Mini Mock Exam #1

Covering content from “Pass the Big ABA Exam” Manual, Section 1

1. Jennifer, a preschool teacher and BCBA, designs a behavior plan to reduce her student’s self-injurious
behavior. She writes out the plan clearly, and describes each step of the plan in detail. When Jennifer
gets the flu, a substitute teacher fills in and is able to follow the plan as written. This describes which
dimension of ABA?
a. Applied
b. Behavioral
c. Generality
d. Technological

2. Steven is a preschooler who engages in high levels of off-task behavior during his school’s circle time.
The behavior consultant at Steven’s school designs a token system for staying in-seat, and concludes via
observation that the behavior plan is being implemented with fidelity and has resulted in substantial
increase in Steven’s in-seat behavior. However, Steven’s teacher reports that his off-task behavior hasn’t
changed—he is still poking peers, lying on his back in his seat, and grabbing toys off a nearby shelf.
Which dimension of ABA would be MOST important for the consultant to address?
a. Behavioral
b. Conceptually systematic
c. Analytical
d. None—the behavioral consultant is adequately addressing all dimensions of ABA

3. Which of the following would NOT be considered behavior, according to the concepts of
methodological behaviorism?
a. Taking a deep breath
b. Counting from 1-10 in your head
c. Laughing out loud to a thought in your head
d. Your knee jerks when the doctor hits it with a hammer

4. Which of the following would be considered behavior, according to B.F. Skinner?

a. Your iPhone falling out of a hole in your pocket
b. Snot dripping out of your nose
c. Thinking about scratching your arm
d. Lying very still

5. Xiang, a BCBA, spends the morning observing a new client in his preschool classroom. She keeps a log
of the antecedents that precede his tantrums and the consequences the follow his tantrums. She finds that
every time he has a tantrum, a teacher gives him attention. Xiang has achieves which level of scientific
understanding?
a. Control
b. Description
c. Replication
d. Prediction

6. Which of the following is a behavior that MOST LIKELY resulted from ontogeny?
a. A toddler jerks her hand away from a hot stove
b. A toddler falls off a chair when her sibling pushes her
c. A toddler screams when presented with broccoli for dinner
d. A toddler gags and coughs when broccoli gets stuck in her throat

Mini Mocks by Kate Tygielski Chazin, M.Ed., BCBA

 7. Which of the following is a behavior that MOST LIKELY resulted from phylogeny?
a. A baby starts to cry in response to a loud noise
b. A baby reaches out toward a mobile
c. A baby gets wet in the rain
d. A baby starts to scream when her mother leaves the room

8. In order to assess the hearing abilities of nonverbal adults, a researcher conducted the following test:
First, the researcher repeatedly paired a neutral tone with a small puff of air into the subject’s eye; the
puff of air elicited an eye blink. Next, the researcher played the tone without the puff of air. If the tone
independently elicited an eye blink, then the tone had become a(n) _________.
a. Conditioned stimulus
b. Neutral stimulus
c. Conditioned response
d. Unconditioned response

9. Leslie is a toddler who is easily startled by loud noises. Every few minutes, her mom closes a door
loudly. After closing the door several times, Leslie’s startle response has decreased. What is this an
example of?
a. Habilitation
b. Habituation
c. The Law of Repeated Exposures
d. Operant behavior

10. Which of the following is NOT a principle of behavior?

a. Punishment
b. Functional relation
c. Extinction
d. Reinforcement

11. Devon is a preschool teacher working with a toddler in free play. When Devon says, “It’s time to clean
up!”, the toddler cries loudly and hits the teacher. Devon tells the toddler she can have one more minute
in free play. When Devon says, “It’s time to clean up,” this serves as a(n) ______ for the toddler’s
tantrum.
a. Consequence
b. Motivating operation
c. Antecedent
d. Behavior

12. Which of the following is an operant contingency?

a. Antecedent-consequence-behavior
b. Establishing operation-behavior-abolishing operation
c. Unconditioned stimulus-response
d. Antecedent-behavior-consequence

13. Rwanda is an elementary school teacher interested in a student’s favorite items. She observes the student
during free play, and records which items the student approaches. Rwanda has achieved which level of
scientific understanding?
a. Paired stimulus preference assessment
b. Prediction
c. Free operant preference assessment
d. Description
Mini Mocks by Kate Tygielski Chazin, M.Ed., BCBA
 14. B.F. Skinner included _______ in his definition of radical behaviorism, which was/were not considered
to be part of methodological behaviorism.
a. Private events
b. Respondent behavior
c. Motivating operations
d. “The dead man test”

15. Bobbie Sue is a student in Ms. Taylor’s third grade class. One time, Bobbie Sue tapped her desk quietly
three times before raising her hand to answer a question, and Ms. Taylor praised her correct response.
Now, before Bobbie Sue raises her hand to answer any question, she taps her desk three times. Bobbie
Sue’s superstitious desk-tapping is MOST LIKELY the result of what behavioral concept?
a. Respondent conditioning
b. Temporal contiguity
c. Negative reinforcement
d. Extinction

