Registered Behavior Technician Certification Examination
RBT® Practice Test
This RBT practice test follows the BACB's RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), the outline in force since January 1, 2026. The exam itself is 85 multiple-choice questions (75 scored, 10 unscored) in 90 minutes, so the free diagnostic here gives you 25 questions across all six domains and tells you which ones need work before you book.
The free RBT diagnostic is being prepared and is not open yet. The exam facts and the content outline on this page are current.
The 3rd-edition outline sets out what a behavior technician is tested on as six domains and 43 tasks. Teaching new skills (Behavior Acquisition) is a quarter of the exam, and Ethics is 15%. Study material organized around the earlier task list may weight topics differently or file them under other headings, so check anything older against the current outline. Every question in this bank is tagged to one of the 43 current tasks.
Each question comes with a written reason for all four options, not just the right one. The wrong options are usually real procedures used in the wrong situation: whole-interval recording where partial-interval was called for, extinction where the plan said differential reinforcement. Being able to say why the other three are wrong is what the practice is for.
The RBT exam at a glance
What you are preparing for, in the exam owner's own numbers.
| Questions | 85 (75 scored, 10 unscored) |
|---|---|
| Time limit | 90 minutes |
| Exam fee | $45 |
| Delivery | In person on computer at authorized Pearson VUE testing sites (United States, Canada except Quebec and Ontario, and Australia until January 1, 2027); English only. The $45 exam appointment fee is paid to Pearson VUE for every attempt and is separate from the $65 certification application fee paid to the BACB. |
| Eligibility | Applicants must be at least 18, hold a high school-level education or equivalent, pass a criminal background check and an abuse registry check, complete a 40-hour training that meets the 2026 curriculum requirements, and pass the RBT Initial Competency Assessment within 90 days before applying. Once the application is approved, the candidate has one year to sit the exam. |
| Passing standard | Pass/fail. The passing score is criterion-referenced and set with the modified Angoff method by a panel of BACB-certified subject matter experts; all questions are equally weighted and the result is based on overall performance, not per-domain performance. The BACB does not publish the cut score. |
| Retakes | Up to 8 total attempts within the 12-month authorization period that follows application approval, with a 7-day wait after each attempt. A retake application is required each time (no BACB retake fee at present), plus the $45 Pearson VUE appointment fee. After 8 failed attempts the candidate must wait until the 12-month period ends and reapply. |
| Outline in force | RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), effective January 1, 2026 |
Exam facts are taken from BACB’s own published material, last checked October 2, 2026. Source. Confirm fees, dates and rules with the organization you register with before you book.
Who takes it
The exam is the last step to becoming a Registered Behavior Technician, the paraprofessional credential for people who deliver behavior-analytic services under a supervisor's direction. To be approved to sit it, the BACB requires that you are at least 18, hold a high school-level education, pass a background check and an abuse registry check, complete a 40-hour training that meets the 2026 curriculum requirements, and pass the Initial Competency Assessment within the 90 days before you apply. Once your application is approved you have one year to take the exam.
What the RBT exam covers
6 content areas and the share of the exam each carries. The bank is tagged to the same outline, so your results come back by area.
| Domain | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| AData Collection and Graphing8 tasks | 17% | Measuring behavior and keeping the record straight: continuous and discontinuous measurement, permanent-product recording, entering data and updating graphs, describing behavior in observable terms, and what unreliable data costs. |
| BBehavior Assessment3 tasks | 11% | Helping with assessment: running preference assessments, and assisting with skill assessments and parts of a functional assessment. |
| CBehavior Acquisition11 tasks | 25% | Teaching new skills: reinforcement, discrete-trial and naturalistic teaching, chaining, discrimination training, prompting and fading, shaping, token economies, generalization and maintenance. |
| DBehavior Reduction7 tasks | 19% | Reducing challenging behavior: the functions of behavior, antecedent interventions, differential reinforcement, extinction, punishment procedures, the side effects of each, and crisis procedures. |
| EDocumentation and Reporting4 tasks | 13% | Working with your supervisor: passing on concerns, asking for clinical direction, reporting anything that could affect a client's progress, and writing objective session notes. |
| FEthics10 tasks | 15% | The RBT ethics code in practice: its core principles, working within your competence and under supervision, confidentiality, public statements and social media, multiple relationships, gifts, and cultural humility. |
How to use the bank for the RBT exam
- 1
Take the diagnostic cold
Do the 25 free questions before you study anything. The result is broken down by domain, which is the only useful way to read it: the BACB scores the exam on overall performance, but your preparation time should go where your domain scores are lowest.
