1. An RBT is collecting permanent product data on property destruction for a client, Marcus, in a clinic playroom. After the session, the RBT finds that Marcus broke a glass picture frame, and sharp shards are scattered across the floor.
What is the BEST action for the RBT to take before recording the damage?
Answer: A
Permanent product recording measures the result of behavior after it occurs, but some products, like broken glass, can injure whoever inspects them. Following the supervisor's safety protocol, which may include gloves, a broom, or moving clients out of the area, protects everyone while still allowing the damage to be documented. Picking up shards by hand to count them puts precise counting ahead of safety and risks cuts. Skipping the recording loses property destruction data the supervisor needs; a hazard changes how the product is handled, not whether it is recorded. Having Marcus gather the pieces exposes him to injury and adds a consequence procedure that is not in his plan and that the RBT has not been directed to use.
2. During recess, an RBT is recording social behavior for a client, Tasha. A classmate running past bumps into Tasha and pushes her to the ground, and the RBT considers entering 'being pushed' on Tasha's data sheet.
Should the RBT record being pushed as Tasha's behavior, and why?
Answer: B
The dead man's test asks whether a dead man could do it; if so, it is not behavior. A dead man can be pushed, so being pushed is something that happened to Tasha rather than something she did, and it does not belong on her data sheet. Her body moving does not make it behavior, because the movement was caused entirely by the classmate. The classmate's intent is irrelevant; an accidental push and a deliberate push are both the classmate's actions, not Tasha's. Being countable does not settle the question either, since the push could be counted only as the classmate's behavior. The RBT can still record what Tasha does next, such as crying, standing up, or telling an adult.
3. A client, Priya, is learning to label pictures in discrete trials, and her protocol calls for a 5-second wait after each instruction. To keep the pace brisk, an RBT repeats the instruction whenever Priya has not answered within about 1 second.
What is the MOST likely result of this change?
Answer: C
The prescribed 5-second wait gives Priya time to process the instruction and begin responding. Repeating the instruction after 1 second interrupts that processing, so she is more likely to respond incorrectly or learn to wait for repetitions, and her data end up reflecting the RBT's procedural error rather than her skill. Hearing the instruction twice does not make it clearer; it adds competing input while she is still processing. The data are not accurate just because every trial is delivered, since trials run with the wrong timing test a different procedure than the one written. Treating the repetition as a helpful prompt is also wrong, because unplanned repetitions are not part of the prompting plan and do not reliably reduce errors.
4. An RBT is teaching a client, Jamal, to dress himself before school. Jamal dresses alone in his bedroom, and afterward the RBT checks whether every shirt button is fastened and his jacket is fully zipped, scoring each item on a checklist.
Which statement BEST describes the RBT's data collection?
Answer: D
Permanent product recording measures the lasting outcome a behavior leaves in the environment. Fastened buttons and a zipped jacket remain after Jamal finishes dressing, so the RBT can score them later without watching the behavior happen. Calling the data invalid because the RBT did not watch misunderstands the method; not needing direct observation is a key advantage of permanent product recording, as long as the RBT is confident Jamal produced the outcome himself. Event recording counts responses as they occur during observation, not results inspected afterward. Momentary time sampling records whether behavior is happening at the exact end of each interval across a session, which is different from inspecting a finished product once dressing is complete.
5. After a matching program at a clinic table, an RBT writes in the session note that a client, Sofia, 'was distracted for most of the program.' The supervisor asks the RBT to revise the sentence so it is observable and measurable.
Which sentence should the RBT write instead?
Answer: A
An observable and measurable description states what Sofia did in terms two people could see and count. Her gaze leaving the materials for 30 seconds on 6 trials names a visible action, a duration, and how often it happened, so another observer could verify it. Saying she seemed unfocused and uninterested describes an inferred internal state that cannot be seen directly. Saying she was not paying attention because she was tired adds a guessed cause the RBT did not observe and should not report as fact. Off task and distracted during nearly every trial still relies on the vague label the supervisor asked to replace, and 'nearly every' gives no exact count.
6. An RBT runs a 15-minute sight-word probe with a client, Owen, in a school resource room. Owen reads 42 words correctly and 12 words incorrectly during the probe.
What is Owen's rate of errors per minute?
Answer: B
Rate of errors is the number of incorrect responses divided by the total observation time. Owen made 12 errors in 15 minutes, and 12 divided by 15 equals 0.8 errors per minute. Dividing 42 by 15 to get 2.8 calculates the rate of correct responses, not errors. Dividing all 54 responses by 15 to get 3.6 gives the overall response rate, which mixes correct and incorrect reading together. Dividing 15 by 12 to get 1.25 inverts the formula and yields minutes per error instead of errors per minute. Keeping the count of the specific response type on top and the observation time on the bottom ensures the rate describes exactly what the RBT intended to measure.
7. At a client's home, Mateo earns tokens toward a 5-minute tablet break, and his plan calls for an exchange as soon as he earns 10 tokens. On busy days, the RBT lets the full token board sit and postpones the exchange until session end, or skips it.
How will this implementation error MOST likely affect Mateo?
Answer: C
Tokens are conditioned reinforcers, and they keep their value only when they are reliably exchanged for backup reinforcers such as the tablet. When the exchange is postponed or skipped, earning tokens stops predicting access to the tablet, so the tokens lose value and Mateo is likely to disengage from his tasks. Waiting longer does not make the tokens stronger; wanting the tablet more does not help when tokens no longer lead to it. Earning tokens as planned is not enough, because the exchange is what makes tokens meaningful. Calling the delays schedule thinning is incorrect, since thinning is a gradual change planned by the supervisor, not an inconsistent lapse in following the protocol.