16. Franklin, a behavior consultant, was discussing a student’s hitting behavior with his teacher. The teacher
stated, “The student hits his peers when he’s angry.” When the consultant asked how the teacher knew
the student felt angry, the teacher replied, “Because he hit his peers.” The teacher’s statements are an
example of what?
a. Circular reasoning
b. Explanatory fiction
c. Mental Behaviorism
d. Cause-and-effect

17. Rasheed, a behavior consultant, held a meeting with a teacher to discuss one of her students. The student
typically eloped from the room when presented with a new adult or teacher. The teacher stated, “The
student runs away, because she gets anxious when she sees new people.” Anxiety is an example of
what?
a. Circular reasoning
b. Mentalism
c. Antecedent
d. Behavior

18. Shu, a behavior consultant, was discussing a student’s low levels of on-task behavior with his
paraprofessional. The paraprofessional stated, “He doesn’t finish any of his work, because he lacks
intrinsic motivation.” Intrinsic motivation is an example of what?
a. Motivating operation
b. Antecedent
c. Internal reinforcers
d. Explanatory fiction

19. Which of the following is NOT a branch of behavior analysis?

a. Behavior service delivery
b. Conceptual analysis of behavior
c. Experimental analysis of behavior
d. Clinical analysis of behavior

20. Which of the following is NOT an application of ABA?

Mini Mocks by Kate Tygielski Chazin, M.Ed., BCBA

 a. A scientist reinforces a pigeon’s spinning behavior by providing food contingent on turning in a
complete circle
b. A supervisor provides behavior-specific feedback immediately following a supervisee’s session with
a client
c. A parent turns to her child and talks to her when the child taps her lightly on the shoulder
d. A parent coach models behavior-specific praise with a child, then asks the parent in training to try it

21. Christiane, a preschool teacher and BCBA, designs a behavior plan to reduce her student’s self-injurious
behavior. She takes data before intervention, during intervention, and during a brief removal of the
intervention, and determines that the intervention alone causes a desired change in behavior. This BEST
describes which dimension of ABA?
a. Applied
b. Behavioral
c. Analytical
d. Technological

22. Lindsey, a paraprofessional, wants to teach one of her students the names of the peers in his
kindergarten class. Lindsey uses discrete trial training to successfully teach the student to receptively
identify his classmates. However, when she asks him to point to the two-dimensional photographs of the
same peers, he is unable to do so. Which dimension of ABA does Lindsey’s intervention lack?
a. Effective
b. Generality
c. Technological
d. Analytical

23. Which of the following would be considered a behavior, according to the tenants of radical
behaviorism?
a. Thinking about weekend plans
b. Falling off a wobbly chair
c. Refraining from swearing at a bad driver
d. Laying quietly during nap time

24. A baby accidentally hits the mobile hanging over her crib. This causes the bells on the mobile to make a
lovely twinkling sound. Now, the baby hits the mobile more frequently. This behavior is the result of
_____.
a. Proprioceptive stimuli
b. Phylogeny
c. Negative reinforcement
d. Ontogeny

25. Which of the following is one of the primary principles of behavior?

a. Extinction
b. Functional relation
c. Antecedent
d. Methodologicalism

26. Xiu is a BCBA concerned about a client’s challenging behavior. She conducts an analog functional
analysis, and determines that the function of the challenging behavior is to access tangible items. What
is the highest level of scientific understanding that Xiu has achieved in this scenario?
a. Control
b. Prediction
Mini Mocks by Kate Tygielski Chazin, M.Ed., BCBA
 c. Description
d. Validity

27. Which of the following is an example of superstitious behavior resulting from temporal contiguity?
a. Natasha’s friend tells her that if she steps on a sidewalk crack, she’ll break her mother’s back; now
Natasha carefully walks around the sidewalk cracks
b. Natasha kisses the clock at 11:11 and makes a wish, and a few days later, her wish comes true; now
Natasha kisses the clock every time it shows 11:11
c. Natasha tugged on her sports jersey just before her favorite basketball player shot a free throw, and
he made the shot; now she tugs on her sports jersey any time the basketball player is about to shoot a
free throw
d. Natasha accidentally washes a load of white clothing along with a red sock, and all her clothes
turned red; now Natasha always checks each piece of clothing to make sure no clothing items are red

28. Which of the following is a branch of behavior analyses?

a. Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)
b. Behavior service delivery
c. Radical behaviorism
d. Verbal behavior

29. A father warns his child’s teacher that his child’s aggressive behaviors are caused by his autism. This is
an example of ______.
a. A diagnostic assessment
b. Assessing motivating operations
c. Radical behaviorism
d. Mentalism

30. India used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. As part of a behavioral program, she started putting her
cigarette butts in a Ziplock bag. Each time she took a puff of a cigarette, she also took a big sniff from
the bag. Now, the sight of a cigarette makes her feel nauseous. The scent from the cigarette butt baggie
serves as a(n) ______ in this example.
a. Conditioned stimulus
b. Neutral stimulus
c. Unconditioned stimulus
d. Unconditioned response

Mini Mocks by Kate Tygielski Chazin, M.Ed., BCBA