Studying for the bcba exam is seriously one of the most stressful times of my life. You are isolated from friends and family and spend all your time with your face shoved in the Cooper book. Choosing a method for bcba exam prep can also be very challenging. In this post, I’ll share with you my BCBA Exam Study Guide. I choose to study with a combination of Pass the Big ABA, my own personal audio recording of key terms and other key information, FIT prep course, BDS BCBA exam modules, Skinner book of verbal behavior and of course the Cooper book.
You want to choose the best combination of study methods that work for you. I found that studying in groups worked really well in the beginning but I found that as it got closer to the test date my study group became smaller and smaller until it was just me studying. That actually worked out fine as my study time often started at 4am. I found that what helped me stay motivated was charting and graphing my hours. I was aiming to study 15-20 hours per week a month before my test date. I usually ranged between 10-15 hours per week and studied by sections on the task list.
The key to having a good BCBA Exam Study Guide is to know your weakness. I knew my weak points were on understanding stimulus equivalence and memorizing the schedules of reinforcement, and differentiating between the different types of Motivating operations (CMO, CMO-T,…ETC). My advice is this: the parts that you have the most difficult time with, try and explain them to an “ABA dummy”. I don’t mean dummy in a derogatory term but someone with no knowledge of ABA. If you can explain concepts to them then you fully understand the material.
Don’t give up and know that if you don’t pass the test this time then you will pass the test sooner or later. As long as you keep attempting to pass this Beast then you can PASS!
