RBT Exam Pass Rate: 75% First Time, 38% on Retakes (2025)
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) reports that 75% of first-time RBT exam candidates passed in 2025, and 38% of retake candidates passed (BACB Annual Data Report). These are the newest official figures, and they come from exams taken before the RBT exam moved to the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.) on January 1, 2026 (BACB, Recent & Upcoming Changes).
Official RBT exam pass rates, 2020–2025
| Year | First-time candidates tested | First-time pass rate | Retake candidates tested | Retake pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 109,341 | 75% | 54,674 | 38% |
| 2024 | 90,741 | 73% | 46,988 | 36% |
| 2023 | 73,690 | 74% | 30,573 | 41% |
| 2022 | 58,322 | 77% | 20,362 | 44% |
| 2021† | 43,452 (all regions: 52,309) | 83% (all regions: 79%) | 10,793 (all regions: 15,266) | 53% (all regions: 46%) |
| 2020† | 28,794 (all regions: 41,662) | 84% (all regions: 80%) | 6,636 (all regions: 15,241) | 52% (all regions: 46%) |
Source: BACB Annual Data Report (2020–2025), cross-checked against the "Historical RBT Examination Results" table on BACB's Examination Information page (2021–2025). The two pages match for every year they share. BACB reports these pass rates as whole percentages; it does not state the rounding convention in these tables.
† BACB removed one geographic region's testing data from its main 2020 and 2021 RBT figures because of what it calls anomalous RBT-related activity. It doesn't name the region. The all-regions figures in parentheses are BACB's own, published in notes beside those tables. Use them when you compare 2020 or 2021 with later years. This avoids mixing the excluded-region figures with the broader series, but it does not make the candidate populations identical across years.
Using the all-regions figures where BACB supplies them, the first-time pass rate went 80% → 79% → 77% → 74% → 73% → 75% from 2020 to 2025. The retake pass rate went 46% → 46% → 44% → 41% → 36% → 38%. Both rates rose two percentage points from 2024 to 2025. That's our arithmetic from BACB's reported figures, not a BACB finding about why they changed. Over the same stretch, the number of first-time candidates grew about 2.6 times, from 41,662 to 109,341.
What the 75% and 38% actually count
The 75% is the share of people taking the RBT exam for the first time in 2025 who passed. The 38% is the pass rate for BACB's 2025 retake group. Neither one is a passing score, and neither one is a forecast for you.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who is in the 75%? | The 109,341 candidates BACB counted as first-time test takers in 2025. |
| How many of them passed? | BACB does not publish the exact number in this table. If 75% was rounded to the nearest whole percentage point, about 81,500 to 82,600 passed and about 26,800 to 27,900 did not. Those are conditional estimates, not BACB counts; its rounding convention is not stated here. (Our arithmetic.) |
| Who is in the 38%? | BACB's 2025 "retakes" group of 54,674. BACB doesn't say whether it counts someone who retook three times in a year once or three times, so don't read it as 54,674 people or as "second attempts only." |
| Does the table follow the same people over time? | No. Each year is a snapshot. It doesn't track a first-time group through later attempts. |
| Does BACB publish how many candidates eventually pass? | Not on the BACB pages we checked. |
| Is it a U.S. or state pass rate? | It's BACB's overall RBT figure. These tables don't break results out by country or state. |
| Is 75% my chance of passing? | No. It describes a large group. Your result depends on how well you know the tested content. |
| Does it describe the exam people take now? | Not yet. Every BACB annual rate shown here comes from exams given before the 3rd-edition outline took effect on January 1, 2026. |
One more pattern in the reported counts: in 2022, the retake count was about one-third of the first-time count. In 2024 and 2025, it was about one-half. These are count ratios, not the proportion of first-time candidates who later retook the exam.
Does a 75% pass rate mean you need 75% correct?
No. A pass rate tells you how many people in a group passed. It doesn't tell you the score needed to pass.
