BACB fieldwork FAQ: common questions, answered

Concentrated fieldwork means fewer hours in total but more supervision each month. Supervised fieldwork is 2,000 hours for BCBA^® and 1,300 for BCaBA^®, with at least 5% of each month supervised. Concentrated supervised fieldwork is 1,500 hours for BCBA and 1,000 for BCaBA (800 under the 2027 standards), with at least 10% of each month supervised (7.5% for BCBA under the 2027 standards).

Concentrated months ask more in other ways too: under the 2027 standards, 90 minutes of observation instead of 60; under the pre-2027 standards, six contacts instead of four. And a concentrated month that falls short on supervision can't be prorated, so it doesn't count. Both types need 20 to 130 hours a month (160 under the 2027 standards). Before choosing concentrated, check that your supervisor has the time.

It depends on when the BACB receives your complete application, not on when you started fieldwork. A complete application (including payment and all required documents) received by December 31, 2026 follows the pre-2027 standards; after that, the 2027 standards apply.

What changes under the 2027 standards:

• The monthly maximum rises from 130 to 160 hours.
• Supervision contacts are no longer counted.
• Observation becomes 60 minutes a month (90 on concentrated), instead of at least one a month.
• BCBA concentrated supervision moves from 10% to 7.5%.
• The BCaBA concentrated total drops from 1,000 to 800 hours.

Four things: your pathway, your supervisor, a way to log from your first hour, and the monthly rules.

• Your pathway: BCBA or BCaBA, supervised or concentrated, and the standards your application will fall under.
• Your supervisor: someone who meets the BACB's requirements (see "What should I look for in a supervisor?" below).
• Your log: start on day one, so you never rebuild a month from memory.
• The monthly rules: 20 to 130 hours a month (160 under the 2027 standards), your supervision percentage, and, across all of your fieldwork, at least 60% unrestricted hours (40% for BCaBA).

When you sign up, the app sets these rules from the pathway you choose. To see how many months your pathway takes at your pace, read how long BCBA fieldwork takes.

Yes. One application can combine supervised and concentrated months. The BACB's fieldwork FAQ says each month's type is decided on its monthly form: if that month's supervision percentage and observation meet the higher concentrated requirements, its hours may count as concentrated.

Concentrated hours count for more toward the total (for BCBA, the BACB puts it at approximately 1.33 times), but every form records your actual hours. In the app, each month holds its own type, so a change partway through just works. Changing credential is a bigger step: talk it through with your supervisor and your program first.

No. Supervision is measured one calendar month at a time, so a short month can't be made up later and a strong month can't carry over.

A supervised fieldwork month that falls short can count fewer of its hours, so that its percentage is met. A concentrated month that falls short can't be prorated, so it doesn't count. The good news: every month starts fresh. In the app, the month's supervision rate updates as you log, so you can plan more supervision while the month is still open.

Hours above the monthly maximum don't count toward your total. A month counts up to 130 hours under the pre-2027 standards and up to 160 under the 2027 standards.

The app shows your month against its maximum as you log, and your entries always save.

Then that month earns no eligible hours. The 20-hour minimum is a floor, not a target: a month under 20 hours counts zero, and it isn't prorated.

Plan quiet months, like holidays or exam season, so they still reach 20 hours.

Check it every month, even though it's measured across all of your fieldwork. At least 60% of your total fieldwork hours must be unrestricted for BCBA (40% for BCaBA), so restricted hours can be at most 40% (60% for BCaBA).

Early fieldwork often leans restricted, so a low start is normal, and it's far easier to correct in month three than in month 12. Every counted hour is one or the other, group supervision included: the activity decides, not the format. Some activities depend on context: data collection during treatment is restricted, while data collection for a functional assessment is unrestricted. Ask your supervisor about unrestricted work.

Five, and each is easy to catch while the month is still open:

• A monthly form signed late. If you and your supervisor haven't both signed the month's form by the last day of the following month, none of that month's hours are eligible.
• Too little supervision that month: 5%, 7.5%, or 10%, depending on your pathway.
• Fewer than 20 hours, or more than the monthly maximum (130, or 160 under the 2027 standards).
• Activities that never count, such as coursework, exam study, conferences, and nonbehavioral admin.
• Too few unrestricted hours by the end: at least 60% for BCBA, 40% for BCaBA.

Under the 2027 standards, supervision contacts are no longer counted. The BACB announced in its March 2022 newsletter that the contacts requirement would end because it duplicates the monthly supervision percentage.

