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Arkansas Behavior Analyst — Requirements & Free Practice

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Registered Behavior Analyst

Arkansas registration for independent behavior analysis; ordinary and reciprocal registration accept BCBA/BCBA-D or QBA certification.

Licensing authority: Arkansas Psychology Board · Application information

Initial registration by national certification

At least one of the following alternatives:

Application
Submit a complete application with a cover letter describing services and populations; mail the original application packet. Documentation is due by the first of the month for Board meeting consideration.
Application Fee
Pay the application fee, not exceeding $200, subject to applicable fee waivers under 17 CAR § 95-1202.
Criminal Background Check
Successfully complete state and federal criminal background checks; out-of-state applicants receive a fingerprint packet.
Current Certification
Hold current BCBA or BCBA-D certification from BACB, or QBA certification from QABA, and submit certification evidence. BCBA-D is a designation of BCBA certification, not a separate certification or examination.
Exam Timing
The certification examination may have been passed before registration. Its leaf records the currently offered examination involved and does not instruct an already certified applicant to retake it.
Independent Practice
The Board requires ability to practice independently.
Registration Term
Registration is valid for two years.
Delinquent registration renewal

At least one of the following alternatives:

Additional Education
§ 17-97-605(c) and 17 CAR § 95-407(b)(1) require no additional state or national association training or continuing education under these provisions.
Criminal History
17 CAR § 95-1303 covers registrants: listed offenses bar renewal unless expunged, sealed, pardoned, or a disqualification waiver is granted.
Current Certification
Provide verification of current BCBA/BCBA-D or QBA certification; preserving its currently offered certification examination does not require a fresh examination sitting.
Delinquent Fee
17 CAR § 95-1206 imposes an additional $100 fee for delinquent registry renewal, due before renewal of registration.
Existing Registration
Renew an existing Arkansas behavior analyst registration.
Renewal Application
Submit a renewal application before the registration expires.
Renewal Cycle
Registration lasts two years; 17 CAR § 95-1302(d) specifies biennial renewal during May 1–June 30.
Renewal Fee
Pay a renewal fee not exceeding $150.
Automatic registration for eligible uniformed service members, veterans, and spouses
No examination is required for this applicant pathway.
Automatic Registration
17 CAR § 95-903(a) defines automatic licensure as granting occupational licensure without satisfying ordinary Title 17 or Part 95 requirements; § 17-4-103 includes registration in occupational licensure.
Deployment
The rule provides a 180-day extension following return from deployment for license expiration and the specified continuing education exemption.
Documentation
Supply evidence of the comparable license and qualifying military or spouse status.
Eligible Status
Be a uniformed service member stationed in Arkansas, a veteran residing in or establishing Arkansas residency, or an eligible spouse under 17 CAR § 95-903(b).
Existing License
Hold occupational licensure with a similar scope of practice in good standing from another United States jurisdiction.
Fee
Pay the initial licensure fee unless waived.

Official no-examination sources

Effective from 2026-09-22.

Reciprocal registration

At least one of the following alternatives:

Application
Submit a complete application with a cover letter describing services and populations; mail the original application packet. Documentation is due by the first of the month for Board meeting consideration.
Application Fee
Pay the application fee, not exceeding $200, subject to applicable fee waivers under 17 CAR § 95-1202.
Board Discretion
The Board may issue reciprocal registration under § 17-97-607; the applicant must meet the other requirements of § 17-97-604.
Criminal Background Check
Successfully complete state and federal criminal background checks; out-of-state applicants receive a fingerprint packet.
Current Certification
Hold current BCBA or BCBA-D certification from BACB, or QBA certification from QABA, and submit certification evidence. BCBA-D is a designation of BCBA certification, not a separate certification or examination.
Exam Timing
The certification examination may have been passed before registration. Its leaf records the currently offered examination involved and does not instruct an already certified applicant to retake it.
Independent Practice
The Board requires ability to practice independently.
Other Jurisdiction License
Be currently licensed as a behavior analyst in good standing in another jurisdiction with comparable requirements.
Registration Term
Registration is valid for two years.
Verification
The Board must verify licensure or certification; the Board requests verification directly from the issuing jurisdiction.
Biennial registration renewal

