RBT Exam 2026: Format, Cost, Pass Rate and Retakes

RBT exam format

85 questions: 75 scored and 10 unscored pilot questions the BACB is testing for future exams. Each question has four options and one correct answer, and you have 90minutes for all of them, a little over a minute each. Every scored question counts the same, and the result is based on the whole exam, not on each domain.

Since 1 January 2026 the questions follow the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.):43 tasks in six domains, weighted like this:

How much the RBT exam costs

$110 for a first attempt: a $65 certification application fee paid to the BACB and a $45 exam appointment paid to Pearson VUE when you book. Every attempt needs a new $45 appointment. Pearson VUE charges $27 to cancel or reschedule 30 to 5 days before the appointment and $32 from 5 days to 48 hours before; inside 48 hours you cannot change it, and arriving more than 30 minutes late forfeits the fee.

Who can take the RBT exam

• You are at least 18 and have a high school education or the equivalent.
• You passed a criminal background check and an abuse registry check no more than 180 days before paying for your application.
• You completed a 40-hour training that meets the BACB's 2026 requirements, over no fewer than 5 and no more than 180 days.
• After the training, an assessor completed your RBT Initial Competency Assessment, no more than 90 days before you apply.

An attesting certificant confirms the age, education and checks on your application's attestation form, and cannot be related to you, report to you, or work for you.

How to schedule the RBT exam

Once the BACB approves your application, you get an authorization email and book through your Pearson VUE account or by phone. The exam is in person at an authorized Pearson VUE test center, and you have one year from approval to sit it.

RBT exam passing score

There is no published percentage. The BACB sets the passing score with the modified Angoff method: a panel of BACB-certified experts decides it and the BACB board approves it, and a new one is set whenever the outline changes. You see your pass or fail result at the test center, and the score report is in your Pearson VUE account under "View Score Reports".

Is the RBT exam hard?

In 2025, 75% of first-time candidates passed (109,341 took it for the first time) and 38% of retakes did, according to the BACB's 2025 annual data. The questions reward applying a procedure to a short scenario more than reciting definitions: knowing thatpartial interval recording overestimates a behavior matters more than defining it, and the 85-question practice exam drills exactly that.

RBT exam retakes

You can sit the exam up to 8 times in the 12 months after your application is first approved. A retake application appears in your BACB account within 48 hours of a failed attempt, it costs nothing to submit, and you must wait 7 days between attempts. If all 8 attempts fail with time left in the 12 months, you wait for the period to end before applying again.

After you pass

The BACB emails you about your certification within a week. Your certification starts as inactive and becomes active once your RBT supervisor or requirements coordinator adds you as a supervisee. From then on you need supervision for at least 5% of your service hours each calendar month, with two face-to-face contacts, at least one of them individual.