From Setback to Comeback: A Guide to a Successful Exam Retake

Wednesday, 24 Sep 2025 / Published in Blog posts

From Setback to Comeback: A Guide to a Successful Exam Retake

If you’re pursuing BACB® certification, few things are more discouraging than not passing the board exam. You’ve spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on coursework, supervised fieldwork, and study materials—and a score under 400 can feel devastating. But let’s be clear: not passing is not the end. With reflection, the right tools, and a smart plan, your next attempt can be your last.

Understand Your Exam Results

You’ll receive your pass/fail status immediately at the testing center. The BACB uses the modified Angoff method to determine the passing score, which can vary slightly depending on exam difficulty. Although the passing score is scaled to 400, this may represent a different percent correct for each exam. However, the last publicly reported passing score was 76% (BACB, 2015).

Those who pass won’t receive a numeric score, just a congratulations. Those who don’t pass will receive a performance breakdown across the nine content areas from the Test Content Outline (TCO). This personalized report is your first tool for building a smarter study plan.

Process Your Emotions, Then Plan

Receiving a failing score is likely to elicit emotional responses, which should not be avoided. Our body’s innate defense system is designed to increase heart rate, blood pressure, adrenaline, and other neurochemicals to defend against perceived threats, including threats to our values! Success is important to many of us, as are hard work, education, and helping others -- and our emotional responses reflect this importance. It is okay to feel disappointed, sad, frustrated, angry, and any or all other emotions! Making appropriate time and space for these feelings to exist is vital to moving forward with committed action. (see: https://abatechnologies.com/blog/conquering-test-anxiety-with-behavioral-science-tackling-the-test-series)

Schedule Your Retake

You can apply to retake the exam 48 hours after receiving your results, but resist the urge to reapply too quickly. The BACB requires 30 days between attempts, but we would recommend that retakers give themselves at least 12 weeks to prepare. Remember: you have a total of 8 attempts within a 2-year period. Use them wisely.

Develop a Study Plan

Use Your Score Breakdown to Prioritize

Use your BACB test results to identify the Test Content Outline (TCO) domains you need to review. Start with the lowest-scoring domain and work your way backward to domains where you met the passing criteria. Identify the specific tasks within each domain you need to strengthen and list the activities or resources you will use to review: (e.g., flashcards, textbooks, course materials, sample questions, and/or mock exams).

Weekly Planning

Don’t cram. Aim for 1-2 hours per day, 5-6 days per week. Create a study calendar and stick to it. Use a mix of materials and study types to keep learning active and reduce burnout.

Skill-Specific Activities

Flashcards: For vocabulary, SAFMEDS (Say All Fast, Minute Every Day, Shuffle) drills are highly effective. Memorizing the definitions of terms is the first step to identifying and understanding the various concepts.
Mock Exams: Use sparingly to check progress on identifying examples and nonexamples of concepts, identifying best practices in scenarios, and using experimental design and measurement skills in the ways they are likely to be assessed on the certification exam
Course Texts: Re-read sections related to weak areas.
Write Examples: Create your own examples of key concepts and get supervisor feedback.
Verbal Behavior: Explain concepts out loud or to others.

Master the Skills, Not Just the Content

Application Over Memorization

The exam tests more than definitions—you must apply concepts. Practice identifying examples and nonexamples in scenarios and real-world events and selecting interventions based on behavioral principles. Write your own examples of concepts and get feedback from your supervisors/instructors to ensure you’re on the right track. Can you explain concepts to someone else? Can you teach what you are learning? This is a great way to see if you have a firm grasp on the concepts and principles of behavior analysis.

Collaborate for Feedback

Work with supervisors or peers to role-play, diagram cases, and get feedback. Behavior analysis is an applied science; engage with it actively. (see: BOOST U! 10 Ways your Friends and Family Can Help You Study for the Exam)

Strengthen Test-Taking Skills

Use mock exams and question sets to develop endurance and decision-making skills. Learn to eliminate distractors, break down multi-step questions, and diagram antecedent-behavior-consequence chains. You can find more strategies in our article on test-taking skills.

What to avoid

Scams: Stay far away from “exam dumps” or supposed copies of past exams.
Overdoing Mocks: If you’re taking five practice exams a week but not reviewing concepts, you’re wasting time.
Ineffective Study Tools: Fancy note-taking systems and color-coded notebooks won’t help unless they lead to conceptual fluency.

Final Thoughts: You Can Do This!

You are not alone. Many certified professionals failed at least once before passing. What matters now is how you respond. With commitment, planning, and targeted action, you can succeed on your next attempt.

Use this setback as fuel. Your next step isn’t starting over—it’s moving forward smarter.