RBT — Registered Behavior Technician

Test Content Outline, 3rd edition, effective January 1, 2026. The exam has 75 scored questionsplus 10 unscored, in 90 minutes.

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Content areas

6 areas, 43 tasks. The bar shows each area's share of the exam.

A. Data Collection and Graphing

17% of the exam · 13 questions · 8 tasks

Recording what actually happened during a session and turning it into something a supervisor can read. Covers continuous and discontinuous measurement, recording accuracy, and putting data on a graph so change over time is visible.
- A.1 Record every occurrence of a behaviour as the program specifies, using count, rate, duration, latency or the gap between responses. Continuous Measurement Frequency and Rate Duration Latency Interresponse Time
- A.2 Run sampling procedures that check for the behaviour during or at the end of set intervals rather than recording every instance. Discontinuous Measurement Partial-Interval Recording Whole-Interval Recording Momentary Time Sampling
- A.3 Measure a behaviour by counting the lasting result it left behind rather than by watching it happen. Permanent Product
- A.4 Transfer session data into the recording system and keep the learner's graphs current so the supervisor can read them. Line Graph Data Sheet Phase Change Line
- A.5 State what a behaviour and the situation around it look like in terms two people could observe and score the same way. Operational Definition Topography Objective Language
- A.6 Turn raw session data into the summary the program asks for, such as a rate, an average duration or a percentage. Frequency and Rate Percentage Count Duration
- A.7 Read a graph for the direction the data are heading, and say whether the behaviour is rising, falling or flat. Trend Visual Analysis Level Variability
- A.8 Explain what goes wrong when data are inaccurate or a procedure is not run as written: decisions get made on a picture that is not real. Interobserver Agreement Treatment Integrity Observer Drift Treatment Drift
31 glossary terms in this area
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B. Behavior Assessment

11% of the exam · 8 questions · 3 tasks

The technician's part in finding out why a behaviour happens and what a learner prefers — assisting with preference assessments and functional assessment procedures that a supervisor designs and interprets.
- B.1 Run preference assessments in the format the program names, and record what the learner chose so reinforcers can be selected from evidence. Preference Assessment Multiple-Stimulus Without Replacement Multiple-Stimulus With Replacement Paired-Stimulus Preference Assessment Free-Operant Preference Assessment Single-Stimulus Preference Assessment
- B.2 Assist with assessments of what a learner can and cannot yet do across skill areas, running the parts the supervisor assigns. Skills Assessment Indirect Assessment
- B.3 Assist with the parts of a functional assessment a technician may run, including descriptive recording and conditions of a functional analysis. Functional Behavior Assessment Descriptive Assessment Functional Analysis ABC Recording Scatterplot Function of Behavior
15 glossary terms in this area
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C. Behavior Acquisition

25% of the exam · 19 questions · 11 tasks

Teaching new skills. The largest domain on the exam: teaching procedures, prompting and prompt fading, chaining, generalisation and maintenance, and running programmes the way they are written.
- C.1 Deliver positive and negative reinforcement the way the program specifies — right away, only for the target response, and on the schedule and size written down. Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Reinforcer Continuous Reinforcement Intermittent Reinforcement Fixed-Ratio Schedule Variable-Ratio Schedule Fixed-Interval Schedule Variable-Interval Schedule
- C.2 Build and use reinforcers that only work because of a learning history, by pairing them with things that already reinforce. Conditioned Reinforcer Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer Pairing Unconditioned Reinforcer
- C.3 Run structured teaching trials with a clear instruction, a response, a planned consequence and a pause before the next trial. Discrete Trial Training Error Correction Three-Term Contingency
- C.4 Teach in the flow of ordinary activity, using what the learner is already interested in and the consequence that naturally follows. Naturalistic Teaching Incidental Teaching Mand Motivating Operation
- C.5 Teach a multi-step skill from its written step list, linking steps forward, from the last step back, or with every step attempted each time. Chaining Task Analysis Forward Chaining Backward Chaining Total-Task Chaining
- C.6 Teach a learner to respond to the right stimulus and not to others, by reinforcing in its presence and withholding in its absence. Discrimination Training Discriminative Stimulus S-Delta Stimulus Control Stimulus Discrimination Matching-to-Sample Listener Responding
- C.7 Use the prompts the program names — on the learner or on the materials — and fade them on the schedule written, so the natural cue takes over. Prompt Prompt Hierarchy Prompt Fading Errorless Teaching Least-to-Most Prompting Most-to-Least Prompting Stimulus Fading Time Delay Transfer of Stimulus Control
- C.8 Run the steps that make a skill work beyond the teaching setting — across people, places and materials — as the program directs. Generalization Stimulus Generalization Response Generalization Multiple Exemplar Training Teaching Loosely
- C.9 Tell apart teaching a skill the learner does not yet have from keeping a mastered skill going, and run each as written. Maintenance Schedule Thinning Generalization
- C.10 Reinforce closer and closer versions of a target response, moving the criterion as the program specifies, to build a behaviour that does not yet occur. Shaping
- C.11 Run a points or tokens system as written: what earns a token, what tokens buy, and when the exchange happens. Token Economy Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer Conditioned Reinforcer Response Cost
62 glossary terms in this area
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D. Behavior Reduction