At least one of the following alternatives:

Additional Education
§ 17-97-605(c) and 17 CAR § 95-407(b)(1) require no additional state or national association training or continuing education under these provisions.
Criminal History
17 CAR § 95-1303 covers registrants: listed offenses bar renewal unless expunged, sealed, pardoned, or a disqualification waiver is granted.
Current Certification
Provide verification of current BCBA/BCBA-D or QBA certification; preserving its currently offered certification examination does not require a fresh examination sitting.
Existing Registration
Renew an existing Arkansas behavior analyst registration.
Renewal Application
Submit a renewal application before the registration expires.
Renewal Cycle
Registration lasts two years; 17 CAR § 95-1302(d) specifies biennial renewal during May 1–June 30.
Renewal Fee
Pay a renewal fee not exceeding $150.

Temporary Registration as a Behavior Analyst

Short-term Arkansas behavior analyst registration under the statutory licensure or certification alternatives.

Licensing authority: Arkansas Psychology Board · Application information

Temporary registration based on current national certification
Application
Submit a temporary registration application and fee; mail the completed application packet.
Board Approval
The certification or equivalent must be approved by the Board for independent practice.
Board Page Demand
The Board Applicants page states: "Applicant must hold certification or licensure in another jurisdiction (BCBA, BCBA-D, or QBA)." It omits BCaBA, which remains a statutory and rule alternative.
Certification
Current BACB BCBA, BCBA-D, or BCaBA certification or QABA QBA certification is accepted by the statute and rule.
Equivalents
Equivalent certification approved by the Board is an applicant condition; no unidentified equivalent examination is emitted.
Exam Timing
The currently offered certification examination may already have been passed; current certification and independent-practice approval remain conditions.
Temporary Practice
Provide evidence of short-term practice. The rule and Board page specify a maximum of 30 days per calendar year; the rule describes consultation on one case per year, prior Board notification, and a letter describing the nature and length of consultation. Notify the Board before exceeding 30 days.
Verification
The Board must verify licensure or certification with the relevant entity and vote on the application before services begin.
Temporary registration based on licensure in another jurisdiction
No examination is required for this applicant pathway.
Application
Submit a temporary registration application and fee; mail the completed application packet.
Board Page Demand
The Board Applicants page states: "Applicant must hold certification or licensure in another jurisdiction (BCBA, BCBA-D, or QBA)." Any certification demand applied to an otherwise licensed applicant is an implementation condition; § 17-97-606(a) independently permits the licensure alternative.
Exam Boundary
The statutory alternative names licensure in another jurisdiction without prescribing a currently offered Arkansas or nationwide examination for this applicant. The outside license is a condition.
Other Jurisdiction License
Hold current behavior analyst licensure in another jurisdiction and supply verification and good standing. The statute and rule permit licensure as an alternative to certification.
Temporary Practice
Provide evidence of short-term practice. The rule and Board page specify a maximum of 30 days per calendar year; the rule describes consultation on one case per year, prior Board notification, and a letter describing the nature and length of consultation. Notify the Board before exceeding 30 days.
Verification
The Board must verify licensure or certification with the relevant entity and vote on the application before services begin.

Official no-examination sources

Effective from 2026-09-22.