BACB sets the RBT passing standard with the modified Angoff method. In plain terms, a panel of BACB-certified subject matter experts judges the exam question by question, and BACB's Board of Directors approves the resulting passing score. BACB also equates exam forms, which means it adjusts for small differences in difficulty between versions. Because of that, the number of correct answers needed to pass can vary from one form to another. Your result depends on your own performance, not on how the people testing beside you did (BACB, Examination Scoring and scoring FAQs).
A few more facts from BACB's current RBT Handbook ("Examination Outline," p. 7; "Examination Results" and "Scoring Methodology," p. 14):
- The RBT exam is pass/fail.
- All scored questions are weighted equally, and your result is based on your overall performance, not your performance in each content area.
- BACB doesn't report your number of correct answers or your percentage correct.
Some pages say you need "80%" or "200 out of 250." Neither figure appears in BACB's current RBT Handbook or its scoring FAQ. The FAQ explains scaled scores only in general terms and gives no RBT scale or passing number. There's no official percentage to aim for. A practice-test percentage is feedback on those practice questions, not an official score.
Does 75% mean the exam is easy? The rate alone can't tell you. About one in four first-time candidates didn't pass in 2025, somewhere around 27,000 people. But a pass rate can't isolate difficulty. It blends who took the exam, how they trained, and when they tested.
Is there a 2026 RBT exam pass rate?
Not yet. As of September 16, 2026, BACB's published tables end with 2025. The 2026 results will be the first from the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), which has 43 tasks and replaced the 37-task RBT Task List (2nd ed.) on January 1, 2026 (BACB, Test Content Outlines).
BACB's handbook says a new passing score is set when a significant change to the exam content occurs, such as a new test content outline (RBT Handbook, "Scoring Methodology," p. 14). So don't assume 2026 will look like 2025, in either direction. And if a page has "2026" in its headline, check whether its numbers are really BACB's 2025 figures.
Why other pages show different RBT pass rates
Different RBT pass rates can come from an older year, a different group, or the version of 2020–2021 that leaves one region out.
| If you saw… | What it can refer to | Data year / scope |
|---|---|---|
| 75% | BACB's 2025 first-time pass rate (109,341 candidates) | 2025, the newest annual data |
| 38% | BACB's 2025 retake pass rate | 2025, the newest annual data |
| 73% or 36% | 2024 first-time or retake rate | 2024 data |
| 74% or 41% | 2023 first-time or retake rate | Older |
| 77% or 44% | 2022 first-time or retake rate | Older |
| 83% or 53% | 2021 first-time or retake rate with one region removed | Older; all regions: 79% and 46% |
| 79% | 2021 first-time rate, all regions (52,309 candidates) | Older |
| 84% or 52% | 2020 first-time or retake rate with one region removed | Older; all regions: 80% and 46% |
| 80% | 2020 first-time rate, all regions (41,662 candidates) — or the unsupported claim that you need 80% correct to pass | 2020 outcome rate, or an unsupported current passing-score claim |
| 46% | Retake rate for all regions in 2020 and in 2021 | Older |
| "70–80%" | A range, not a BACB figure. BACB publishes year-specific whole-percent rates. | — |
| 75.6% (or 75.57%) | The combined rate of the 51 training providers in BACB's 2025 provider report (our sum). It's not the overall rate. | 2025, subset only |
| 60% | BACB's 2025 first-time pass rate for the BCaBA exam | Different exam |
| 51% or 54% | BACB's BCBA first-time rate for 2025 (51%) or 2024 (54%); the BCaBA rate was also 54% in 2024 | Different exam |
| 86.4% or 93.5% | In BACB's 2025 provider report, these are ATCC's and Behavior Development Solutions' rates, respectively. | Check the year |
| "200 out of 250" | A claimed scaled passing score that BACB's current RBT documents don't state | Not supported by current RBT scoring documents |
What some current pages say
We opened these pages on September 16, 2026. Pages change, so check the date on anything you read, including this one.
