BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.)

Behavior Analyst Certiﬁcation Board | BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) | 1

The BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.; TCO) describes the content that will appear on the BCBA® certiﬁcation examination beginning in

2025. The TCO represents the knowledge and skills identiﬁed as being important for entry-level BCBA practitioners by the most recent

job task analysis (see the February 2022 BACB Newsletter). The BCBA examination includes 175 scored questions and 10 unscored pilot

questions. The TCO includes 104 tasks organized in 9 domains as follows:

Domain # of Questions (% of Exam)

A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations 8 (5%)

B. Concepts and Principles 24 (14%)

C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation 21 (12%)

D. Experimental Design 13 (7%)

E. Ethical and Professional Issues 22 (13%)

F. Behavior Assessment 23 (13%)

G. Behavior-Change Procedures 25 (14%)

H. Selecting and Implementing Interventions 20 (11%)

I. Personnel Supervision and Management 19 (11%)

Total Questions 175

Domain # of Questions

A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations 8

A.. Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e.,

description, prediction, control).

A.. Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the

science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism,

empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism).

A.. Explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism.

A.. Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of

behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice

guided by the science of behavior analysis.

A.. Identify and describe dimensions of applied behavioranalysis.

B. Concepts and Principles 24

B.. Identify and distinguish among behavior, response, and

response class.

B.. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and stimulus class.

B.. Identify and distinguish between respondent and

operantconditioning.

B.. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative

reinforcement contingencies.

B.. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative

punishment contingencies.

B.. Identify and distinguish between automatic and socially

mediated contingencies.

B.. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned,

and generalized reinforcers.

B.. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned,

and generalized punishers.

B.. Identify and distinguish among simple schedules

ofreinforcement.

B.. Identify and distinguish among concurrent, multiple, mixed,

and chained schedules of reinforcement.

B.. Identify and distinguish between operant and respondent

extinction as operations and processes.

B.. Identify examples of stimulus control.

B.. Identify examples of stimulus discrimination.

B.. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and

responsegeneralization.

B.. Identify examples of response maintenance.

B.. Identify examples of motivating operations.

B.. Distinguish between motivating operations and

stimuluscontrol.

B.. Identify and distinguish between rule-governed and

contingency-shaped behavior.

B.. Identify and distinguish among verbal operants.

B.. Identify the role of multiple control in verbal behavior.

B.. Identify examples of processes that promote emergent

relations and generative performance.

B.. Identify ways behavioral momentum can be used to

understand response persistence.

B.. Identify ways the matching law can be used to interpret

response allocation.

B.. Identify and distinguish between imitation and

observationallearning.

Behavior Analyst Certiﬁcation Board | BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) | 2

C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation 21

C.. Create operational deﬁnitions of behavior.

C.. Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures

ofbehavior.

C.. Measure occurrence.

C.. Measure temporal dimensions of behavior (e.g., duration,

latency, interresponse time).

C.. Distinguish between continuous and discontinuous

measurement procedures.

C.. Design and apply discontinuous measurement procedures

(e.g., interval recording, time sampling).

C.. Measure eciency (e.g., trials to criterion, cost-beneﬁt

analysis, training duration).

C.. Evaluate the validity and reliability of

measurementprocedures.

C.. Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative

data that accounts for the critical dimension of the behavior

and environmental constraints.

C.. Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations

(e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulativerecords).

C.. Interpret graphed data.

C.. 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

D.. Distinguish between dependent and independent variables.

D.. Distinguish between internal and external validity.

D.. Identify threats to internal validity (e.g., history, maturation).

D.. Identify the deﬁning features of single-case experimental

designs (e.g., individuals serve as their own controls,

repeated measures, prediction, veriﬁcation, replication).

D.. Identify the relative strengths of single-case experimental

designs and group designs.

D.. Critique and interpret data from single-case

experimentaldesigns.

D.. Distinguish among reversal, multiple-baseline, multielement,

and changing-criterion designs.

D.. Identify rationales for conducting comparative, component,

and parametric analyses.

D.. Apply single-case experimental designs.

E. Ethical and Professional Issues 22

E.. 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.. Identify the risks to oneself, others, and the profession as a

result of engaging in unethical behavior.

E.. Develop and maintain competence by engaging in

professional development activities (e.g., read literature, seek

consultation, establish mentors).