BCBA Certification Examination

Provider
Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB); delivered by Pearson VUE in person at authorized Pearson VUE testing sites
Format
Computer-based multiple-choice examination, continuously available and offered only in English; each question has 4 possible answers and only 1 correct answer; all questions are equally weighted and the result is based on overall performance
Exam questions
185 multiple-choice questions: 175 scored and 10 unscored
Time limit
4 hours
Passing score
Pass/fail; criterion-referenced passing score established by the modified Angoff method
Exam fee
$245 certification application (BACB) plus $125 examination appointment (Pearson VUE); $140 examination retake application
Examination outline
  • A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations (8 of 175 scored questions) (5%)
    • A.1. Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control).
    • A.2. Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism).
    • A.3. Explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism.
    • A.4. Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis.
    • A.5. Identify and describe dimensions of applied behavior analysis.
  • B. Concepts and Principles (24 of 175 scored questions) (14%)
    • B.1. Identify and distinguish among behavior, response, and response class.
    • B.2. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and stimulus class.
    • B.3. Identify and distinguish between respondent and operant conditioning.
    • B.4. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement contingencies.
    • B.5. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative punishment contingencies.
    • B.6. Identify and distinguish between automatic and socially mediated contingencies.
    • B.7. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized reinforcers.
    • B.8. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized punishers.
    • B.9. Identify and distinguish among simple schedules of reinforcement.
    • B.10. Identify and distinguish among concurrent, multiple, mixed, and chained schedules of reinforcement.
    • B.11. Identify and distinguish between operant and respondent extinction as operations and processes.
    • B.12. Identify examples of stimulus control.
    • B.13. Identify examples of stimulus discrimination.
    • B.14. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and response generalization.
    • B.15. Identify examples of response maintenance.
    • B.16. Identify examples of motivating operations.
    • B.17. Distinguish between motivating operations and stimulus control.
    • B.18. Identify and distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.
    • B.19. Identify and distinguish among verbal operants.
    • B.20. Identify the role of multiple control in verbal behavior.
    • B.21. Identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance.
    • B.22. Identify ways behavioral momentum can be used to understand response persistence.
    • B.23. Identify ways the matching law can be used to interpret response allocation.
    • B.24. Identify and distinguish between imitation and observational learning.
  • C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation (21 of 175 scored questions) (12%)
    • C.1. Create operational definitions of behavior.
    • C.2. Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures of behavior.
    • C.3. Measure occurrence.
    • C.4. Measure temporal dimensions of behavior (e.g., duration, latency, interresponse time).
    • C.5. Distinguish between continuous and discontinuous measurement procedures.
    • C.6. Design and apply discontinuous measurement procedures (e.g., interval recording, time sampling).
    • C.7. Measure efficiency (e.g., trials to criterion, cost-benefit analysis, training duration).
    • C.8. Evaluate the validity and reliability of measurement procedures.
    • C.9. Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative data that accounts for the critical dimension of the behavior and environmental constraints.
    • C.10. Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations (e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulative records).
    • C.11. Interpret graphed data.
    • C.12. Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative procedural integrity data that accounts for relevant dimensions (e.g., accuracy, dosage) and environmental constraints.
  • D. Experimental Design (13 of 175 scored questions) (7%)
    • D.1. Distinguish between dependent and independent variables.
    • D.2. Distinguish between internal and external validity.
    • D.3. Identify threats to internal validity (e.g., history, maturation).
    • D.4. Identify the defining features of single-case experimental designs (e.g., individuals serve as their own controls, repeated measures, prediction, verification, replication).
    • D.5. Identify the relative strengths of single-case experimental designs and group designs.
    • D.6. Critique and interpret data from single-case experimental designs.
    • D.7. Distinguish among reversal, multiple-baseline, multielement, and changing-criterion designs.
    • D.8. Identify rationales for conducting comparative, component, and parametric analyses.
    • D.9. Apply single-case experimental designs.
  • E. Ethical and Professional Issues (22 of 175 scored questions) (13%)
    • E.1. Identify and apply core principles underlying the ethics codes for BACB certificants (e.g., benefit others; treat others with compassion, dignity, and respect; behave with integrity).
    • E.2. Identify the risks to oneself, others, and the profession as a result of engaging in unethical behavior.
    • E.3. Develop and maintain competence by engaging in professional development activities (e.g., read literature, seek consultation, establish mentors).
    • E.4. Identify and comply with requirements for collecting, using, protecting, and disclosing confidential information.
