the most ethical next step?

Apply a safe physical restraint to protect the client

Call the parent’s doctor for emergency consent

Stay nearby, protect the environment, and call your supervisor

Hold the child only until they calm down

A client’s head-banging decreases rapidly after the introduction of planned ignoring. However, they begin screaming instead. What is this an example of?

Extinction burst

Response generalization

Stimulus generalization

Functional communication

A supervisor asks you to collect latency data on a child’s request for help. What are you measuring?

Time between requests

How many times they request

Duration of the request

Time from cue to request

A BCBA instructs you to collect data at the end of 10-second intervals, recording if the child is screaming. Which method is this?

Whole interval

Momentary time sampling

Duration

Frequency

An RBT notices another technician consistently marking incorrect data but fears retaliation. What is the BCBA’s responsibility upon hearing this?

Suggest the RBT handle it directly.

Advise the RBT to ignore it to preserve the team dynamic.

Thank the RBT, investigate the claim, and document findings.

Reassign the case to avoid conflict.

What’s the main risk of using full-session DRO with long intervals?

Underestimates behavior

Encourages other problem behaviors

Increases reinforcement rate

Overestimates behavior

Which term describes the weakening of a behavior because it no longer receives reinforcement?

Differential reinforcement

Stimulus control

Extinction

Generalization

During a 2-hour observation, a BCBA instructs the RBT to use 10-second whole interval recording to measure on-task behavior. The RBT reports very low on-task levels. What’s the most likely reason for the underestimation?

Whole interval recording overestimates the behavior’s true rate.

The RBT likely missed the beginning of intervals.

Whole interval recording underestimates duration-based behavior.

The intervals were too short for reliable results.

A child independently ties their shoes in the clinic but not at home. The BCBA suspects the home environment contains different cues. What is the best next step?

Retrain shoe-tying in the clinic.

Introduce reinforcement schedules at home.

Conduct generalization programming in the home setting.

Increase prompting during clinic sessions.

Which measurement method would best capture brief, high-frequency vocal stereotypy during a group lesson?

Permanent Product

Partial Interval Recording

Rate

Whole Interval Recording

A BCBA conducts a functional analysis using an ABC narrative. Across 12 sessions, attention follows each occurrence of screaming. What is the best interpretation?

The behavior is maintained by access to tangibles.

The behavior likely serves an escape function.

The data suggests attention is a probable reinforcer.

The function cannot be determined without a latency recording.

A new therapist accidentally switches the SD with the consequence during a session. What risk is highest?

Faster generalization

Prompt dependence

Teaching the wrong contingency

Increasing motivation

A BCBA tells you to target a replacement behavior while withholding reinforcement for problem behavior. Which procedure is this?

Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)

Extinction

Prompt fading

Shaping

A BCBA wants to verify that two RBTs collect data the same way at the same time. What is this process called?

Procedural integrity

Treatment fidelity

Reinforcer assessment

Interobserver agreement

A BCBA implements a VI-5 min schedule for a token economy. After initial success, the client’s responding becomes erratic, with long pauses followed by bursts of behavior. What is the likely cause?

The variable interval schedule produces consistent high rates.

The schedule lacks sufficient reinforcement density for the client.

The behavior is undergoing extinction.

Fixed interval would be more resistant to pauses.

A parent requests you change a consequence strategy immediately. What should you do first?

Change the plan

Ask your BCBA

Agree if it seems helpful

Ignore the parent

A client’s data shows stable improvement for three weeks. What should you do next?

Fade the program independently

Stop all interventions

Share data with BCBA

Keep running baseline

After an extinction burst, a behavior reappears weeks later. What is this phenomenon called?

Resurgence

Generalization

Renewal

Spontaneous recovery

Your client engages in continuous rocking behavior throughout a 20-minute session, with no clear start or stop. Which measurement system is best to capture this?

Event recording

Whole interval recording

Rate

Permanent product

During baseline, a family installs a new alarm system that changes the child’s sleep routine. Which data threat is most likely introduced?

Maturation

Instrumentation

History

Attrition

You notice a data sheet inconsistently records both duration and rate on the same line. Why is this problematic?

It encourages generalization

It combines incompatible units

It clarifies measurement

It helps compare rates