Beacon

Am I ready?

It’s the question you turn over the night before, and a percent-correct never really answers it. Beacon answers it with data: a readiness score built from unlimited, freshly generated 185-item mock exams, each one weighted to the published 6th-edition TCO. You pay once, and it’s yours.

Answer one now, before you read another word.

A learner reliably requests a preferred item only after an adult delivers the vocal prompt “What do you want?” The behavior analyst wants the request to come under the control of the natural motivating operation instead of the adult’s prompt. Which procedure most directly accomplishes this?

The questions are the whole product, so we build them like it.

See how the bank becomes a study system

Original questions
Written in-house from scratch — never scraped or recycled from real exams.
Expert-reviewed
Every item is reviewed by credentialed behavior analysts before it ships.
Mapped to the 6th-ed TCO
Tagged and weighted to the BACB Test Content Outline, domain by domain.
One-time fee
Pay once and own it — no recurring subscription.
Unlimited retakes
Sit as many fresh mock exams as you need, at no extra cost.

Most BCBA prep rents you a fixed set of questions by the month and takes it back the day you stop paying, which leaves you memorizing the same few mocks and still guessing on exam day. Beacon is a single purchase you keep for good, and it’s built to do the one thing renting never could: tell you where you actually stand.

Studying longer shouldn’t cost you more.

A longer fieldwork stretch or a harder domain just means more months on the meter when your prep is billed by the month.

Pay Beacon once and every question, mock, and retake is yours. Come back the week before your exam or a year later; the price doesn’t move, and a retake never restarts a clock.

See what one payment covers

BeaconTypical monthly subscription
still paying[PRICE] paid onceMo 1Mo 2Mo 3Mo 4Mo 5Mo 6cumulative cost ↑

Over a 6-month study period

A fresh 185-item exam, assembled on the spot.

Every attempt draws a full-length mock live and weights it to the published 6th-edition TCO. When the exam never repeats, there is nothing to memorize, so a strong score reflects what you know rather than what you have seen before.

Weighted to the published TCO

  • ABehaviorism & Philosophical Foundations8
  • BConcepts & Principles24
  • CMeasurement, Data Display & Interpretation21
  • DExperimental Design13
  • EEthical & Professional Issues22
  • FBehavior Assessment23
  • GBehavior-Change Procedures25
  • HSelecting & Implementing Interventions20
  • IPersonnel Supervision & Management19
  • ·Pilot items (unscored)10

185 items assembled

Retakes are unlimited and free, and a new draw waits behind each one. You run out of study time long before you run out of exams.

How a mock gets assembled

Where you actually stand.

A percent-correct tells you what you got on the questions you happened to see. A readiness score tells you what to do next: which domains are solid, which one is exposed, and whether it’s safe to book the exam.

Verdict

Not yet. Clear Ethicsand shore up one borderline domain, then you’re cleared to sit.

How the score is calculated

78%ready

By domain

  • B. Concepts & Principles86%
  • C. Measurement & Interpretation79%
  • E. Ethical & Professional Issues52%
  • F. Behavior Assessment83%
  • G. Behavior-Change Procedures88%
  • H. Selecting & Implementing Interventions68%

The score reweights as you study, so the number always reflects the exam you’re about to take, not the questions you happened to answer today.

One path from your first diagnostic to exam day.

Most prep hands you a pile of questions and wishes you luck. Beacon works in order: diagnose where you are, spend your study time where it moves the score, reinforce it before you forget, pressure-test the result, and only then tell you it’s time.

Walk through each step

  1. 1

    Diagnostic

    One assessment maps your baseline across every domain of the TCO.

  2. 2

    Personalized plan

    Your limited study time is pointed at the gaps that actually move your score.

  3. 3

    Spaced review

    Concepts resurface at widening intervals, right before you would forget them.

  4. 4

    Confidence calibration

    Catches overconfidence by flagging questions you got right but guessed, so a lucky answer never counts as mastery.

  5. 5

    Readiness verdict

    A clear, weighted call on whether you are ready to book the exam.

  6. 6

    Exam day

    You walk in knowing exactly where you stand, without guessing whether you did enough.

One payment, and all of it is yours.

No monthly bill for as long as you happen to be studying. You buy the whole system once and keep it, including every question, mock, retake, and future update.

One-time payment

[PRICE]

One payment. Everything, forever. No subscription, no renewals, nothing to cancel.