    • E.5. Identify and comply with requirements for making public statements about professional activities (e.g., social media activity; misrepresentation of professional credentials, behavior analysis, and service outcomes).
    • E.6. Identify the conditions under which services or supervision should be discontinued and apply steps that should be taken when transitioning clients and supervisees to another professional.
    • E.7. Identify types of and risks associated with multiple relationships, and how to mitigate those risks when they are unavoidable.
    • E.8. Identify and apply interpersonal and other skills (e.g., accepting feedback, listening actively, seeking input, collaborating) to establish and maintain professional relationships.
    • E.9. Engage in cultural humility in service delivery and professional relationships.
    • E.10. Apply culturally responsive and inclusive service and supervision activities.
    • E.11. Identify personal biases and how they might interfere with professional activity.
    • E.12. Identify and apply the legal, regulatory, and practice requirements (e.g., licensure, jurisprudence, funding, certification) relevant to the delivery of behavior-analytic services.
  • F. Behavior Assessment (23 of 175 scored questions) (13%)
    • F.1. Identify relevant sources of information in records (e.g., educational, medical, historical) at the outset of the case.
    • F.2. Identify and integrate relevant cultural variables in the assessment process.
    • F.3. Design and evaluate assessments of relevant skill strengths and areas of need.
    • F.4. Design and evaluate preference assessments.
    • F.5. Design and evaluate descriptive assessments.
    • F.6. Design and evaluate functional analyses.
    • F.7. Interpret assessment data to determine the need for behavior-analytic services and/or referral to others.
    • F.8. Interpret assessment data to identify and prioritize socially significant, client-informed, and culturally responsive behavior-change procedures and goals.
  • G. Behavior-Change Procedures (25 of 175 scored questions) (14%)
    • G.1. Design and evaluate positive and negative reinforcement procedures.
    • G.2. Design and evaluate differential reinforcement (e.g., DRA, DRO, DRL, DRH) procedures with and without extinction.
    • G.3. Design and evaluate time-based reinforcement (e.g., fixed-time) schedules.
    • G.4. Identify procedures to establish and use conditioned reinforcers (e.g., token economies).
    • G.5. Incorporate motivating operations and discriminative stimuli into behavior-change procedures.
    • G.6. Design and evaluate procedures to produce simple and conditional discriminations.
    • G.7. Select and evaluate stimulus and response prompting procedures (e.g., errorless, most-to-least, least-to-most).
    • G.8. Design and implement procedures to fade stimulus and response prompts (e.g., prompt delay, stimulus fading).
    • G.9. Design and evaluate modeling procedures.
    • G.10. Design and evaluate instructions and rules.
    • G.11. Shape dimensions of behavior.
    • G.12. Select and implement chaining procedures.
    • G.13. Design and evaluate trial-based and free-operant procedures.
    • G.14. Design and evaluate group contingencies.
    • G.15. Design and evaluate procedures to promote stimulus and response generalization.
    • G.16. Design and evaluate procedures to maintain desired behavior change following intervention (e.g., schedule thinning, transferring to naturally occurring reinforcers).
    • G.17. Design and evaluate positive and negative punishment (e.g., time-out, response cost, overcorrection).
    • G.18. Evaluate emotional and elicited effects of behavior-change procedures.
    • G.19. Design and evaluate procedures to promote emergent relations and generative performance.
  • H. Selecting and Implementing Interventions (20 of 175 scored questions) (11%)
    • H.1. Develop intervention goals in observable and measurable terms.
    • H.2. Identify and recommend interventions based on assessment results, scientific evidence, client preferences, and contextual fit (e.g., expertise required for implementation, cultural variables, environmental resources).
    • H.3. Select socially valid alternative behavior to be established or increased when a target behavior is to be decreased.
    • H.4. Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible unwanted effects when using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures.
    • H.5. Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible relapse of the target behavior.
    • H.6. Make data-based decisions about procedural integrity.
    • H.7. Make data-based decisions about the effectiveness of the intervention and the need for modification.
    • H.8. Collaborate with others to support and enhance client services.
  • I. Personnel Supervision and Management (19 of 175 scored questions) (11%)
    • I.1. Identify the benefits of using behavior-analytic supervision (e.g., improved client outcomes, improved staff performance and retention).
    • I.2. Identify and apply strategies for establishing effective supervisory relationships (e.g., executing supervisor-supervisee contracts, establishing clear expectations, giving and accepting feedback).
    • I.3. Identify and implement methods that promote equity in supervision practices.
    • I.4. Select supervision goals based on an assessment of the supervisee’s skills, cultural variables, and the environment.
    • I.5. Identify and apply empirically validated and culturally responsive performance management procedures (e.g., modeling, practice, feedback, reinforcement, task clarification, manipulation of response effort).
    • I.6. Apply a function-based approach (e.g., performance diagnostics) to assess and improve supervisee behavior.
    • I.7. Make data-based decisions about the efficacy of supervisory practices.
Examination sources

