BCBA Exam Prep – Verified Questions, Task Lists, Ethics & Formulas | Updated for 2026

BCBA exam prep
Setting events - Stimulus events or contexts.
They include complex antecedent conditions, events, etc. and tend to exert general
control over behavior (as opposed to the more predictive control exerted by
discriminative stimuli). (Alberto & Troutman, 2003, pp. 240-241; Catania, 1998, pp.
129,387; Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987, pp. 31-32; Kazdin, 2001, pp. 35-38; Michael,
1993, p. 59; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991, p. 254)
Ex. going on another team's court...heart beating fast

Antecedent control strategies include... - (not limited to)
-manipulating EOs for desired behavior
-presenting SDs for desired behavior
-reducing response effort for desired behavior
-removing EOs for undesired behavior
-increasing response effort for undesired behavior. (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007,
pp. 374-409; Miltenberger, 2001, pp. 300-324)

Ecological behavior change strategies involve... - antecedent manipulations such as
setting up the environment or altering routines to promote the desired behavior
changes.
These may include:
-reducing noise levels
-increasing response effort
-enriching the environment with toys or activities
-changing schedules
It does not include consequent strategies such as reinforcement and punishment.
(Miltenberger, 2001, pp. 300-324)

Difference between:
Discriminative Stimulus
Contextual Variable
Reinforcing Event
Establishing Operation - DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULUS—A stimulus in the presence of
which a behavior has been hpreviously hreinforced
CONTEXTUAL hVARIABLE—setting hevent; hexerts hgeneral hcontrol hover hantecedent-
hbehavior hinteractions
REINFORCING hEVENT—follows ha hresponse hand hincreases hthe hfuture hprobability hof
hthat hbehavior
ESTABLISHING hOPERATION—alters hthe hvalue hof han hevent has ha hreinforcer hand
hevokes hbehavior hthat hhas hpreviously hresulted hin hthat hevent
(Alberto h& hTroutman, h2003, hpp. h240-241; hCatania, h1998, hpp. h129, h387; hCooper,
hHeron, h&
Heward, h1987, hpp. h31-32; hCooper, hHeron, h& hHeward, h2007, hpp. h374-389; hKazdin,
h2001,
pp. h35-38; hMichael, h1993, hpp. h59, h136;)

Role-playing hvs. hModeling h- hRole-playing hinvolves ha htrainee hpracticing hthe hskill hwhile
hsomeone helse hacts has hif hthey hare hthe htarget hindividual. hModeling hinvolves ha
htrainer hdemonstrating hthe hskill. h(Kazdin, h2001, hp. h358)

, BCBA exam prep
Main hgoal hof hRole-playing h- hThe htrainee hmust hstill hdemonstrate hthe hskill hon hthe
hjob hand hthe htrainer hmust hbe hcompetent hin himplementing hthe hprocedure.
hDescribing hthe hskill his hnot himportant hif hthe htrainee hcould hdemonstrate hit. h(Reid h&
hParsons, h2002, hpp. h156-158)


Role-playing hvs. hModeling h(part h2) h- hRole-playing h(the htrainee hacting hout hthe hskill)
his hoften hdone hafter hmodeling h(the htrainer hdemonstrating hthe hskill), has hpart hof ha
htraining hpackage.
Therefore, hit hwould hnot hbe haccurate hto hsay hthat hmodeling his hmore heffective hthan
hrole- hplaying. hRole-playing his hfaster hthan hon hthe hjob htraining hbecause hone hdoes
hnot hneed hto hwait hfor hnaturally hoccurring hopportunities hto harise. hRole-playing halso
henhances henjoyment hof htraining. h(Kazdin, h2001, hp. h358; hReid h& hParsons, h2002,
hpp. h158-159)


Components hof hcompetency-based htraining: h- h(1) hDescribe hthe hskill hto hbe hlearned,
h(2) hProvide ha hwritten hdescription, h(3) hdemonstrate h(model) hthe hskill, h(4) hobserve
hthe hlearner hperforming hthe hskill, h(5) hprovide hfeedback hon hthe hperformance, h(6)
hrepeat hsteps h3-5 huntil hproficiency his hdemonstrated. h(Reid h& hParsons, h2002, hpp.
h152-161)


Usage hof hdifferent hgraphs h- hLINE hGRAPHS h- huse hfor hcontinuous hmeasure hof
hbehavior hover htime
BAR hGRAPHS h- huse hfor hdisplaying hsummary hdata
STANDARD hCELERATION hCHARTS h- huse hwhen hstaff hare hcompetent hto huse
hthem, hwhen hdisplaying hfrequency, hlatency, hduration, hor hIRT h(inter-response htime),
hwhen hvariant hscales hof hnonstandard hdisplay hmake hdata hinterpretation hdifficult
PIE hCHARTS h- huse hto hshow hproportion hof ha htotal hor hto hdivide hone hinto hparts
(Cooper, hHeron, h& hHeward, h1987, hpp. h107-123; hCooper, hHeron, h& hHeward,
h2007, hpp. h126-144)


What his hthe hordinate hon ha hcumulative hrecord? h- hThe hordinate hon ha hcumulative
hrecord hreflects hthe hcumulative hnumber hof hresponses hover hseveral hsessions.
hUnlike ha hfrequency hgraph hin hwhich hthe hdata hpoint hfor heach hsession hreflects hthe
hnumber hfor hthat hsession, hpoints hon ha hcumulative hgraph hreflect hthe hnumber hof
hresponses hfor hthat hsession hADDED hto hthe hnumber hof hresponses hfrom hthe
hprevious hsession h(hence, hthe hterm h"cumulative"). hRecording honly hreverts hto hthe
hbottom hof hthe hordinate hwhen hthe htop hof hthe hordinate his hreached. hNote hthat hthe
hsteeper hthe hslope hof hthe hline, hthe hhigher hthe hrate hof hresponding. hA hflat hline
hindicates hno hresponding. h(Cooper, hHeron, h& hHeward, h1987, hpp. h115-120;
hCooper, hHeron, h& hHeward, h2007, hpp. h135-136)


When hwould hyou huse ha hcumulative hrecord hvs. hnon-cumulative hgraph? h- hThe htotal
hamount hof hmoney hearned, hlives hsaved, hand hmath hfacts hlearned hover ha hperiod hof
htime hare ha hfew hexamples hof hwhen ha hcumulative hrecord hprovides ha hmore
hinformative hdisplay hthan ha hnon- hcumulative hgraph. h(Cooper, hHeron, h& hHeward,
h1987, hp. h120; hCooper, hHeron, h& hHeward, h2007, hp. h138)


Tracking ha hbehavior hthat hoccurs hat ha hhigh hfrequency hone hday hand hlow hfrequency
hanother hday hwhat hgraph hwould hyou huse? h- hThe hStandard hCeleration hChart hbest