| Page | What it says | What BACB's data shows |
|---|---|---|
| All Star ABA, "RBT Exam Guide: Format, Pass Rates, Study Tips (2026)" | A first-time rate of about 79–80%, a retake rate of about 46%, and 52,309 first-time candidates, presented as the most recent BACB data | The 52,309 count, 79% first-time rate, and 46% retake rate match BACB's 2021 all-regions figures; 80% was the 2020 all-regions first-time rate. The newest are 75% and 38% for 2025. The page also points readers to the RBT Task List (2nd ed.) as the exam blueprint, which the 3rd-edition outline replaced on January 1, 2026. |
| ATCC, "Inside ATCC's 87.2% First-Time RBT Exam Pass Rate" | The headline says 87.2%. The body says 86.4%, "far above the 73% average pass rate for other providers." | Both ATCC figures match BACB's reports: 87.2% is its 2024 row (352 candidates) and 86.4% its 2025 row (747). The 73% is BACB's 2024 first-time rate for all candidates, not a figure for other providers. The 2025 overall rate is 75%. |
| Blue Jay ABA, "How Many People Pass the RBT Exam the First Time?" (February 17, 2025) | A first-time rate of "approximately 70-80%" and a 45-day wait before a retake | BACB publishes year-specific whole-percent rates. The current RBT Handbook requires a 7-day wait between attempts. |
| ABA Resource Center, "Best RBT 40 Hour Training Courses" (labeled outdated by the site) | 74% in 2023, "down significantly from 84% in 2020" | 74% is right for 2023. The 84% is 2020 with one region removed. With all regions, 2020 was 80%. |
| ABA Resource Center, "Why People Fail the RBT Exam" (update label: “May 13”) | 75% for first-time candidates and 38% for retakes in 2025; says the rate has "steadily declined" | The 2025 figures are right. The first-time rate rose from 73% in 2024 to 75% in 2025. |
Five checks before you trust an RBT pass rate
- Check the year. A page updated this year may still be reporting last year's results, or results from five years ago.
- Check the group. First-time and retake rates answer different questions, and "retakes" doesn't mean "second attempts only."
- Check who's counted. Is it BACB's full annual group, or one training program's first-time candidates? How many people are behind the percentage?
- Check what the percentage means. A group's pass rate isn't the score you need, and it isn't your personal odds.
- Check the exam edition. Every BACB annual rate shown here comes from the exam given before January 1, 2026.
What the lower retake pass rate does and doesn't tell you
BACB's 2025 retake group passed at 38%, compared with 75% for first-time candidates. Using the all-regions figures for 2020 and 2021, the retake rate has run 33 to 37 percentage points below the first-time rate every year since 2020.
What the table can't tell you matters just as much. It doesn't follow the same people from one attempt to the next. It doesn't say whether a person who retook several times is counted once or more than once. And it doesn't say why anyone didn't pass. BACB doesn't explain the gap, so the table can't show how any one candidate's chances change between attempts. It also can't turn 38% into your odds on a retake, and multiplying rates across attempts doesn't produce a valid estimate of eventual success.
If you're preparing for a retake, the practical steps are in What to do with these numbers.
RBT pass rates by 40-hour training provider (2025)
BACB's 2025 provider report lists 51 40-hour trainings that were publicly available at the time of publication and had at least 10 first-time RBT candidates in 2025. Their first-time pass rates range from 8.1% to 100% (BACB, RBT Examination Pass Rates for 40-Hour Training Providers 2025, pp. 1–4). Together they cover 71,555 first-time candidates, or 65.4% of all first-time candidates that year. Of those, 54,071 passed, a combined 75.57% (our sums from BACB's rows).
Read these limits before you compare programs:
- BACB builds the report from the training-provider name each applicant typed on the application, which may not match a provider's own records.
- BACB notes that people may train in one year and test in another.
- Our note: this isn't a controlled comparison. Who enrolls differs from program to program, and that can move a rate alongside course quality.
- Our note: everyone in this report took the exam before the 3rd-edition outline took effect. A course labeled "2026" or "3rd edition" hasn't been measured by these numbers yet.
- Our note: a program's rate describes its past first-time candidates. It doesn't predict your result.
What stands out. Three providers, Relias (19,418 candidates, 80.4%), CentralReach (13,705, 79.6%), and Autism Partnership Foundation (13,456, 61.2%), account for 65% of the listed candidates. The twelve providers with at least 500 candidates account for 97%.