8. Two RBTs alternate sessions with a client, Nora, at an outpatient clinic. One counts every scream of any length, while the other counts only screams lasting longer than 3 seconds, and the graph now shows large swings from session to session.
What is the main problem with these data?
Answer: D
When staff measure the same behavior in different ways, their counts would disagree whenever they observed together, so interobserver agreement would be low, and changes on the graph may reflect who collected the data rather than what Nora did. The trend cannot guide decisions until both RBTs use the same definition. Concluding that Nora's screaming truly depends on which RBT is present ignores that the measurement itself differs between sessions. Averaging the two RBTs' counts blends two different definitions and produces a number that matches neither one. Each RBT counting consistently within their own sessions does not fix the problem, because the graph compares sessions across both staff. The RBTs should report the discrepancy and ask the supervisor which definition to follow.
9. An RBT scores a client, Liam's, completed handwriting worksheets as permanent product data at an after-school center. The supervisor's protocol states that scored worksheets must stay in Liam's binder until the weekly supervision visit so the scores can be checked.
What should the RBT do with the worksheets after scoring them?
Answer: A
When a supervisor requires permanent products to be kept, the RBT stores them exactly as directed. Keeping the worksheets in the binder lets the supervisor re-examine the actual products and confirm that the recorded scores are accurate, which protects data integrity. Throwing them away after entering scores removes the only way to verify those scores, even if the data sheet looks complete. Giving them to the parent breaks the storage requirement and risks the products being lost or altered before the visit. Photographing and discarding them substitutes the RBT's own method for the supervisor's protocol; a photo may miss details such as erasures, and the RBT cannot change the storage procedure alone.
10. An RBT has collected ABC data on a client, Diego's, tantrums at home over two weeks, documenting 20 incidents. The supervisor asks the RBT to summarize the data for the upcoming team meeting.
Which summary BEST fits the supervisor's request?
Answer: B
ABC data are summarized by counting how often specific antecedents and consequences occurred and converting those counts to percentages. Reporting that a demand came before 15 of the 20 tantrums, or 75 percent, gives the supervisor an objective pattern to review. Saying the tantrums happen because Diego wants to escape his chores states a conclusion about function, which is the supervisor's job to determine from the data. Saying he had many tantrums and seemed upset is vague and adds an inferred feeling instead of numbers. Recommending extinction next week is a treatment decision, and choosing or changing interventions belongs to the supervisor, not the RBT summarizing the data.
11. A client, Ruby, is learning to request a break by saying 'break please' during work at a clinic table. Her plan calls for immediate reinforcement, but the RBT usually finishes writing data first and gives the break about 30 seconds later.
What risk does this delay create?
Answer: C
Reinforcement works best when it follows the target response immediately. A 30-second delay weakens the connection between saying 'break please' and getting the break, so the request may weaken, and other behavior that happens during the wait, such as whining or leaving the table, may be reinforced instead. Waiting does not build helpful motivation here; it makes the request less effective at producing the break. Recording data before reinforcing does not improve accuracy and puts the RBT's paperwork ahead of the plan's timing requirement. Receiving every break is not enough, because when reinforcement arrives matters as much as whether it arrives. The RBT should deliver the break first and record immediately afterward.
12. While training for a new case, an RBT and a coworker watch the same video of a client, Mia, and record her noncompliance: one counts 4 instances, and the other counts 11. The definition on the data sheet reads 'Mia refuses to do what she is told.'
Which factor BEST explains the different counts?
Answer: D
An operational definition must be objective, clear, and complete so that two independent observers watching the same behavior record the same occurrences. 'Refuses to do what she is told' does not say what refusal looks like or how long Mia has to respond, so each observer filled the gaps differently. Assuming the person with 11 is overcounting picks a winner without evidence; the lower count could just as easily be missing instances. Noncompliance can be measured once it is defined in observable terms, and removing targets from a plan is a supervisor decision. Both watched the same video, so the camera angle cannot explain why their counts differ. The RBT should report the discrepancy so the supervisor can refine the definition.
13. An RBT reviews a cumulative record of a client, Isaac's, correct responses during a 20-minute session at a learning center. The line rises gradually for the first 10 minutes and then becomes much steeper for the last 10 minutes.
What does the steeper section of the line show?
Answer: A
A cumulative record adds each new response to the running total, so the slope of the line shows the rate of responding. A steeper slope means responses were added more quickly, so Isaac responded at a higher rate in the last 10 minutes. A lower rate would appear as a flatter slope, not a steeper one. Responding that stopped completely would show as a flat, horizontal line, because no responses are being added. A cumulative total can never decrease, since responses are only ever added; the line either rises or stays level. Reading slope correctly lets the RBT accurately describe changes in rate to the supervisor.
14. A supervisor has moved a client, Zoe's, hand-washing from continuous reinforcement to a variable-ratio 3 schedule at her school. An RBT keeps giving praise and a sticker after every hand-washing because it feels kinder.
What long-term risk does the RBT's choice create?
Answer: B
Intermittent schedules such as variable-ratio 3 build resistance to extinction, meaning behavior keeps occurring even when not every response is reinforced. By reinforcing every hand-washing, the RBT keeps Zoe on continuous reinforcement, so when praise and stickers become less frequent in everyday settings, hand-washing is likely to drop off quickly. Continuous reinforcement makes responding less persistent, not more, once reinforcement stops. Extra reinforcement does not make generalization happen faster and can speed satiation with stickers. Keeping the same reinforcer does not make the schedule irrelevant, because how often reinforcement is delivered affects how durable the behavior becomes. The RBT should follow the prescribed schedule and share any concerns with the supervisor.
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