QBA examination

Provider
Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis Credentialing Board (QABA); online examination live-proctored by Premier Proctoring
Format
Online live-proctored examination
Exam questions
125 questions: 100 live scored and 25 unscored pretest questions
Time limit
3 hours
Exam fee
$350 non-refundable application and exam fee; $225 retake fee
Examination outline
  • A. Autism Core Knowledge (listed in the QBA Job Analysis Test Specifications as 'A. Autism Spectrum Disorder Basics') (5 scored items, +/-2) (5%)
    • 1. ASD and common characteristics and deficits
    • 2. Autism as a spectrum disorder and the core deficits outlined in the DSM-V.
    • 3. Symptoms & characteristics of ASD used in early diagnosis
    • 4. Risk factors associated with the development of autism spectrum disorders
    • 5. Terminology associated with diagnosis, such as pragmatic language, receptive and expressive language, sensory-motor, social skills, joint attention, stereotypy
    • 6. How and when disorders are commonly associated in differential diagnosis, such as learning disabilities, processing disorders, etc.
    • 7. Identify co-morbid disorders commonly associated with ASD
    • 8. Identify how ASD is diagnosed and how results may be utilized in goal development. Review the categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders associated with ASD, such as social communication disorder, etc. review assessments utilized in diagnosis of ASD.
  • B. Legal, Ethical, and Professional Considerations (10 scored items, +/-2) (10%)
    • 1. Review and understand QABA Code of Ethics (e.g., applied behavior)
    • 2. Review and understand HIPAA regulations (e.g., confidentiality including limitations, mandated reporting, reportable documents, duty to warn vs. duty to protect and/or local/federal laws and regulations.
    • 3. Collaborations with professionals and family members (e.g., behavior contracts, breaking policies, cancellations, referral methods, communication skills, active listening)
    • 4. Describe the importance of Educational laws (e.g., IDEA, LRE, IEP, ADA, Rehabilitation Act, 504 Plan)
    • 5. Positive behavior supports
    • 6. Person-centered planning
    • 7. Socially significant behaviors
    • 8. Treatment planning (e.g., drafting, development, goal writing, implementation)
    • 9. Transitioning services (e.g., thinning of reinforcement, prompt hierarchies, mastery criteria, generalization, maintenance, stakeholder training)
    • 10. Responsibilities to clients (e.g., referrals)
    • 11. Professional competency (e.g., supervision from competent sources)
    • 12. Describe the importance of Informed consent
    • 13. Identify and explain the use of Risk benefit assessments
  • C. Core Principles of ABA (10 scored items, +/-2) (10%)
    • 1. Correctly identify a Four-term contingency
    • 2. Describe and discriminate between Respondent and Operant conditioning
    • 3. Explain and describe Classical conditioning
    • 4. Identify and explain stimulus functions (e.g., stimulus control, discriminative stimulus, stimulus delta, SD-p, generalization, discrimination, response)
    • 5. Describe and discriminate between Motivational operations (e.g., abolishing operation, establishing operation, abative, evocative, conditioned motivating operation, unconditioned motivating operation)
    • 6. Identify the differences between reinforcement and punishment (e.g., positive and negative)
    • 7. Describe and interpret Matching law
    • 8. Identify and provide examples of various Reinforcers and punishers (e.g., primary, secondary, conditioned, unconditioned)
    • 9. Apply and explain Measurement (e.g., dimensional quantities, derivative measures, and definition measures)
    • 10. Recognize Schedules of reinforcement and describe their appropriate use