Sample size matters alongside the headline number. Of the nine providers at 90% or higher, six had fewer than 30 candidates. Thirteen providers are below 50%.
The table includes an illustrative 95% model interval calculated with the Wilson method. It estimates an underlying pass probability under a model of independent outcomes with a stable probability; those assumptions have not been established for these provider populations. It is not uncertainty about the counted 2025 results, a prediction of next year's rate, or evidence that a course caused better outcomes.
The final column simply subtracts BACB's reported overall first-time rate of 75% from the provider's reported rate, in percentage points (pp). It is a descriptive difference, not a statistical-significance or course-quality label. The overall rate includes each provider's own candidates.
Subtracting the listed counts from BACB's overall total leaves 37,786 first-time candidates outside these rows. BACB's criteria leave out training that wasn't publicly available at publication or had fewer than 10 first-time candidates, and the report doesn't say which applies to whom. If the overall 75% was rounded to the nearest whole percentage point and these rows form a nonoverlapping subset of that overall group, the implied unlisted-group rate is about 72.5% to 75.4% (our conditional arithmetic, not a published BACB rate). If your training isn't listed, that alone tells you nothing about its quality.
All 51 providers in BACB's 2025 report, largest first
| Training provider (as BACB lists it) | Pass rate | First-time candidates | Passed | Did not pass | 95% model interval | Difference from 75% (pp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relias | 80.4% | 19,418 | 15,602 | 3,816 | 79.8–80.9% | +5.4 |
| CentralReach | 79.6% | 13,705 | 10,912 | 2,793 | 78.9–80.3% | +4.6 |
| Autism Partnership Foundation | 61.2% | 13,456 | 8,236 | 5,220 | 60.4–62.0% | -13.8 |
| Rethink | 81.1% | 10,690 | 8,670 | 2,020 | 80.4–81.8% | +6.1 |
| Behavior Webinars | 79.0% | 4,100 | 3,239 | 861 | 77.7–80.2% | +4.0 |
| Behavior University | 76.6% | 2,008 | 1,538 | 470 | 74.7–78.4% | +1.6 |
| Positive Behavior Supports, Corp. | 79.1% | 1,500 | 1,187 | 313 | 77.0–81.1% | +4.1 |
| ABA 4 LOVE | 36.7% | 1,201 | 441 | 760 | 34.0–39.5% | -38.3 |
| Florida Tech/ABA Technologies | 86.3% | 1,074 | 927 | 147 | 84.1–88.2% | +11.3 |
| Behavior Development Solutions | 93.5% | 923 | 863 | 60 | 91.7–94.9% | +18.5 |
| ATCC | 86.4% | 747 | 645 | 102 | 83.7–88.6% | +11.4 |
| Sidekick Learning | 84.5% | 658 | 556 | 102 | 81.5–87.1% | +9.5 |
| Power In-Service Training Center | 17.7% | 186 | 33 | 153 | 12.9–23.9% | -57.3 |
| Institute for Behavioral Training | 60.8% | 181 | 110 | 71 | 53.5–67.6% | -14.2 |
| University of Kansas | 87.1% | 178 | 155 | 23 | 81.4–91.2% | +12.1 |
| University of South Florida | 90.2% | 163 | 147 | 16 | 84.7–93.9% | +15.2 |
| Happy Children | 32.5% | 117 | 38 | 79 | 24.7–41.4% | -42.5 |
| Skillometry | 59.6% | 89 | 53 | 36 | 49.2–69.1% | -15.4 |
| Essential CEU Institute | 46.3% | 80 | 37 | 43 | 35.7–57.1% | -28.7 |
| AppleTree Connection | 91.1% | 79 | 72 | 7 | 82.8–95.6% | +16.1 |
| Jigsaw Training | 79.2% | 77 | 61 | 16 | 68.9–86.8% | +4.2 |
| Exceptional Minds ABA Therapy | 32.9% | 76 | 25 | 51 | 23.4–44.1% | -42.1 |
