Practice question
Concepts and Principles

Simple schedules of reinforcement: Schedules, persistence, and response allocation.

Original BCBA scenario practice question with answer explanation and wrong-choice notes.

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Question

Difficulty: hard. Skill: analyze. Type: concept discrimination.

Student responds differently when the antecedent, consequence, or learning history changes. Which concept from simple schedules of reinforcement is most relevant? The case file includes 4 recent sessions, 2 implementers, and 1 setting.

A
Rely on teacher's report alone and stop collecting direct evidence
B
Compare the schedule or relative reinforcement conditions before predicting persistence or allocation in relation to student's calling out during independent work

Correct answer

C
Change the intervention immediately based on the concern alone
D
Continue unchanged and ignore the new contextual information

Explanation

Answer B

The clue is the combination of frequency data that vary from 3 to 11 responses per session, calling out during independent work, and the required task: Simple schedules of reinforcement. The case file includes 4 recent sessions, 2 implementers, and 1 setting. Compare the schedule or relative reinforcement conditions before predicting persistence or allocation in relation to student's calling out during independent work is best because it answers that clue through schedules, persistence, and response allocation instead of treating the scenario as a generic behavior problem. On exam items like this, name the decision point first, then eliminate options that rely on one report, a label, a familiar protocol, or an action that skips the relevant data check.

Why this question is hard

Clue
Key scenario clue

The clue is the combination of frequency data that vary from 3 to 11 responses per session, calling out during independent work, and the required task: Simple schedules of reinforcement. The case file includes 4 recent sessions, 2 implementers, and 1 setting.

Trap
Common trap

Stakeholder input matters, but direct data, context, and integrity checks are still needed for a defensible answer.

Next
If you missed it, review Schedules, persistence, and response allocation

Then answer a few related scenarios before moving back to broad practice.

Why the other choices are weaker

A
Choice A

Stakeholder input matters, but direct data, context, and integrity checks are still needed for a defensible answer.

C
Choice C

This is weaker because it skips the assessment, integrity, or decision rule needed before changing procedures.

D
Choice D

Ignoring relevant data or context prevents a defensible behavior-analytic decision.

Study tags

Schedules, persistence, and response allocationSimple schedules of reinforcementschedulesbehavioral momentum

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Related study guides

GuideDistractor patternsUse this if the wrong answer sounded plausible.GuideMissed-question reviewUse this if you want to turn the miss into a study rule.GuideScore plateau guideUse this if similar mistakes keep repeating.

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Question FAQ

What BCBA domain does this question cover?

This practice question is tagged to Concepts and Principles. It also includes study tags for Schedules, persistence, and response allocation, Simple schedules of reinforcement, schedules, behavioral momentum.

How should I review this practice question?

Answer the scenario before reading the explanation, compare your reasoning with the correct answer, then review why the distractors are weaker.

Is this an official BACB exam question?

No. This is an original study question for BCBA Scenario Tutor and is not an official BACB exam item.

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