    • 11. Identify and define Extinction and possible effects (e.g., spontaneous recovery, resurgence, extinction burst, renewal)
    • 12. Identify and apply the six (6) Verbal operants
    • 13. Identify, describe, and apply Conditioned motivating operations (i.e., CMO-R, CMO-T, CMOS)
  • D. Antecedent Interventions (12 scored items, +/-2) (12%)
    • 1. Identify and explain the use of Antecedent strategies (e.g., types, advantages and disadvantages)
    • 2. Summarize Non-contingent reinforcement (e.g., implementation methods, advantages and disadvantages)
    • 3. Describe the effects on motivating operations (e.g., evocative and abative)
    • 4. Describe Functional communication training
    • 5. Adaptive Augmentative Communication (e.g., PECS, communication devices)
    • 6. Identify and describe Setting events and how they can contribute to or influence responses
  • E. Skill Acquisition Programming (10 scored items, +/-2) (10%)
    • 1. Treatment plan protocol (e.g., goal writing, mastery criteria measures, targets, maintenance, generalization, skill acquisition domains)
    • 2. Discriminate between Topography vs. function
    • 3. Understand Prompting as it relates to use within ABA (e.g., hierarchy, procedures, fading, types, prompt dependency)
    • 4. Stimuli usage (e.g., control, transfer, and threats)
    • 5. Error correction procedures
    • 6. Characterize Skill implementation strategies
    • 7. Identify and explain Imitation training
    • 8. Behavior chain procedures
    • 9. Self-management procedures
    • 11. Describe ABA -based instructional methodologies (e.g., PRT, NET, DTT, incidental teaching)
    • 12. Stimulus equivalence
  • F. Behavior Reduction Interventions (14 scored items, +/-2) (14%)
    • 1. Understand the importance and use of Assessment tools token economy (e.g., back up reinforcers, generalized reinforcers, response-cost, ratio strain)
    • 2. Identify Punishment procedures and risks associated with said procedures
    • 3. Identify and describe Differential reinforcement procedures (eg. DRA, DRO, DRI, DRL, DRH)
    • 4. Define Behavioral contrast
    • 5. Understand risks and benefits associated with Group contingencies
    • 6. Explain Contingency contracts
    • 7. Understand the use of Extinction procedures
    • 8. Limitations of behavior reduction strategies
  • G. Data Collection and Analysis (15 scored items, +/-2) (15%)
    • 1. Describe Measurable dimensions of behavior (eg. Latency, duration, duration, etc)
    • 2. Explain the importance of Operational definitions
    • 3. Identify Graphic displays commonly used in ABA
    • 4. Visual analysis
    • 5. Describe and provide examples of Measurement procedures (e.g., continuous and discontinuous)
    • 6. Identify Validation of measurement
    • 7. Understand the types of Interobserver agreement (IOA) and identify least to most stringent
  • H. Assessment (14 scored items, +/-2) (14%)
    • 1. Understand and identify key components of Assessments (e.g., FBA, FA, preference, reinforcer, indirect, direct/descriptive, conditional probability, environmental analysis)
    • 2. Describe and visually interpret Experimental designs
  • I. Training and Supervision (10 scored items, +/-2) (10%)
    • 1. Define and explain Fidelity (i.e., treatment and procedural)
    • 2. Documentation and best practices (e.g., report writing, training, supervision)
    • 3. Identify the purpose of Mediator analysis (e.g., environmental assessment, sociocultural background, religious affiliations)
    • 4. Training procedures (e.g., behavior skills training, parent training)
    • 5. Characterize Sociocultural values (eg. Ethics, diversity)
    • 6. Describe important characteristics and/or practices related to Supervision strategies
Examination sources