| Special Learning | 77.5% | 71 | 55 | 16 | 66.5–85.6% | +2.5 |
| Developing New Horizons Inc. | 41.4% | 70 | 29 | 41 | 30.6–53.1% | -33.6 |
| AutismBXTraining DBA Autism Skills Development | 60.6% | 66 | 40 | 26 | 48.5–71.5% | -14.4 |
| Applied ABC | 46.2% | 65 | 30 | 35 | 34.6–58.1% | -28.8 |
| California Unified Service Providers, LLC | 81.8% | 55 | 45 | 10 | 69.7–89.8% | +6.8 |
| ABA Professional Learning Center | 50.0% | 46 | 23 | 23 | 36.1–63.9% | -25.0 |
| Miami Dade College | 37.5% | 40 | 15 | 25 | 24.2–53.0% | -37.5 |
| The Applied Behavior Analysis Center | 82.1% | 39 | 32 | 7 | 67.3–91.0% | +7.1 |
| ABA International Academy | 43.2% | 37 | 16 | 21 | 28.7–59.1% | -31.8 |
| José María Vargas University | 8.1% | 37 | 3 | 34 | 2.8–21.3% | -66.9 |
| MedCerts | 83.3% | 36 | 30 | 6 | 68.1–92.1% | +8.3 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | 69.7% | 33 | 23 | 10 | 52.7–82.6% | -5.3 |
| Ivy Tech Community College | 96.2% | 26 | 25 | 1 | 81.1–99.3% | +21.2 |
| Behavior Analyst Supervisor | 60.0% | 25 | 15 | 10 | 40.7–76.6% | -15.0 |
| Mississippi State University | 94.7% | 19 | 18 | 1 | 75.4–99.1% | +19.7 |
| Northern Michigan University Bear Center | 100.0% | 18 | 18 | 0 | 82.4–100.0% | +25.0 |
| Bhavioral Corporation | 50.0% | 16 | 8 | 8 | 28.0–72.0% | -25.0 |
| ABA Courses | 40.0% | 15 | 6 | 9 | 19.8–64.3% | -35.0 |
| May Behavioral Services | 80.0% | 15 | 12 | 3 | 54.8–93.0% | +5.0 |
| Child Hope Center | 21.4% | 14 | 3 | 11 | 7.6–47.6% | -53.6 |
| Harcum College | 64.3% | 14 | 9 | 5 | 38.8–83.7% | -10.7 |
| Path 2 Potential, LLC | 78.6% | 14 | 11 | 3 | 52.4–92.4% | +3.6 |
| GoBeyond Premier Training Labs | 69.2% | 13 | 9 | 4 | 42.4–87.3% | -5.8 |
| The Center for Behavior Analysis at the University of West Florida | 100.0% | 12 | 12 | 0 | 75.8–100.0% | +25.0 |
| Advanced Behavior Education LLC. | 90.9% | 11 | 10 | 1 | 62.3–98.4% | +15.9 |
| Arc Educates | 54.6% | 11 | 6 | 5 | 28.0–78.7% | -20.4 |
| Easy as Pie ABA Training | 36.4% | 11 | 4 | 7 | 15.2–64.6% | -38.6 |
| Middle Tennessee State University | 90.0% | 10 | 9 | 1 | 59.6–98.2% | +15.0 |
| University of Missouri | 80.0% | 10 | 8 | 2 | 49.0–94.3% | +5.0 |
Source: BACB 2025 provider report (updated 05/2026). Pass rates are BACB's. The model intervals are our calculations from BACB's counts. The percentage-point differences use BACB's reported rates. BACB's link to its latest report is bacb.com/wp-content/rbt-pass-rates.
Download the 2025 provider data (CSV)
How provider rates changed from 2024 to 2025
We linked 33 provider rows across BACB's 2024 and 2025 reports: 28 have the same name and five have minor naming differences described below. A further pair, Miami Dade College, has a campus-specific 2024 label but no campus qualifier in 2025; we show both figures without calculating a change. Small programs can show large percentage changes from just a few outcomes, so read every change alongside its candidate counts. These are different annual candidate groups, not a controlled comparison of course changes. Among the larger programs, Behavior University rose from 65.2% to 76.6% (1,784 → 2,008 candidates). Relias dipped from 81.6% to 80.4% while its candidate count more than doubled. CentralReach went from 81.9% to 79.6%, Autism Partnership Foundation from 63.3% to 61.2%, and Behavior Development Solutions from 90.6% to 93.5%.
