Practice question
Concepts and Principles

Matching law and response allocation: Schedules, persistence, and response allocation.

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

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Question

Difficulty: easy. Skill: recognize. Type: concept discrimination.

Student responds differently when the antecedent, consequence, or learning history changes. Which concept from matching law and response allocation is most relevant? The case file includes 6 recent sessions, 2 implementers, and 1 setting.

A
Continue unchanged and ignore the new contextual information
B
Add a punishment procedure before clarifying function, risk, or feasibility
C
Use the descriptive label as the explanation and treatment target
D
Compare the schedule or relative reinforcement conditions before predicting persistence or allocation in relation to student's calling out during independent work

Correct answer

Explanation

Answer D

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: Matching law and response allocation. The case file includes 6 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: Matching law and response allocation. The case file includes 6 recent sessions, 2 implementers, and 1 setting.

Trap
Common trap

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

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

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

B
Choice B

A punishment-first response is weaker when less intrusive, function-based, or assessment steps have not been addressed.

C
Choice C

A label is not enough; the decision should be based on observable behavior and relevant variables.

Study tags

Schedules, persistence, and response allocationMatching law and response allocationschedulesbehavioral 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, Matching law and response allocation, 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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