19% of the exam · 14 questions · 7 tasks

Implementing the reduction side of a behaviour plan as written — antecedent strategies, differential reinforcement, extinction, and the technician's role in following a plan they did not design and may not modify.
- D.1 Recognise the usual reasons a behaviour keeps happening: attention, escape, access to something, or a consequence the behaviour produces by itself. Function of Behavior Automatic Reinforcement Socially Mediated Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement
- D.2 Run the strategies that change what happens before a behaviour — free access, easy requests first, or reducing demands — as the plan specifies. Antecedent Intervention Noncontingent Reinforcement High-Probability Request Sequence Motivating Operation Abolishing Operation Setting Event
- D.3 Reinforce the behaviour the plan names — an alternative, an incompatible one, the absence of the target, or a lower rate — and withhold for the target. Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates Functional Communication Training Replacement Behavior
- D.4 Withhold the consequence that has been maintaining a behaviour, exactly as the plan specifies and consistently every time. Extinction Planned Ignoring Escape Extinction Sensory Extinction
- D.5 Deliver the punishment-based components a plan authorises, such as time away from reinforcement, only as written and only where permitted. Punishment Positive Punishment Negative Punishment Time-Out From Positive Reinforcement Response Cost Least Restrictive Alternative
- D.6 Describe the side effects that come with extinction and with punishment — bursts, new forms of the behaviour, old behaviour returning, and emotional reactions. Extinction Burst Spontaneous Recovery Resurgence Behavioral Contrast Punishment
- D.7 Follow the crisis procedure the learner's plan and the employer set out, including who to contact and what to record afterwards. Incident Report Scope of Practice Mandated Reporter
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E. Documentation and Reporting

13% of the exam · 10 questions · 4 tasks

Session notes, incident reporting, and communicating with the supervisor. Covers what belongs in a note, objective versus subjective language, and the legal and billing consequences of vague documentation.
- E.1 Pass on what caregivers, teachers and other team members raise to the supervisor promptly, rather than answering it yourself or letting it wait. Collaboration Scope of Practice Supervision
- E.2 Ask the supervisor for clinical direction when you need it, promptly and through the route your organisation uses, and say what is most urgent. Supervision Scope of Practice Scope of Competence Treatment Integrity
- E.3 Record and report the things outside the program that could be affecting progress, such as illness, a medication change or a change in routine. Setting Event Session Note Incident Report Objective Language
- E.4 Write up what happened in the session factually, within the legal, funder and employer rules that apply to the record. Session Note Objective Language Data Sheet Confidentiality HIPAA
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F. Ethics