In 2024, the 44 listed providers covered 54,774 first-time candidates, 60.4% of that year's total, and 74.58% of them passed (our sums). The 2024 overall first-time rate was 73%.
| Training provider (2025 name) | 2024 rate (candidates) | 2025 rate (candidates) | Change (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relias | 81.6% (9,166) | 80.4% (19,418) | -1.2 |
| CentralReach | 81.9% (11,124) | 79.6% (13,705) | -2.3 |
| Autism Partnership Foundation | 63.3% (14,521) | 61.2% (13,456) | -2.1 |
| Rethink | 80.8% (9,238) | 81.1% (10,690) | +0.3 |
| Behavior Webinars | 79.9% (2,385) | 79.0% (4,100) | -0.9 |
| Behavior University | 65.2% (1,784) | 76.6% (2,008) | +11.4 |
| Positive Behavior Supports, Corp.† | 82.8% (1,114) | 79.1% (1,500) | -3.7 |
| ABA 4 LOVE | 37.3% (927) | 36.7% (1,201) | -0.6 |
| Florida Tech/ABA Technologies | 84.2% (1,094) | 86.3% (1,074) | +2.1 |
| Behavior Development Solutions† | 90.6% (715) | 93.5% (923) | +2.9 |
| ATCC | 87.2% (352) | 86.4% (747) | -0.8 |
| Sidekick Learning | 74.7% (75) | 84.5% (658) | +9.8 |
| Institute for Behavioral Training | 80.5% (174) | 60.8% (181) | -19.7 |
| University of Kansas | 93.0% (115) | 87.1% (178) | -5.9 |
| University of South Florida | 86.4% (162) | 90.2% (163) | +3.8 |
| Skillometry | 52.3% (128) | 59.6% (89) | +7.3 |
| Essential CEU Institute | 38.2% (55) | 46.3% (80) | +8.1 |
| AppleTree Connection | 91.7% (24) | 91.1% (79) | -0.6 |
| Special Learning | 77.6% (49) | 77.5% (71) | -0.1 |
| Developing New Horizons Inc. | 31.3% (134) | 41.4% (70) | +10.1 |
| AutismBXTraining DBA Autism Skills Development | 58.9% (90) | 60.6% (66) | +1.7 |
| Applied ABC | 65.4% (130) | 46.2% (65) | -19.2 |
| California Unified Service Providers, LLC† | 86.9% (61) | 81.8% (55) | -5.1 |
| Miami Dade College‡ | 50.0% (16) | 37.5% (40) | Not calculated‡ |
| ABA International Academy | 32.4% (34) | 43.2% (37) | +10.8 |
| José María Vargas University† | 23.3% (30) | 8.1% (37) | -15.2 |
| MedCerts | 65.0% (20) | 83.3% (36) | +18.3 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | 87.1% (31) | 69.7% (33) | -17.4 |
| Behavior Analyst Supervisor | 70.0% (10) | 60.0% (25) | -10.0 |
| Mississippi State University | 91.7% (24) | 94.7% (19) | +3.0 |
| Northern Michigan University Bear Center† | 94.7% (19) | 100.0% (18) | +5.3 |
| Harcum College | 53.9% (13) | 64.3% (14) | +10.4 |
| Easy as Pie ABA Training | 33.3% (18) | 36.4% (11) | +3.1 |
| Middle Tennessee State University | 100.0% (12) | 90.0% (10) | -10.0 |
† BACB printed a slightly different name for this provider in 2024. Matching the two is our call: Positive Behavior Supports, Corp. (2024: “Positive Behavior Supports Corp. (PBS)”); Behavior Development Solutions (2024: “Behavior Development Solutions (BDS)”); California Unified Service Providers, LLC (2024: “California Unified Service Providers (CUSP)”); José María Vargas University (2024: “Jose Maria Vargas University”); Northern Michigan University Bear Center (2024: “Northern Michigan University (BEAR Center)”). These are editorial name links, not BACB-issued cross-year identifiers.
