RBT Practice Exam

The RBT Task List, Explained in Plain Language

BACB Task List 3rd Edition alignedLast updated August 2026Original questions with explanations

The Task List is the exam's blueprint: every question maps to one of its six domains. This page walks each domain in plain language, what it expects you to actually do on the job, with a link to the quiz that tests it. The official document itself is a free download at bacb.com and is worth keeping beside your study materials.

Domain A: Measurement

~16% of the exam. Practice this domain's quiz.

  • Prepare for data collection: Have the right data sheets, timers, materials and definitions ready before the session starts, so no data get invented afterward.
  • Continuous measurement: Collect frequency, rate, duration, latency and inter-response time data accurately, matching the procedure to the behavior's important dimension.
  • Discontinuous measurement: Run partial interval, whole interval and momentary time sampling correctly, knowing which direction each one biases the estimate.
  • Permanent product recording: Measure behavior through the durable products it leaves behind, like completed worksheets, when the product could only come from the behavior.
  • Data entry and graphing: Transfer data promptly and accurately, update graphs, and describe level, trend and variability in plain terms.

Domain B: Assessment

~8% of the exam. Practice this domain's quiz.

  • Preference assessments: Run single stimulus, paired stimulus, MSWO, MSW and free operant formats correctly, and repeat them often because preference shifts.
  • Assist with individualized assessments: Administer assigned skill probes and curriculum-based assessment items exactly as written, recording honest results including failures.
  • Assist with functional assessment: Collect clean ABC data and, under close supervision, help run functional analysis conditions the analyst designed.

Domain C: Skill Acquisition

~32% of the exam, the largest domain. Practice this domain's quiz.

  • Skill acquisition plans: Know every component of the written plan before teaching: target, procedure, prompts, consequences and mastery criteria.
  • Session preparation: Set up materials, reinforcers and data systems so teaching starts strong and stays fluent.
  • Contingencies of reinforcement: Use unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers on the plan's schedules, with immediacy, and manage motivating operations across the session.
  • Discrete trial teaching: Deliver clean trials: instruction, response window, immediate consequence, brief pause, with accurate trial-by-trial data.
  • Naturalistic teaching: Teach inside play and routines, capturing the learner's current motivation so reinforcers are what they already want.
  • Chaining and task analysis: Teach multi-step skills with forward, backward or total task chaining from a written task analysis.
  • Discrimination training: Reinforce responses to the target stimulus and not to others, building precise stimulus control.
  • Prompting and fading: Apply the plan's prompt hierarchy and fade systematically toward independence, watching for prompt dependence.
  • Shaping: Reinforce successively closer approximations to build behaviors that do not yet exist.
  • Token systems: Run token economies with immediate token delivery, meaningful backups and planned schedule thinning.
  • Generalization and maintenance: Vary materials, settings and people deliberately, and probe mastered targets on a schedule so skills last.

Domain D: Behavior Reduction

~16% of the exam. Practice this domain's quiz.

  • Behavior reduction plans: Know the plan's components: operational definition, function, prevention strategies, replacement behaviors and consequence procedures.
  • Functions of behavior: Identify attention, escape, tangible and automatic functions, because intervention follows function, not appearance.
  • Antecedent interventions: Implement proactive strategies: choices, transition warnings, task interspersal, enriched environments, noncontingent reinforcement.
  • Differential reinforcement: Run DRA, DRI, DRO and DRL procedures exactly as specified, reinforcing the right thing at the right rate.
  • Extinction: Withhold the maintaining reinforcer consistently, expecting bursts and spontaneous recovery without abandoning the procedure.
  • Crisis and emergency procedures: Know the safety protocol before the emergency, follow it exactly, and document and report immediately after.

Domain E: Documentation and Reporting

~13% of the exam. Practice this domain's quiz.

  • Communicate with the supervisor: Report session specifics, seek clinical direction rather than improvising, and never sit on important information.
  • Report client variables: Pass along medication changes, sleep, illness and home events promptly, because analysts read data against context.
  • Objective session notes: Write what was seen and heard in countable terms, promptly, with no interpretations or character judgments.
  • Legal and workplace requirements: Store, transport and release records only through compliant procedures; confidentiality applies in every medium, forever.

Domain F: Professional Conduct and Scope of Practice

~15% of the exam. Practice this domain's quiz.

  • Role in the service system: Implement under ongoing supervision; designing, interpreting, diagnosing and independent practice belong to higher credentials.
  • Respond to feedback: Receive supervisor feedback professionally and visibly change performance, the same learning process you ask of clients.
  • Communicate with stakeholders: Talk with families and others only as authorized, routing clinical questions to the supervisor.
  • Professional boundaries: No dual relationships, gifts, social media connections or side arrangements; disclose boundary risks early.
  • Client dignity: Respectful language, privacy in personal care, client involvement, and dignity maintained even mid-crisis.

Once the domains feel familiar, verify with the full mock exam, and keep the glossary open for any term that slows you down.

Frequently asked questions

What is the RBT Task List?
The BACB's published outline of what RBTs must know and do, organized into six domains: Measurement, Assessment, Skill Acquisition, Behavior Reduction, Documentation and Reporting, and Professional Conduct. The exam is written directly from it.
How many domains are on the RBT Task List?
Six. Skill Acquisition is the largest at about a third of exam questions, followed by Measurement and Behavior Reduction at about 16 percent each.
Where do I get the official Task List document?
Download it free from the BACB website at bacb.com. This page explains each area in plain language; the official document is the authoritative source.