ABA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield ABA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. What is the defining feature of total task chaining? → The learner attempts every step of the chain during each teaching session
2. The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is primarily used to: → Assess and track language and learning milestones in children with autism
3. A fixed interval schedule produces which characteristic pattern of responding? → Scallop pattern — slow at start, accelerating near the end
4. Which of the following is a natural community of reinforcement that can help maintain a skill? → Peer attention and social interaction maintaining conversation skills in school
5. What would you call the list of all the activities that you can do at this time? → Behavioral repertoire
6. The 'matching law' predicts that an organism will allocate its responses between two concurrent schedules in proportion to the: → Relative rate of reinforcement on each schedule
7. What is the primary purpose of conducting a preference assessment before an intervention? → To identify stimuli likely to function as reinforcers
8. Which of the following is an example of response blocking? → A therapist physically prevents a child from hitting by intercepting their arm
9. In differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), reinforcement is delivered when: → The problem behavior has not occurred for a specified time period
10. What type of behavior describes behavior that can only be observed by the individual performing it? → Covert behavior
11. A behavior analyst wants to evaluate the social validity of an intervention. The most appropriate source of information is: → Ratings from the consumer, caregivers, and other relevant stakeholders
12. Which of the following is an example of an intraverbal? → Answering 'Dogs' when asked 'Name an animal'
13. A BCBA providing supervision to an RBT must ensure that the supervision meets what minimum percentage of the RBT's work hours per month? → 5%
14. What is an example of manipulating a classroom setting to prevent distraction from the window? → Context Variable
15. What do behavior analysts focus on? → The issue that has to be addressed is the problematic behavior.
16. An echoic is a verbal operant that: → Repeats the verbal stimulus of a speaker with point-to-point correspondence
17. A child fills in the missing word when a therapist sings a familiar song and pauses. This BEST demonstrates which verbal operant? → Intraverbal
18. Which prompting strategy involves providing the least intrusive prompt first and increasing only if needed? → Least-to-most prompting
19. According to Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, a mand is a verbal operant that: → Specifies its own reinforcer and is maintained by that specific reinforcement
20. A behavior that is maintained by automatic (sensory) reinforcement is MOST difficult to treat because: → The reinforcer is intrinsic and cannot always be identified or withheld
21. What is 'tact extension'? → Applying a tact to a novel stimulus that shares properties with the trained stimulus
22. Generalization across settings is BEST promoted by: → Training across multiple environments from the start
23. A conflict of interest in ABA practice refers to: → A situation where personal or financial interests could compromise professional judgment
24. The concept of 'behavioral momentum' suggests that behaviors with a strong history of reinforcement: → Are more resistant to change and disruption
25. When a therapist delivers reinforcement following any instance of a target behavior regardless of time elapsed, this is called: → Continuous reinforcement (CRF)
26. Booster sessions are used in maintenance programming to: → Briefly re-expose learners to training conditions when performance has declined
27. Which of the following is an example of a structural (descriptive) functional behavior assessment method? → Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) recording
28. Which ethical principle requires BCBAs to only practice within their areas of competence? → Beneficence and non-maleficence
29. What does prompting involve providing to elicit a target behavior? → Antecedents
30. Language that talks about one's own behavior or mental events is called: → Autoclitic behavior