15% of the exam · 11 questions · 10 tasks

Scope of practice, supervision requirements, confidentiality, dual relationships, professional boundaries, and dignity. The number of ethics tasks doubled in this edition relative to the 2nd, from five to ten.
- F.1 Recognise the principles the technician ethics code is built on — benefiting others, treating people with compassion, dignity and respect, and acting with integrity — and use them to decide what to do. Ethics Code Dignity Assent
- F.2 Deliver only the procedures you have been trained on and shown you can perform, and say so when something is new to you. Scope of Competence Behavioral Skills Training Competency Assessment Scope of Practice
- F.3 Practise only while a qualified supervisor is on record for you and the required amount and structure of supervision is actually happening. Supervision Self-Reporting Scope of Practice
- F.4 Recognise what good supervision consists of — being shown, practising, getting feedback, and being observed with a client — and take part in it. Behavioral Skills Training Performance Feedback Supervision Competency Assessment
- F.5 Follow the rules for collecting, using, storing, protecting and sharing client information, in every setting and on every device. Confidentiality HIPAA Data Sheet Session Note
- F.6 Follow the rules for anything you say publicly about your work, including social media, and never misstate your credentials or what services achieve. Public Statement Confidentiality Ethics Code
- F.7 Recognise the kinds of second relationship that create a conflict, the harm they risk, and what to do when one cannot be avoided. Dual Relationship Conflict of Interest Ethics Code
- F.8 Follow the code's limits on giving and accepting gifts with the people you work with and their families. Conflict of Interest Dual Relationship
- F.9 Use the interpersonal skills the role needs — taking feedback, listening, asking for input and working with others — when acting in the technician role. Collaboration Performance Feedback Supervision
- F.10 Keep examining your own assumptions and adapt how you work to the learner's and family's culture, in services and in professional relationships. Cultural Humility Cultural Responsiveness Dignity
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Certification requirements

Checked against the 06/2026 version of the handbook. Requirements change; the official handbook is the authority.

A paraprofessional certification. Technicians deliver behavior-analytic services under the close, ongoing supervision of a certified supervisor who is responsible for their work. Certification requires an application with attestation, a 40-hour training, an in-person competency assessment, and a written examination, and it is maintained through supervision, ethics obligations and — from 2027 — professional development on a two-year cycle.

Eligibility

All of these are confirmed by an attesting certificant who may not be related to, supervised by, or employed by the applicant. Check the handbook for the exact timing rules; the windows below are the ones in force in the 06/2026 version.

Minimum age: 18 at the time the application is submitted. (Eligibility Requirements, p. 3)
Education: A high-school diploma or the equivalent. (Eligibility Requirements, p. 3)
Background checks: A criminal background check and an abuse-registry check, each passed no more than 180 days before paying for the application. Fingerprinting is not a board requirement, though a state or employer may require it. (Eligibility Requirements, p. 3)
40-hour training: A training that meets the 2026 curriculum outline, completed over at least 5 days and at most 180 days (start and end dates both count). The board does not provide or endorse trainings. (Eligibility Requirements, p. 3)
Initial competency assessment: Completed after the 40-hour training and no more than 90 days before applying, with an assessor who is not related to, supervised by, or employed by the applicant. (Eligibility Requirements, p. 3)
Supervisor on record: A qualified supervisor or requirements coordinator must list you as a supervisee before you begin delivering services. (Applying to Become an RBT, p. 4)

The examination

Facts about the format. The content areas and their weights are on the exam outline page, which links to the official outline for the task statements.

Questions: 85 in total — 75 scored and 10 unscored pilot questions you cannot identify. (Examination Outline, p. 7)
Time: 90 minutes. (Examination Outline, p. 7)
Format: Multiple choice with four options and one correct answer. (Examination Outline, p. 7)
Scoring: Every scored question counts equally, and the result is based on overall performance rather than on each content area separately. (Examination Outline, p. 7)
Content outline: The 3rd edition of the RBT Test Content Outline — 43 tasks in six content areas. If a new edition takes effect during your authorization window you test under the new one. (Examination, p. 7)

Ongoing supervision

Supervision is what keeps the certification active. It is client-focused, documented, and separate from professional development — one event cannot count for both.

