Free QBA examination Practice Questions

Sample Practice Questions

Try these 10 sample questions from the QBA examination practice bank. Each includes the answer and explanation. Continue with the interactive practice above to review the full question set.

1. 1During an intake observation, a 4-year-old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is asked by his teacher, "Do you want the blue car?" He immediately answers, "Do you want the blue car?" and does not reach for the car. According to the NIDCD description of language patterns often found in children with ASD, what does this response illustrate?

   1. A. Delayed echolalia, repeating words that were heard at an earlier time
   2. B. Immediate echolalia, repeating words another person has just said
   3. C. Uneven language development across vocabulary and comprehension skills
   4. D. Poor nonverbal conversation skills, such as not using gestures with speech

   Answer: B

   Explanation: NIDCD states that "Immediate echolalia occurs when the child repeats words someone has just said" and gives the example that "the child may respond to a question by asking the same question." The boy repeated the teacher's question right after hearing it, so this is immediate echolalia. Delayed echolalia is different: "In delayed echolalia, the child repeats words heard at an earlier time." Uneven language development and poor nonverbal conversation skills are separate patterns NIDCD lists, and neither describes repeating a question that was just asked.

   Reference: Autism Spectrum Disorder: Communication Problems in Children (NIDCD) — How does ASD affect communication? — Repetitive or rigid language

2. 2A QBA learns that a fellow QABA certificant has started supervising a trainee who is the certificant's own sister, without contacting the QABA board for guidance. The situation involves no neglect, endangerment, safety risk, or legal consequences. Under the QABA Ethical Code of Conduct, what should the QBA do first?

   1. A. Report the violation to the QABA board immediately and also notify local authorities
   2. B. Report the violation to the QABA board within three business days of becoming aware
   3. C. Inform the colleague of the violation, then report to the QABA board if it continues
   4. D. Report it to a supervisor or department leadership and the appropriate agencies

   Answer: C

   Explanation: Section 1.2(a) of the QABA Ethical Code of Conduct states: "If certificants are aware of any Code of Ethics violation by a fellow certificant, they are responsible for informing the certificant of the violation. If the unethical conduct continues, the certificant will report the violation to the QABA board." Immediate reporting to the board and to local authorities is reserved for violations that involve "neglect, endangerment, safety, or legal consequences". The three-business-day rule applies to certificants under investigation or facing legal charges, and reporting to leadership and agencies is the mandated-reporter duty for suspected abuse or neglect. None of those conditions is present here.

   Reference: QABA Qualified Behavior Analyst (QBA) Candidate Handbook — QABA Ethical Code of Conduct — QABA Ethical Code of Conduct, 1.2 Ethical Responsibility (a)

3. 3On a cold afternoon, a child who has been playing outside without a jacket comes indoors and sees his father, who has always handed him a blanket when he asks. The child says, "Blanket, please," and his father gives him the blanket. Analyzed as a four-term contingency, which element is the motivating operation?

   1. A. The presence of his father, who has provided blankets for requests
   2. B. Saying "Blanket, please" to his father after coming inside
   3. C. Having been without warmth outdoors on a cold afternoon
   4. D. Receiving the blanket from his father after the request

   Answer: C

   Explanation: The source explains that "there must be an MO in effect in order for reinforcement to increase behavior and establish stimulus control. Thus, most functional relations involve both SDs and MOs." It gives a parallel example: "in order for a blanket or warm fire to function as reinforcement and be effective in establishing stimulus control, a person must be deprived of warmth." Being deprived of warmth is the motivating operation. The father is the discriminative stimulus, the request is the response, and receiving the blanket is the consequence.

   Reference: Thirty Points About Motivation From Skinner's Book Verbal Behavior — Point #14: Most behavioral relations involve a four-term contingency that includes MOs

4. 4A student with autism often tries to escape math seatwork. Before handing out each worksheet, the teacher now goes over the parts of the assignment with him and gives a two-minute warning before centers change. In the AFIRM antecedent-based intervention guide, which type of strategy is this?

   1. A. Using choice-making
   2. B. Implementing pre-activity interventions
   3. C. Changing schedules or routines
   4. D. Using learner preferences

   Answer: B

   Explanation: The AFIRM guide describes "IMPLEMENTING PRE-ACTIVITY INTERVENTIONS: Implemented before a task/activity associated with the interfering behavior". Its examples include "Reviewing assignment components before receiving assignment" and "Providing a warning before time to switch centers or activities", which match what the teacher is doing. Choice-making presents the learner with choices of materials or tasks. Changing schedules or routines alters the routine itself, and using learner preferences embeds preferred items into a non-preferred activity.

   Reference: AFIRM Antecedent-Based Interventions (ABI) Brief Packet — ABI Strategies page — Implementing pre-activity interventions

5. 5A QBA is setting the accuracy level for the mastery criterion in a child's receptive identification program and wants the skill to be maintained after teaching ends. Based on Fuller and Fienup's comparison of mastery criterion levels, which accuracy level is most likely to support maintenance?