Start free

Start free and see your baseline first — pay once when you’re ready.

Everything, forever

  • The full bank of original, expert-reviewed questions
  • Unlimited freshly-generated 185-item mock exams
  • Unlimited free retakes — forever
  • Your personalized readiness dashboard
  • Flashcards with spaced review
  • Every future update, at no extra cost

Our guarantee

[GUARANTEE — to be finalized]

Straight answers

The exam is hard, expensive, and high-stakes. Here is what Beacon is, what it isn’t, and where we draw the line on what we’ll claim about the test itself.

How do I know the questions match the real exam?
Every question is original, written and reviewed by credentialed behavior analysts, then mapped to the published BACB 6th-edition Test Content Outline (TCO). We don't scrape or recycle real exam items — the goal is questions that test the same concepts, at the same depth, as the domains the BACB actually publishes. You can see the source outline anytime at bacb.com.
What happens if I fail the exam?
You keep full access — there's no subscription to renew and no content to re-buy, so you can keep studying and retake mocks as many times as you need at no extra cost. In addition, [GUARANTEE]. Nothing about your account or your progress expires while you work toward a pass.
Is it really one payment, with no subscription?
Yes. Beacon is a one-time fee of [PRICE] — you own your access and every question forever, with unlimited free retakes of mock exams and quizzes. There is no monthly charge, no auto-renewal, and no separate fee to keep studying after your exam date.
How is a readiness score different from my percent correct?
Percent correct only tells you how you did on the questions you happened to see. Your readiness score weights performance across the TCO domains the way the real exam does, factors in how recently and consistently you've answered, and calibrates for confidence — so it estimates whether you're ready for the actual exam, not just how one quiz went.
Are the mock exams the same set of questions every time?
No. Each mock is freshly assembled the moment you start it — a new 185-item exam drawn from a large bank and weighted to match the real BACB 6th-edition TCO domain proportions. Because every attempt is different, retaking mocks measures real progress instead of memorized answers.
Is Beacon worth it compared to other BCBA prep?
Most prep sells a fixed pile of content on a subscription — you rent it, and it can't tell you when you're actually ready. Beacon is an adaptive system you own outright that estimates your readiness against the real exam blueprint. We won't quote competitor prices or features here; compare them directly and decide what fits your budget and study style.
How many questions are on the BCBA exam?
The BCBA exam has 185 multiple-choice questions: 175 are scored and 10 are unscored pilot items that don't count toward your result. Candidates are given four hours to complete it. Always confirm the current format against the BACB's official handbook at bacb.com.
How is the BCBA exam weighted?
The exam is built from the content domains published in the BACB's 6th-edition Test Content Outline, and each domain contributes a set number of questions to the total. Beacon's mock exams mirror those same domain proportions. The authoritative weighting is published by the BACB at bacb.com.
How long should I study for the BCBA exam?
There's no single right answer — study time reported by candidates commonly ranges from several weeks to a few months, depending on how recently you finished coursework, your fieldwork experience, and how much time you can give each week. Rather than chase a fixed number of hours, Beacon tracks your readiness score so you can study until you're actually prepared, not until a date on the calendar. Treat any specific hour count you see online as anecdotal, not a guarantee.
What is the BCBA exam pass rate?
The BACB publishes first-time and overall pass-rate data each year, broken down by training program, on its website. We don't restate a figure here because it changes annually and varies by program — see the current numbers directly at bacb.com.
What is the BCBA 6th-edition Test Content Outline?
The Test Content Outline (TCO) is the BACB's official blueprint for the exam — it lists the content domains and the specific tasks a candidate is expected to know, and it's the basis for how the exam is written and weighted. The 6th-edition TCO took effect for exams administered starting in January 2025 (the 5th-edition Task List governed exams from 2022 through 2024). You can download the current outline from bacb.com.
What score do I need to pass the BCBA exam?
The BCBA exam is scored on a scaled system, and the passing standard is set by the BACB through a formal standard-setting process — it is not a simple percentage like "70% correct." Your result is reported as pass or fail along with a scaled score. The official scoring details are published by the BACB at bacb.com.

Still deciding? Start free and see your baseline before you pay anything. Compare the options.

You don’t have to guess whether you’re ready.

Start free, see where you stand across every domain, and keep studying until the number says it's time. Beacon is a one-time purchase with unlimited free retakes, no subscription, and no expiry.