‡ The 2024 report says “Miami Dade College (Hialeah Campus),” while the 2025 report says “Miami Dade College.” We have not established that the reporting scope is the same, so no year-to-year change is calculated.
Source: BACB 2024 provider report (updated 04/2025) and the 2025 report above. Change is our subtraction of BACB's rates, in percentage points.
2024 rows without a linked 2025 row
| Training provider (2024 name) | 2024 pass rate | First-time candidates | Difference from 73% (pp) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Behavior Institute | 40.3% | 595 | -32.7 |
| Jade Health | 82.9% | 111 | +9.9 |
| Denali CRT, LLC | 15.4% | 65 | -57.6 |
| ABAplus | 88.6% | 44 | +15.6 |
| Child Advancement Center | 17.7% | 34 | -55.3 |
| Coral Behavioral Services | 43.5% | 23 | -29.5 |
| Footprints Behavioral Interventions | 100.0% | 17 | +27.0 |
| OCALI | 87.5% | 16 | +14.5 |
| Child Enrichment Center | 33.3% | 15 | -39.7 |
| Behavior Analysis Resources and Education, Inc. | 20.0% | 10 | -53.0 |
After the name links above, 17 rows appear only in the 2025 report and 10 only in the 2024 report. BACB's reports don't say why a provider is listed in one year and not the other. A missing row is not a zero pass rate or evidence that a program opened or closed.
Reading a program's own pass-rate claim
Training programs sometimes advertise their own pass rates. Before you lean on one, find out how many candidates it covers, whether it counts first attempts only (BACB's provider report does), which year it's from, and whether it matches the program's row in BACB's report. Then compare it with the overall first-time rate for the same year: 75% for 2025, 73% for 2024.
A few outcomes can produce a striking percentage in a small group. These hypothetical examples use the same 95% Wilson model interval; they are not additional rows from BACB's provider report:
| A program reports | Pass rate | 95% model interval |
|---|---|---|
| 3 of 3 passed | 100.0% | 43.9–100.0% |
| 5 of 5 passed | 100.0% | 56.6–100.0% |
| 10 of 10 passed | 100.0% | 72.2–100.0% |
| 18 of 18 passed | 100.0% | 82.4–100.0% |
| 30 of 40 passed | 75.0% | 59.8–85.8% |
| 45 of 50 passed | 90.0% | 78.6–95.7% |
| 90 of 100 passed | 90.0% | 82.6–94.5% |
| 800 of 1,000 passed | 80.0% | 77.4–82.4% |
| 60 of 100 passed | 60.0% | 50.2–69.1% |
Our calculations. Under this model, a perfect 3 for 3 is still consistent with an underlying pass probability well below 75%. The interval does not establish the quality of a program or tell you whether anyone was left out of its count.
How RBT pass rates compare with BCaBA and BCBA
The RBT had the highest first-time and retake pass rates of BACB's three exams in 2025.
| 2025 exam | First-time candidates tested | First-time pass rate | Retake candidates tested | Retake pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBT | 109,341 | 75% | 54,674 | 38% |
| BCaBA | 1,196 | 60% | 1,019 | 30% |
| BCBA | 9,955 | 51% | 13,196 | 23% |
Source: BACB Examination Information and Annual Data Report, 2025.
These exams serve different roles and education levels and are taken by different groups, so the table compares outcomes, not difficulty.
What to do with these numbers
Before your first attempt
BACB recommends preparing with the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.) plus the materials from your 40-hour training and your Competency Assessment. It also says it can't endorse study guides, and that buying study materials doesn't guarantee a pass (RBT Handbook, "Preparation," p. 7).
The most useful thing you can do with an overall pass rate is set it aside and check your coverage. The current outline has 43 tasks across six content areas, including tasks that older materials may not cover, such as punishment procedures and calculating rate, mean duration, and percentage from data (current outline, tasks A.6 and D.5). Mark the tasks you can explain and the ones you need to revisit, then use that list to organize your review. A self-check is a planning aid, not a score or a prediction.