   1. A. 50% correct accuracy
   2. B. 60% correct accuracy
   3. C. 90% correct accuracy
   4. D. 80% correct accuracy

   Answer: C

   Explanation: Fuller and Fienup compared "3 skill acquisition mastery criterion levels (50%, 80%, and 90% accuracy) on response maintenance" and found that "higher mastery criterion levels (90% correct) produced higher levels of maintenance responding." The 50% and 80% levels produced less maintenance; 60% correct was the "low criterion (60% correct)" in an earlier study the authors review, not a level shown to support maintenance.

   Reference: A Preliminary Analysis of Mastery Criterion Level: Effects on Response Maintenance — Abstract

6. 6A teacher plans a classroom system in which students earn stickers for completing work and later trade a set number of stickers for free time or small prizes. Which description of a token economy does this match?

   1. A. A schedule that delivers prizes at fixed times regardless of whether students completed work
   2. B. A procedure in which the teacher removes privileges each time a student fails to work
   3. C. A contingency system where tokens earned for desired behavior are exchanged for reinforcers
   4. D. An agreement in which the whole class earns free time only when every student completes work

   Answer: C

   Explanation: Cihon and colleagues define it this way: "A token economy is a contingency system in which tokens are earned for engaging in desired behavior that can be exchanged for presumably reinforcing items or activities." Stickers earned for completed work and traded for free time or prizes fit that definition. Time-based prize delivery is noncontingent, removing privileges is a punishment procedure, and a whole-class requirement describes an interdependent group contingency.

   Reference: A Preliminary Evaluation of a Token System with a Flexible Earning Requirement — Introduction

7. 7A QBA wants to compare how aversive four different academic tasks are for a client by recording how many seconds pass after each task is presented before problem behavior begins. Which measurement procedure is the QBA using?

   1. A. Latency recording
   2. B. Duration recording
   3. C. Event recording
   4. D. Intensity recording

   Answer: A

   Explanation: LeBlanc and colleagues explain that "Latency recording involves the measurement of the amount of time (usually in seconds) it takes each behavior to occur following a specific environmental event". They note that "Call et al. (2009) evaluated the mean latency to problem behavior during different tasks as an index of each task’s aversive properties". Duration recording measures how long each instance lasts, event recording counts instances, and intensity recording measures force or loudness.

   Reference: A Proposed Model for Selecting Measurement Procedures for the Assessment and Treatment of Problem Behavior — Measurement Procedures — Latency Recording

8. 8A technician sits in a classroom and writes down what happens right before and right after each of a student's outbursts, without changing anything about the teacher's routine. In Hanley's classification of functional assessment, which type of assessment is this?

   1. A. Indirect assessment
   2. B. Descriptive assessment
   3. C. Functional analysis
   4. D. Reinforcer assessment

   Answer: B

   Explanation: Hanley defines the three types: with indirect assessment "there is no direct observation of behavior"; with a descriptive assessment "there is direct observation of behavior, but without any manipulation of the environmental conditions"; and with a functional analysis "there is direct observation of behavior and manipulation of some environmental event". Observing and recording antecedents and consequences without changing anything is a descriptive assessment. A reinforcer assessment tests whether stimuli function as reinforcers.

   Reference: Functional Assessment of Problem Behavior: Dispelling Myths, Overcoming Implementation Obstacles, and Developing New Lore — Introduction — three main types of functional assessment

9. 9A QBA observes classroom staff and records whether each step of a student's behavior intervention plan is carried out exactly as written. Which construct is the QBA measuring?

   1. A. Treatment integrity
   2. B. Interobserver agreement
   3. C. Social validity
   4. D. Response generalization

   Answer: A

   Explanation: Fiske explains: "The degree to which the treatment is implemented as planned is referred to as treatment integrity". Checking whether staff carry out each written step measures treatment integrity. Interobserver agreement compares two observers' records, social validity concerns consumers' judgments of goals, procedures, and outcomes, and response generalization concerns changes in untrained responses.

   Reference: Treatment Integrity of School-Based Behavior Analytic Interventions: A Review of the Research — Introduction

10. 10A parent reports that their 3-year-old shows almost no reaction when he bumps his head, yet he stares at spinning ceiling fans and flickering lights for long periods. Under the DSM-5 criteria for ASD presented by CDC, which type of restricted, repetitive behavior does this pattern best match?

    1. A. Insistence on sameness and inflexible adherence to fixed routines
    2. B. Highly restricted, fixated interests abnormal in intensity or focus
    3. C. Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual sensory interests
    4. D. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech

    Answer: C

    Explanation: The fourth DSM-5 restricted, repetitive behavior type, as reproduced by CDC, is "Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g. apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement)". Apparent indifference to pain and visual fascination with lights and movement are both examples given for this type. Insistence on sameness, fixated interests, and motor stereotypies are the other three types, and their examples (such as distress at small changes, preoccupation with unusual objects, or lining up toys) do not describe this child's sensory pattern.

    Reference: Clinical Testing and Diagnosis for Autism Spectrum Disorder (CDC) — Diagnostic Criteria for ASD — Criterion B.4