BCaBA Certification Examination

Provider
Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB); delivered by Pearson VUE in person at authorized Pearson VUE testing sites
Format
Computer-based multiple-choice examination, continuously available and offered only in English; each question has 4 possible answers and only 1 correct answer; all questions are equally weighted and the result is based on overall performance
Exam questions
175 multiple-choice questions: 150 scored and 25 unscored
Time limit
4 hours
Passing score
Pass/fail; criterion-referenced passing score established by the modified Angoff method
Exam fee
$175 certification application (BACB) plus $125 examination appointment (Pearson VUE)
Examination outline
  • A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations (10 of 150 scored questions) (7%)
    • A.1. Explain the goals of behavior analysis as a natural science (i.e., description, prediction, control).
    • A.2. Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism).
    • A.3. Describe and explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism.
    • A.4. Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis.
    • A.5. Identify and describe dimensions of applied behavior analysis (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968).
  • B. Concepts and Principles (18 of 150 scored questions) (12%)
    • B.1. Identify and distinguish among behavior, response, and response class.
    • B.2. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and stimulus class.
    • B.3. Identify and distinguish between respondent and operant conditioning.
    • B.4. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement contingencies.
    • B.5. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative punishment contingencies.
    • B.6. Identify and distinguish between automatic and socially mediated contingencies.
    • B.7. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized reinforcers and punishers.
    • B.8. Identify and distinguish among simple schedules of reinforcement.
    • B.9. Identify examples of operant extinction.
    • B.10. Identify and distinguish between types of stimulus control.
    • B.11. Identify and distinguish between discrimination and generalization.
    • B.12. Define and identify examples of unconditioned motivating operations.
    • B.13. Identify and distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.
    • B.14. Identify and distinguish among elementary verbal operants.
    • B.15. Define and identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance.
  • C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation (20 of 150 scored questions) (13%)
    • C.1. Define and identify dimensions of behavior (e.g., count, duration, magnitude).
    • C.2. Describe the form (i.e., topography) and develop operational definitions of behavior.
    • C.3. Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures of behavior.
    • C.4. Develop and implement continuous measurement procedures (e.g., duration recording, event recording).
    • C.5. Develop and implement discontinuous measurement procedures (e.g., interval recording, time sampling).
    • C.6. Evaluate the validity and reliability of measurement procedures.
    • C.7. Select a measurement system to obtain representative data given the dimensions of behavior and the logistics of observing and recording.
    • C.8. Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations (e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulative records).
    • C.9. Interpret graphed data.
    • C.10. Develop and evaluate mastery criteria.
  • D. Experimental Design (10 of 150 scored questions) (7%)
    • D.1. Distinguish between dependent and independent variables.
    • D.2. Distinguish between internal and external validity.
    • D.3. Identify the defining features of single-case experimental designs (e.g., individuals serve as their own controls, repeated measures, prediction, verification, replication).
    • D.4. Identify strengths of single-case experimental design.
    • D.5. Distinguish among and implement single-case experimental designs (e.g., reversal, multiple baseline, multielement, changing criterion).
    • D.6. Distinguish among and implement comparative, component, and parametric analyses.
  • E. Ethical and Professional Issues (18 of 150 scored questions) (12%)
    • E.1. Identify and apply core principles underlying the ethics codes for BACB certificants (e.g., benefit others; treat others with compassion, dignity, and respect; behave with integrity).
    • E.2. Identify the risks to oneself, others, and the profession associated with engaging in unethical behavior (e.g., misuse of social media, misrepresentation of one’s credential, making confidential information public).
    • E.3. Identify one’s area(s) of competence and when to seek a supervisor’s guidance.
    • E.4. Identify professional development activities that strengthen and expand areas of competence (e.g., attend conferences, read literature, seek consultation, establish mentors).
    • E.5. Identify and comply with requirements for collecting, using, protecting, and disclosing confidential information.
    • E.6. Identify steps that should be taken when transitioning clients or supervisees to another professional or when a BCaBA transitions to a different supervisor.
    • E.7. Identify types of and risks associated with multiple relationships, and how to mitigate those risks when they are unavoidable.
