RBT Plan

Behavior Acquisition: practice questions

6 original questions · 0 editor-approved · every choice explained.

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Blueprint-mapped questions with full rationales for every choice.

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Behavior AcquisitionDifficulty 2/5

A learner is being taught to tie shoes. The RBT completes every step except the final knot pull, prompts the learner to pull the knot tight, and delivers praise. Which procedure is being used?

  1. AForward chaining
  2. BTotal-task chaining
  3. CBackward chaining
  4. DShaping
Show answer and rationale

Correct: C. In backward chaining the trainer completes all but the last step and the learner performs the final step, contacting the natural reinforcer (finished shoe) immediately. Earlier steps are added one at a time working backward.

  • A — Forward chaining teaches the first step first.
  • B — Total-task chaining has the learner attempt every step each trial.
  • D — Shaping reinforces successive approximations of a single response, not a chain.
Behavior AcquisitionDifficulty 3/5

In an errorless-learning program using progressive time delay, the RBT initially presents the SD and the prompt at the same time. After several correct trials, what should happen next?

  1. AIncrease the prompt to full physical guidance
  2. BWait for an error on each trial, then deliver the prompt as an error correction
  3. CStop prompting entirely and record every error the learner makes from that point on
  4. DInsert a short delay between the SD and the prompt
Show answer and rationale

Correct: D. Progressive time delay starts at 0-second delay (prompt with the SD) and gradually inserts a delay before the prompt. If the learner responds correctly before the prompt, stimulus control has transferred to the SD. Waiting for errors defeats the purpose of errorless teaching.

  • C — Removing prompts abruptly produces errors and prompt-dependence data you cannot use.
  • A — Increasing intrusiveness moves in the wrong direction after correct responding.
  • B — Errorless learning is designed to prevent errors, not wait for them.
Behavior AcquisitionDifficulty 2/5

A learner has earned a token after every correct response for two weeks and accuracy is stable at 95%. The supervisor updates the plan. Which change is most consistent with moving toward maintenance?

  1. AThin the schedule so tokens follow some, not all, correct responses
  2. BSwitch to punishing incorrect responses
  3. CStop all reinforcement immediately and record whether the skill persists for two weeks
  4. DKeep delivering a token after every response but double the size of each token exchange
Show answer and rationale

Correct: A. Maintenance procedures thin reinforcement from continuous to intermittent so the skill persists under natural conditions. Abrupt removal risks extinction; increasing magnitude keeps a continuous schedule.

  • D — Magnitude changes do not thin the schedule.
  • B — Punishment is not a maintenance strategy.
  • C — Abrupt removal of reinforcement is extinction, not maintenance.
Behavior AcquisitionDifficulty 2/5

Which sequence correctly describes one discrete trial?

  1. AConsequence → response → SD → intertrial interval
  2. BSD → response → consequence → intertrial interval
  3. CPrompt → SD → intertrial interval → response
  4. DResponse → SD → consequence
Show answer and rationale

Correct: B. A discrete trial has a clear beginning (the SD), the learner's response, a consequence (reinforcement or error correction), and an intertrial interval before the next trial. Prompts, when used, are inserted between the SD and the response.

  • A — The consequence follows the response, it does not precede the SD.
  • C — The SD comes first; the intertrial interval comes last.
  • D — The SD must precede the response.
Behavior AcquisitionDifficulty 3/5

During discrimination training for the color red, the RBT reinforces the learner for touching the red card when asked 'red' and provides no reinforcement when the learner touches the blue card. The blue card in this arrangement is the:

  1. AEstablishing operation
  2. BSD
  3. CS-delta
  4. DConditioned reinforcer
Show answer and rationale

Correct: C. The stimulus in whose presence a response is not reinforced is the S-delta. The red card (in the presence of the instruction) is the SD because responding to it is reinforced.

  • B — The SD signals that reinforcement is available for the response.
  • D — A conditioned reinforcer is a consequence, not an antecedent stimulus.
  • A — An establishing operation changes the value of a reinforcer; the card does not.
Behavior AcquisitionDifficulty 3/5

A learner reliably greets the RBT with 'hi' in the clinic but not at school or with other staff. Which procedure directly targets this problem?

  1. AAdd a punishment procedure for not greeting
  2. BRun additional massed trials of the greeting in the clinic until accuracy reaches 100%
  3. CIncrease the magnitude of reinforcement for greetings delivered in the clinic setting
  4. DPractice greetings across people, settings and times
Show answer and rationale

Correct: D. This is a generalization deficit. Generalization procedures deliberately train across settings, people and stimuli so the skill occurs beyond the teaching context.

  • C — Stronger reinforcement in one setting does not make the skill transfer.
  • A — Punishment does not teach where and when to respond.
  • B — More trials in the same context reinforce the same narrow stimulus control.

Primary references

  1. RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), effective January 1, 2026 — Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) · primary · retrieved 2026-09-21, verified 2026-09-21