E.. Identify and comply with requirements for collecting, using,

protecting, and disclosing conﬁdential information.

E.. 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.. 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.. Identify types of and risks associated with multiple

relationships, and how to mitigate those risks when they

areunavoidable.

E.. Identify and apply interpersonal and other skills

(e.g., accepting feedback, listening actively, seeking

input, collaborating) to establish and maintain

professionalrelationships.

E.. Engage in cultural humility in service delivery and

professional relationships.

E.. Apply culturally responsive and inclusive service and

supervision activities.

E.. Identify personal biases and how they might interfere with

professional activity.

E.. 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

F.. Identify relevant sources of information in records (e.g.,

educational, medical, historical) at the outset of the case.

F.. Identify and integrate relevant cultural variables in the

assessment process.

F.. Design and evaluate assessments of relevant skill strengths

and areas of need.

F.. Design and evaluate preference assessments.

F.. Design and evaluate descriptive assessments.

F.. Design and evaluate functional analyses.

F.. Interpret assessment data to determine the need for

behavior-analytic services and/or referral to others.

F.. Interpret assessment data to identify and prioritize socially

signiﬁcant, client-informed, and culturally responsive

behavior-change procedures and goals.

Behavior Analyst Certiﬁcation Board | BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) | 3

G. Behavior-Change Procedures 25

G.. Design and evaluate positive and negative

reinforcementprocedures.

G.. Design and evaluate dierential reinforcement (e.g., DRA,

DRO, DRL, DRH) procedures with and without extinction.

G.. Design and evaluate time-based reinforcement (e.g., ﬁxed-

time) schedules.

G.. Identify procedures to establish and use conditioned

reinforcers (e.g., token economies).

G.. Incorporate motivating operations and discriminative stimuli

into behavior-change procedures.

G.. Design and evaluate procedures to produce simple and

conditional discriminations.

G.. Select and evaluate stimulus and response prompting

procedures (e.g., errorless, most-to-least, least-to-most).

G.. Design and implement procedures to fade stimulus and

response prompts (e.g., prompt delay, stimulus fading).

G.. Design and evaluate modeling procedures.

G.. Design and evaluate instructions and rules.

G.. Shape dimensions of behavior.

G.. Select and implement chaining procedures.

G.. Design and evaluate trial-based and free-

operantprocedures.

G.. Design and evaluate group contingencies.

G.. Design and evaluate procedures to promote stimulus and

response generalization.

G.. Design and evaluate procedures to maintain desired

behavior change following intervention (e.g., schedule

thinning, transferring to naturally occurring reinforcers).

G.. Design and evaluate positive and negative punishment (e.g.,

time-out, response cost, overcorrection).

G.. Evaluate emotional and elicited eects of behavior-

changeprocedures.

G.. Design and evaluate procedures to promote emergent

relations and generative performance.

H. Selecting and Implementing Interventions 20

H.. Develop intervention goals in observable and

measurableterms.

H.. 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.. Select socially valid alternative behavior to be established or

increased when a target behavior is to be decreased.

H.. Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible unwanted eects when

using reinforcement, extinction, and punishmentprocedures.

H.. Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible relapse of the

targetbehavior.

H.. Make data-based decisions about procedural integrity.

H.. Make data-based decisions about the eectiveness of the

intervention and the need for modiﬁcation.

H.. Collaborate with others to support and enhance clientservices.

I. Personnel Supervision and Management 19

I.. Identify the beneﬁts of using behavior-analytic supervision

(e.g., improved client outcomes, improved sta performance

and retention).

I.. Identify and apply strategies for establishing eective

supervisory relationships (e.g., executing supervisor-

supervisee contracts, establishing clear expectations, giving

and accepting feedback).

I.. Identify and implement methods that promote equity in

supervision practices.

I.. Select supervision goals based on an assessment of the

supervisee’s skills, cultural variables, and the environment.

I.. Identify and apply empirically validated and culturally

responsive performance management procedures (e.g.,

modeling, practice, feedback, reinforcement, task clariﬁcation,

manipulation of response eort).

I.. Apply a function-based approach (e.g., performance

diagnostics) to assess and improve supervisee behavior.

I.. Make data-based decisions about the ecacy of

supervisorypractices.