    • E.8. Identify and apply interpersonal and other skills (e.g., accepting feedback, listening actively, seeking input, collaborating) to establish and maintain professional relationships.
    • E.9. Engage in cultural humility in service delivery and professional relationships.
    • E.10. Apply culturally responsive and inclusive service and supervision activities.
    • E.11. Identify and apply the legal, regulatory, and practice requirements (e.g., licensure, jurisprudence, funding, certification) relevant to the delivery of behavior-analytic services.
  • F. Behavior Assessment (17 of 150 scored questions) (11%)
    • F.1. Review relevant information in available records and data (e.g., educational, medical, historical) at the outset of a case.
    • F.2. Identify conditions that warrant behavior-analytic services.
    • F.3. Identify and prioritize socially significant, client-informed, and culturally responsive behavior-change goals.
    • F.4. Implement assessments of relevant skill strengths and deficits, and contextual fit (e.g., client values, cultural variables, social validity, environmental resources).
    • F.5. Implement preference and reinforcer assessments.
    • F.6. Implement functional assessments of behavior, including indirect, descriptive, and experimental analyses.
  • G. Behavior-Change Procedures (22 of 150 scored questions) (15%)
    • G.1. Develop and implement positive and negative reinforcement procedures, including contingent and noncontingent applications.
    • G.2. Develop and implement procedures to establish and use conditioned reinforcers.
    • G.3. Develop and implement procedures that incorporate motivating operations and discriminative stimuli.
    • G.4. Develop and implement procedures to teach simple and conditional discriminations.
    • G.5. Develop and implement procedures using stimulus and response prompts that include appropriate fading procedures (e.g., errorless, least-to-most, stimulus fading).
    • G.6. Develop and implement modeling procedures.
    • G.7. Develop and implement procedures that use instructions and rules.
    • G.8. Develop and implement shaping procedures.
    • G.9. Develop and implement chaining procedures.
    • G.10. Develop and implement procedures to teach elementary verbal operants.
    • G.11. Develop and implement procedures to promote emergent relations and generative performance.
    • G.12. Develop and implement procedures that promote behavioral persistence.
    • G.13. Develop and implement acquisition procedures that are appropriate to the client’s skills and intervention goals (e.g., discrete-trial, free-operant, and naturalistic teaching arrangements).
    • G.14. Develop and implement group contingency procedures.
    • G.15. Develop and implement contingency contracting procedures.
    • G.16. Develop and implement self-management procedures.
    • G.17. Develop and implement procedures to promote stimulus and response generalization.
    • G.18. Develop and implement differential reinforcement procedures with and without extinction.
    • G.19. Define and implement positive and negative punishment procedures (e.g., time-out, response cost, overcorrection).
    • G.20. Develop and implement procedures to promote maintenance of behavior change.
  • H. Intervention Development and Monitoring (20 of 150 scored questions) (13%)
    • H.1. State intervention goals in observable and measurable terms.
    • H.2. Identify potential interventions based on assessment results and scientific evidence.
    • H.3. Develop intervention goals and procedures based on risks and contextual fit (e.g., client preferences and values, cultural variables, social validity, environmental resources).
    • H.4. Identify alternative behaviors to be established or increased when a target behavior is to be decreased.
    • H.5. Identify possible unwanted effects when using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures.
    • H.6. Evaluate client progress and procedural integrity.
    • H.7. Make data-based decisions about the effectiveness of procedures and the need for modification.
    • H.8. Collaborate with and include others who support and/or provide services to clients.
  • I. Supervisory Relationships (15 of 150 scored questions) (10%)
    • I.1. Use behavior-analytic supervision practices and state the potential risks of ineffective supervision (e.g., poor client outcomes, impaired job satisfaction, employee turnover).
    • I.2. Identify and apply strategies for establishing and maintaining effective supervisory relationships (e.g., active listening, providing reinforcement, reciprocal feedback).
    • I.3. Identify and implement methods that promote equity in supervision practices.
    • I.4. Establish clear performance expectations for the supervisor and supervisee.
    • I.5. Select supervision goals based on an assessment of the supervisee’s skills.
    • I.6. Apply empirically validated and competency-based approaches to train supervisees to perform assessment and intervention procedures.
    • I.7. Identify and apply empirically validated and culturally responsive performance management procedures (e.g., modeling, practice, feedback, reinforcement, task clarification, manipulation of response effort).
    • I.8. Apply a function-based approach (e.g., performance diagnostics) to assess and improve supervisee behavior.
    • I.9. Evaluate the effects of supervision (e.g., on client outcomes, on supervisee repertoires).
Examination sources