Minimum amount: At least 5% of the hours you spend delivering behavior-analytic services in each calendar month, at every organization where you work. (Ongoing Supervision, p. 16)
Contacts per month: At least two face-to-face, real-time contacts. Phone calls and email do not count. (Ongoing Supervision, p. 17)
Observation: In at least one monthly contact the supervisor must observe you working with a client — in person preferred, live video permitted where lawful. Recorded video alone, with no live interaction, may not count. (Ongoing Supervision, p. 17)
Individual contact: At least one of the two monthly contacts must be individual. The other may be a small group of 2 to 10 technicians. (Ongoing Supervision, p. 17)
Who may supervise: An RBT Supervisor (a certified analyst or assistant analyst) or an RBT Requirements Coordinator (a certified analyst) with client-specific knowledge of your work, who lists you as a supervisee in their portal account. (RBT Supervisor Requirements, p. 19)
Records: Both you and your supervisor keep supervision documentation for at least 7 years, even after the relationship ends. (Supervision Documentation and Audits, p. 21)
If supervision lapses: Without a supervisor on record you are inactive and may not practice or bill. Substantial noncompliance can end the certification, with a six-month bar on reapplying. Lapses must be self-reported. (Non-practicing and Unsupervised RBTs, p. 21)

Recertification through 31 December 2026

Anyone recertifying during 2026 meets the older annual requirements one last time, and their two-year cycle begins after that.

Cycle: Annual, on the anniversary of passing the examination. (Annual Recertification, p. 27)
Competency assessment: A recertification competency assessment completed no more than 45 days before the expiration date, overseen by a qualified supervisor. (Annual Recertification, p. 27)
Application: Submitted through your portal account up to 45 days before expiration, with the assessment uploaded, a supervision attestation, and the ethics disclosure. (Submit Your Recertification Application, p. 28)
Fees: Recertification application $50; late fee $50 during the reinstatement period. (Fees, p. 29)
Missed date: A 30-day reinstatement period with a late fee. After that the certification expires and you must reapply under current requirements and retake the exam. (Reinstatement Period; Failure to Recertify, p. 29)

Recertification from 2027

Applies to anyone certified or recertified in 2026 onward. The annual competency assessment is replaced by professional development on a two-year cycle.

Cycle: Every two years, with the application available within 45 days of the date. (Recertification After January 1, 2027, p. 30)
Professional development: 12 hours of professional development units per two-year cycle, all earned within that cycle. Missed units cannot be made up afterward and extra units do not carry forward. (Professional Development, p. 30)
What counts: Behavior-analytic in-service training at your organization led by a certified analyst (not client-specific training); events from authorized continuing-education providers; and university behavior-analysis courses passed with a C or better. (PDU Types, p. 30)
What does not count: Ongoing supervision, client-specific training, fieldwork toward an analyst credential, and repeating an activity already counted. (PDU Types and Repeating PD Activities, pp. 30–31)
Competency assessment: No longer part of routine recertification. From 2027 the same assessment, renamed the reentry competency assessment, is used to return from inactive status. (Voluntary Inactive Status, p. 32)

Inactive status

Voluntary inactive: Available within your cycle for up to two years ($25). You may not practice or bill while inactive. Returning requires a competency assessment within 45 days before the request and a $25 fee. (Voluntary Inactive Status, p. 32)
No supervisor on record: Automatically inactive until a qualified supervisor lists you again. (Inactive Due to No Supervisor/Coordinator on Record, p. 31)
Active duty or reserve: A pause of up to two years for service members called to duty, at no fee. (Active Duty/Reserve Status Policy, p. 32)

Ethics and self-reporting

Code: The RBT Ethics Code (2.0): 29 standards in three sections, covering general responsibilities, responsibilities in delivering services, and responsibilities to the board and your supervisor. (Ethics and Self-Reporting, p. 23)
Self-reporting: Certain events about your own conduct, health or legal situation must be reported to the board within 30 days of your becoming aware of them. When unsure, report. (Critical Events, p. 23)
Keeping records current: Name, address and email changes must be updated in your portal account within 30 days. (Changes to Personal Information, p. 23)

About this page

Content-area names, task codes, counts and weights are facts taken from the official outline and handbook. The task summaries and descriptions are written by us and are not the document's wording; read the official outline for the exact task statements. This app is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any certifying body.

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RBT — Registered Behavior Technician

Content areas

A. Data Collection and Graphing

B. Behavior Assessment

C. Behavior Acquisition

D. Behavior Reduction

E. Documentation and Reporting

F. Ethics