If you are taking the RBT exam in 2026 or later, you are taking a different test than the one described in most free study guides online. Here is exactly what you will face.
The Format
The exam contains 85 multiple choice questions.
- 75 questions count toward your score.
- The other 10 questions are unscored pilot questions that the BACB is testing for future exams.
You will never know which questions are pilots, so treat every question as if it counts.
You have 90 minutes, which works out to about one minute per question with time left over for review.
Where You Take It
The exam is administered at Pearson VUE testing centers on a computer.
You will:
- Check in with identification.
- Store your belongings in a locker.
- Complete the exam in a monitored room.
Results appear on screen when you finish, and the BACB confirms them by email.
What It Covers
The exam follows the BACB’s Test Content Outline, 3rd Edition.
It contains 43 tasks organized into six domains, and every question on the exam maps to one of those tasks.
| Domain | Approximate Questions |
|---|---|
| A. Data Collection and Graphing | 13 |
| B. Behavior Assessment | 8 |
| C. Behavior Acquisition | 19 |
| D. Behavior Reduction | 14 |
| E. Documentation and Reporting | 10 |
| F. Ethics | 11 |
Notice that Behavior Acquisition and Behavior Reduction together make up nearly half the scored questions. Plan your study time accordingly.
How Questions Are Written
This is the part most candidates underestimate.
The exam rarely asks for a definition. It gives you a situation and asks what you should do, or what is happening, or which procedure is being described.
Definition Style (Rare)
“What is duration recording?”
Exam Style (Common)
“Maria’s supervisor asks her to record how long each tantrum lasts from the moment the client drops to the floor until he returns to his seat. Which measurement procedure is Maria using?”
Both test the same knowledge.
The second one tests whether you can recognize the concept inside a real situation, and that is what the exam does over and over.
Several questions will also present two or more defensible answers and ask for the BEST one. When that happens, pick the option that follows the written plan, keeps the client safe, and stays inside the RBT role.
Passing
The BACB uses a scaled passing score rather than a fixed number of correct answers.
As a working target, candidates who consistently score 85 percent or higher on full length practice exams pass comfortably. That is the standard we will hold you to in this course.