Free BCBA Exam Flashcards

The BCBA is a graduate-level certification in behavior analysis. It is separate from state licensure, which may impose additional practice requirements.

The exam has 185 multiple-choice items: 175 scored items and 10 unscored pilot items. Pilot items are not identified, so every item should be answered.

BACB reports pass/fail results and uses criterion-referenced scoring with the modified Angoff method. A fixed raw percentage is not the official passing standard.

Candidates in BACB jurisdiction may attempt the exam up to eight times within a two-year authorization period, with at least 30 days between appointments.

Supervised Fieldwork requires 2,000 hours with lower monthly supervision intensity. Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork requires 1,500 hours with higher monthly supervision intensity.

The view that behavior is shaped by consequences across phylogenic, ontogenic, and cultural levels. It favors environmental histories over inner-cause explanations.

A philosophy that includes private events such as thinking and feeling as behavior, while still explaining them through environmental and learning histories.

Explaining behavior by appealing to unobserved inner causes without connecting them to measurable environmental relations. BCBA items often ask you to replace mentalistic labels with functional descriptions.

Prefer the simplest adequate explanation before adding more complex assumptions. In practice, first examine observable contingencies and measurement quality.

Applied means socially important; behavioral means measurable behavior is targeted; analytic means data demonstrate a functional relation between intervention and behavior change.

A consequence is added after a response, and future responding increases under similar conditions. The effect on future behavior determines whether it was reinforcement.

A stimulus is removed, avoided, or reduced after a response, and future responding increases. Negative means removal, not bad or punitive.

A consequence follows behavior and decreases future responding. Positive punishment adds a stimulus; negative punishment removes a stimulus.

The maintaining reinforcer is withheld following the target response. Extinction can produce temporary increases, variability, emotional responding, or later recovery.

A stimulus correlated with reinforcement availability for a particular response. It sets the occasion for behavior because of past differential reinforcement.

An antecedent event that changes how effective a consequence is and alters the current frequency of behavior related to that consequence.

An establishing operation increases a reinforcer's value and evokes related behavior. An abolishing operation decreases that value and abates related behavior.

A response occurs in the presence of stimuli similar to the training stimulus. Strong programming plans for useful generalization instead of assuming it will happen.

Frequency is a count of responses. Rate adds time, such as responses per minute, making it better for comparing observation periods of different lengths.

How long a response lasts from onset to offset. It is useful for behaviors where length matters, such as engagement, tantrums, or sustained task behavior.

The time between an opportunity or stimulus and the start of the response. It answers, 'How long did it take to begin?'

The elapsed time between two consecutive responses in the same response class. Shorter IRTs mean responses are occurring closer together.

Measuring behavior by its lasting result, such as completed worksheets or assembled items. Use it only when the product reliably reflects the target behavior.

A comparison of independent observers' records for the same event. IOA supports confidence in measurement, but high IOA does not prove the intervention worked.

The extent to which procedures are implemented as written. Low integrity can make outcome data hard to interpret, even when the graph appears to change.

Evaluating graphed data for level, trend, variability, immediacy of effect, overlap, and consistency across similar phases.

A demonstrated relation showing that behavior changes when the independent variable is systematically introduced, withdrawn, or varied while plausible alternatives are controlled.

A design that alternates baseline and intervention phases to show behavior changes with the presence or absence of the intervention. It is inappropriate when withdrawal is unsafe or impossible.

A design that staggers intervention across behaviors, settings, or participants. It is useful when reversal is not appropriate and the tiers are functionally independent.

A design that rapidly alternates conditions to compare their effects. It is efficient, but sequence effects or unclear discrimination can complicate interpretation.

A design that changes the performance criterion in steps. Experimental control is shown when behavior tracks the successive criteria.

Clients or authorized decision makers should understand the services, risks, benefits, alternatives, data use, and right to withdraw. Consent is an ongoing process, not a one-time signature.

Behavior analysts should provide services only within areas supported by their education, training, supervised experience, consultation, or documented preparation.

Protect client information and disclose only as authorized or legally required. Consultation should use minimum necessary information whenever possible.

Overlapping personal, professional, financial, or supervisory roles can impair objectivity or increase risk of harm. Avoid them when possible and manage them transparently when unavoidable.

Choose procedures that are effective while minimizing intrusiveness and risk. Restrictive or punishment-based procedures require stronger justification, safeguards, and oversight.

A process for identifying environmental variables that occasion and maintain behavior. It can include records review, interviews, direct observation, descriptive assessment, and functional analysis.

Information gathered from interviews, rating scales, records, or questionnaires. It is useful for hypotheses but should not replace direct observation when decisions carry risk.

Direct observation of behavior and environmental events as they naturally occur. It can suggest correlations, but it does not by itself demonstrate function.

A structured assessment that manipulates antecedents and consequences to test hypotheses about behavioral function. It can demonstrate function more directly than interviews or descriptive data.

A preference assessment identifies likely preferred stimuli. A reinforcer assessment tests whether access to a stimulus actually increases future behavior.

Breaking a complex skill into teachable component steps. It supports chaining, data collection, prompting decisions, and clear staff implementation.

Reinforcing one response class or response dimension while withholding reinforcement for another. DRA, DRI, DRO, DRL, and DRH all use this logic differently.

Teaching an appropriate communicative response that accesses the same reinforcer as problem behavior, then arranging reinforcement so the communication response is more efficient.

Prompts help evoke correct responses during teaching. Fading systematically removes prompt support so stimulus control transfers to natural cues.

Differentially reinforcing closer approximations to a target response. It is useful when the final behavior is not yet in the learner's repertoire.

Teaching a sequence in which each response produces a stimulus change that cues the next response and reinforces the prior response. Common formats include forward, backward, and total-task chaining.

Select interventions from assessment results, evidence, client values, risk-benefit analysis, contextual fit, and available resources. A technically correct plan still fails if it cannot be implemented well.

A staff-training package using instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. It is often paired with performance data to decide whether more support is needed.

When supervisee performance is weak, assess barriers and consequences before choosing support. Training, prompts, feedback, resources, and reinforcement should match the performance problem.