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RBT Task List: What the 3rd-Edition Outline Covers

Many people still call it the RBT task list, but since January 1, 2026 every exam has been based on the BACB’s Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) Test Content Outline, 3rd edition. It holds 43 tasks across 6 domains and sets how the 75 scored questions are split: Behavior Acquisition 19, Behavior Reduction 14, Data Collection and Graphing 13, Ethics 11, Documentation and Reporting 10, and Behavior Assessment 8. The BACB built it from the document it follows, the RBT Task List (2nd ed.), which had 37 tasks.

Written and reviewed by the LexPort exam-prep team, led by our Founder & Exam-Prep Lead. LexPort builds certification practice questions — this is exam-preparation material, not medical advice. Last reviewed October 2026.

How many tasks are in each domain of the RBT task list?
Data Collection and Graphing has 8 tasks, Behavior Assessment 3, Behavior Acquisition 11, Behavior Reduction 7, Documentation and Reporting 4, and Ethics 10, for 43 in total. Ethics has the second-most tasks after Behavior Acquisition and carries 11 of the 75 scored questions.
What changed from the 2nd edition RBT task list?
The six domains stayed, with four retitled: Measurement became Data Collection and Graphing, Assessment became Behavior Assessment, Skill Acquisition became Behavior Acquisition, and Professional Conduct and Scope of Practice became Ethics. The total rose by 6 tasks to 43, with eight entirely new tasks (A.6, A.7, A.8, D.5, D.6, F.1, F.8 and F.10). The question split moved too: Behavior Acquisition went from 24 scored questions to 19, while Data Collection and Graphing, Behavior Assessment and Behavior Reduction each gained one or two.
Is the RBT Test Content Outline the same as the 40-hour training?
No. Since 2026 the outline only describes what the exam covers, and training follows a separate document, the RBT 2026 40-Hour Training Requirements and Curriculum Outline. That curriculum has eight sections, the largest being Behavior-Change Interventions at a minimum of 20 hours.
How should I use the task list to study?
Weight your time the way the exam does. Behavior Acquisition and Behavior Reduction together supply 33 of the 75 scored questions, so the teaching and behavior-reduction procedures in those two domains deserve the most practice. Every question carries equal weight and the result is a single pass or fail, so no domain can be skipped, and a failing score report lists the tasks you answered incorrectly.
Where can I download the RBT task list?
The BACB publishes the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.) as a free PDF on bacb.com, linked in the sources below; the current file is marked “Updated 09/2024.” Older copies titled RBT Task List (2nd ed.) describe the exam as it was before 2026.

Test yourself: 3 RBT practice questions

Tap an answer for instant feedback and the full rationale. The app has 3,000+, timed and scored.

Question 1

Hannah was taught to match the spoken word 'horse' to a horse picture, and then to match that picture to the printed word HORSE. On a probe, without any teaching, she matches the spoken word 'horse' to the printed word HORSE. Which derived relation did Hannah demonstrate?

▸ Why D is the answer

Transitivity occurs when two trained relations that share a stimulus, here spoken word to picture and picture to printed word, produce a new untrained relation between the outer stimuli, spoken word to printed word. Hannah was never taught that pairing, so it was derived. Symmetry is the reversal of a single trained relation, such as matching the printed word back to the picture, and does not link two separate pairs. Reflexivity is matching a stimulus to an identical copy of itself, like picture to identical picture. Stimulus generalization is responding to a new stimulus that physically resembles a trained one, but a spoken word and a printed word share no physical features.

🔑 Key takeaway

Transitivity: taught A to B and B to C, the learner shows A to C without teaching.

Question 2

Elijah earns tokens on a large wall-mounted board at the clinic for walking safely and staying near an adult. His plan now adds weekly community outings to a public library and a neighborhood park. What is the BEST way for the RBT to continue the token system during these outings?

▸ Why A is the answer

A portable token system, such as a pocket card, a keychain counter, or a punch card, lets the RBT keep delivering tokens immediately and consistently wherever safe walking happens, so reinforcement continues across natural community settings. Pausing the system during outings removes reinforcement exactly where the plan is trying to extend the skills, and the behaviors may break down. Giving all the tokens before leaving makes them noncontingent, so they no longer reinforce walking safely or staying near an adult. Taking photos and awarding tokens back at the clinic creates a long delay between behavior and token, which weakens the connection and lets other behaviors be reinforced in the meantime.

🔑 Key takeaway

Make the token system portable so reinforcement travels with the learner into the community.

Question 3

Ruby's goals include receptive identification of common objects. She and the RBT are building a pretend sandwich together on the floor, with play bread, cheese, lettuce, and tomato spread out between them. Which action by the RBT BEST targets this goal during play?

▸ Why B is the answer

Receptive identification means the learner responds to a spoken label by selecting or acting on the named item, so asking Ruby to pass the cheese during shared play targets the skill while keeping the activity going. Holding up the cheese and asking what it is targets an expressive label, a tact, rather than a receptive response. Naming each food out loud gives helpful models but never requires Ruby to respond, so there is nothing to reinforce or record. Stopping play to quiz her with picture cards at the table shifts to contrived instruction and removes the motivating sandwich activity that makes the request meaningful.

🔑 Key takeaway

During shared play, asking the learner to pass a named item is a natural receptive identification trial.

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