If you didn't pass
- Get your score report. Log in to your Pearson VUE account and select "View Score Reports." BACB can't view or download it for you (RBT Handbook, "Examination Results," p. 14).
- Use the report as a guide, not a map. A failing RBT report lists the tasks where you answered questions incorrectly. It doesn't give a raw score or percentage. BACB cautions that each task has only a few questions, so a flagged task may not show whether you understand it, and it recommends studying all of the content rather than only the flagged areas (BACB scoring FAQs).
- Submit your retake application. It appears in your BACB portal account within 48 hours of the failed attempt. After you submit it, the authorization email arrives within 48 hours. BACB doesn't currently charge a retake application fee, but Pearson VUE charges $45, plus applicable taxes, for each exam appointment (RBT Handbook, retaking, p. 10, and scheduling, p. 9).
- Know the limits. You must wait at least 7 days after your previous attempt. You can take the exam up to 8 times in total, including your first attempt, within the 12 months after your initial application approval. If you use all 8 and time remains, you have to wait until that 12-month period ends before you can reapply (RBT Handbook, p. 10). The 7-day wait is a minimum, not a promise that an appointment will be open.
Sources and how we checked
On September 16, 2026, we read BACB's Examination Information page, its Annual Data Report page, its Recent & Upcoming Changes table, its test content outline page, the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), the RBT Handbook (updated 06/2026), and BACB's 2024 and 2025 reports of RBT pass rates by 40-hour training provider. We checked the complete provider tables against the PDF page images and confirmed that each row's passes and non-passes add up to its total. Every range, sum, interval, and comparison labeled as ours was recalculated by script. In five rows (three in 2025, two in 2024), BACB's printed percentage is 0.1 point higher than rounding its own pass count divided by total to the nearest tenth gives. We show BACB's printed percentage and use the counts for our calculations. We also opened each outside page named above on the same date.
BACB's figures: candidate counts, pass rates, all-regions figures, provider rows, and exam, scoring, and retake rules. Our work: selecting the all-regions historical figures, conditional count ranges, provider sums and coverage, illustrative 95% model intervals, descriptive percentage-point differences, the conditional unlisted-group estimate, and matching provider names across years.
These source and calculation checks used AI-assisted research and editing, consistent with our methodology. They are not a professional subject-matter review.
Primary sources
- BACB, Annual Data Report: 2020–2025 testing and certification tables, with the 2020 and 2021 all-regions notes
- BACB, Examination Information: "Historical RBT Examination Results" (2021–2025), "Examination Scoring," and "FAQs About Scoring"
- BACB, RBT Examination Pass Rates for 40-Hour Training Providers 2025 (updated 05/2026)
- BACB, RBT Examination Pass Rates for 40-Hour Training Providers 2024 (updated 04/2025)
- BACB, RBT Handbook (updated 06/2026): "Preparation" and "Examination Outline" (p. 7), "Scheduling" (p. 9), "Retaking Your Examination" (p. 10), "Examination Results" and "Scoring Methodology" (p. 14)
- BACB, Recent & Upcoming Changes: January 1, 2026, "RBT Examination"
- BACB, Test Content Outlines for BACB Certifications, the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.), and the historical RBT Task List (2nd ed.)
- NIST/SEMATECH, e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, section 7.2.4.1: Wilson confidence-interval formula
Download the data
- RBT pass rates, 2020–2025 (CSV)
- 2025 provider rates with 95% model intervals (CSV)
- 2024 provider rates (CSV)
- Provider rates, 2024 vs. 2025 (CSV)
Each file separates BACB's figures from our calculations.
Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) or Pearson VUE. RBT, BCaBA, BCBA, and other exam and credential names are used to identify their subjects, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Training-provider names appear only to identify rows in BACB's public reports. Their appearance here isn't an endorsement or a criticism of any program.
Last verified September 16, 2026: BACB's annual and historical RBT results, its 2024 and 2025 provider reports, its scoring guidance, the RBT Handbook (updated 06/2026), and the 3rd-edition exam change. Written by the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team. How we verify · Independence policy · Report a correction