- 2
Spend your time the way the exam spends its questions
Behavior Acquisition (25%) and Behavior Reduction (19%) are 44% of the scored exam between them. Behavior Assessment is 11%. If your study plan gives preference assessments the same hours as prompting, chaining and differential reinforcement combined, it is weighted wrong.
- 3
Practice at exam pace
85 questions in 90 minutes is a little over a minute each. Tutor mode shows the explanation after every question while you are learning the material; switch to timed mode once you are scoring consistently, so that reading a scenario and committing to an answer in a minute is routine.
- 4
Sit a full-length mock before the real thing
A mock exam here is 85 questions in 90 minutes, distributed across the six domains by the outline's weights. Take one about a week out, review every miss, and use the remaining days on the tasks it exposed.
What is in the paid RBT bank
The question bank
The RBT bank is still being written. The live count appears here when questions are published.
Every option explained
A written reason for every option, right and wrong, plus a one-line takeaway, a cited reference and the outline task the question tests.
Tutor mode and timed mode
Tutor mode shows the explanation after each question. Timed mode holds everything back until the end, at exam pace.
A readiness band, by domain
Your first-attempt results weighted the way the exam weights its domains, shown as a band rather than a pass probability: nobody outside the exam owner knows the cut score.
A study plan
Set your exam date and the plan divides the questions you have not seen across the days you have left, weakest domains first, with the mock exams placed in the back half.
RBT passes
A pass is access for a fixed number of days. You pay once; nothing renews.
30-day pass
$19one-off
- The full RBT bank for 30 days
- Every mock exam, tutor and timed modes
- Charged once. It does not renew.
90-day pass
$29one-off
- The full RBT bank for 90 days
- Every mock exam, tutor and timed modes
- Charged once. It does not renew.
Refund within 7 days if you have answered fewer than 50 questions. Pass guarantee: complete 100% of the bank with an average of 80% or better, and if you still do not pass the exam your pass is extended by 90 days at no charge.
How the questions are written and checked
Step 1
Written to the public outline
Each question is written by AI against one task in BACB's published content outline. Nothing is taken from the exam itself.
Step 2
Solved blind by a second model
A different model answers the question without seeing the key. If it does not reach the same answer, the question is not published.
Step 3
Audited for flaws and duplicates
A separate pass looks for item-writing flaws: two defensible answers, a giveaway in the wording, a rationale that contradicts the key. Near-duplicates are removed.
Step 4
Corrected in public
Learners can report any question. Reports and answer statistics flag questions for withdrawal or correction, and every correction is logged.
There is no human subject-matter-expert review in that process, and we do not claim one. What you get instead is a cited reference on every question, so you can check it yourself. Read the full methodology or see the corrections log.
RBT practice questions: common questions
Is this RBT practice test free?
The diagnostic is free: 25 questions, no account and no email, with the full explanation for every question once you finish. The rest of the bank, the timed mode and the full-length mock exams are part of a paid pass, which is a one-off charge that does not renew.
Is the practice test updated for the 2026 RBT exam?
Yes. The questions are written against the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), which the BACB put into effect on January 1, 2026. Each question is tagged to one of that outline's 43 tasks, and the domain weights used to build mock exams are the 3rd-edition weights.
Are these the questions that are on the RBT exam?
No. They are original practice questions written to the BACB's public content outline. The BACB keeps the exam's questions confidential, so no practice provider has them. What practice can match is the content, the format and the pace.
How many questions are on the RBT exam, and how long do I get?
85 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes. 75 of them are scored; the other 10 are unscored questions the BACB is trying out, and you cannot tell which are which. Each question has four options.
What score do I need on a practice test to be ready?
There is no honest single number. The BACB reports the exam as pass or fail against a criterion-referenced standard and does not publish the cut score, so no practice provider knows what percentage passes. Use your practice scores to find weak domains and to watch the trend, and treat a domain you are still guessing in as unfinished regardless of your overall percentage.
Who writes the questions?
They are written by AI against the public outline and then checked by machine: a second model answers each question blind and must reach the same key, a separate audit looks for item-writing flaws, and near-duplicates are removed. There is no human subject-matter-expert review, and we do not claim one. Every question carries a cited reference so you can check it yourself, and a report button if you think it is wrong.
How many times can I retake the RBT exam if I fail?
Under the current BACB rules you can take the exam up to 8 times within the 12-month authorization period that follows your application's approval, with a 7-day wait after each attempt. Each retake needs a retake application and another $45 fee to Pearson VUE.
RBT® and Registered Behavior Technician® are registered trademarks of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). This site is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the BACB.