If the BACB receives your complete application by December 31, 2026, the pre-2027 rule still applies: four contacts a month on supervised fieldwork and six on concentrated. The handbook's general supervision section still mentions four and six contacts; that wording hasn't caught up with the change. Observation is its own rule: under the 2027 standards, 60 minutes a month (90 on concentrated).

The BACB states the limit two ways, each against its own total. At least half of your supervision meeting time must be individual, and group supervision hours may not exceed half of your total supervised hours, each supervisory period.

A group is 2 to 10 trainees, never more than 10 at once, however many supervisors are there. Unless you are supervised at an organization with several supervisors, your group supervision comes from the supervisor who gives your individual supervision. The app checks your group hours against half of your supervised hours each month.

Yes. Many trainees have a supervisor at each of two workplaces, or several at one organization.

Each monthly form covers one supervisor, or one organization when several supervise you there, so keep clear records of who supervised which hours. In the app, every supervisor you connect joins free, sees your hours and monthly checks, the same numbers you see, and signs your forms with you.

Each workplace is its own fieldwork experience: the BACB says you must meet all relevant requirements for each one, every month, on its own monthly form.

What the BACB doesn't spell out is whether numbers like the 20-hour minimum and the monthly maximum apply per workplace or to your month as a whole, so ask your supervisor or the BACB. In the app, each organization's month is checked on its own, and a strong month at one can't cover a short month at another. Your total hours and your unrestricted percentage add up across every workplace.

First, the requirements: an active BCBA or BCBA-D in good standing who has completed the BACB's 8-hour supervision training, keeps up supervision CEUs, and has been certified for at least one year (or gets monthly consultation in their first year). Then look for:

• Time for your monthly supervision, observation included.
• Experience with your pathway.
• Regular, careful review of your hours and forms.
• Feedback that works for you.

Yes. You need the 8-hour supervision training completed and uploaded to your BACB account, and supervision CEUs.

To supervise fieldwork trainees in your first year of certification, you also meet a consulting supervisor for at least 1 hour, one-on-one, in each month you supervise them. Supervising RBTs needs no consultant.

Get every finished month signed first, along with your final verification form for that supervisor. Signatures are hard to get once a supervisor has gone, and a month without both signatures by the last day of the following month earns no eligible hours.

Then share where you stand with your new supervisor. In the app, connect them and they see your progress and history straight away.

At least 5% of the hours you spend providing behavior-analytic services each month must be supervised, in at least two face-to-face, real-time contacts.

At least one contact is individual (no other RBTs or trainees there), and in at least one your supervisor directly observes you with a client. Live video counts; a recording watched later doesn't. It resets every calendar month, and a month with no service hours needs no supervision.

Yes. RBT supervision is met separately at each organization. The BACB's own example: you can't have 3% supervision at one organization and 2% at another.

So each workplace needs its own 5%, its own two contacts, and its own observation. The app checks each organization on its own.

Yes. Your supervisor joins free, sees your sessions and supervision, and signs your monthly supervision record with you in the app.

The record is ABA Fieldwork Tracker's own: the BACB doesn't publish a monthly RBT form, but it does ask you and your supervisor to keep your supervision records for at least seven years.

By the last day of the month after the month it covers. If you and your supervisor haven't both signed the Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form (M-FVF) by then, none of that month's hours are eligible.

You keep it for at least seven years; it isn't sent with your application. The Final Fieldwork Verification Form (F-FVF) is signed at the end of each supervision relationship and goes with your application. If you apply on or after January 1, 2027, you use the 2027 versions of both.

The month's fieldwork hours and the percent supervised (the 2027 forms add observation minutes), signed by you and your supervisor.

Behind it, your own records keep each supervision contact: the date, start and end time, fieldwork type, individual or group, restricted or unrestricted, and a short summary. Group supervision isn't a category of its own: each group hour is restricted or unrestricted, like any other, and the two always add up to your total.

It can work, but it won't warn you. A spreadsheet doesn't tell you when a month is under 20 hours, over its maximum, or short on supervision, and one broken formula can stay wrong for months.

Your supervisor also waits for a copy to review. A tracker that checks each month as you log catches these while you can still fix them.

Not on bacb.com today. The BACB published an Experience Tracker spreadsheet from 2018, later renamed the Fieldwork Tracker, and it is no longer on its website.

The BACB lets you and your supervisor develop your own documentation system, and you both keep your records for at least seven years.

They stay with you. Your account is yours, not your employer's, so your hours, signed forms, and history come with you to your next job and your next supervisor.

In the app, add your new organization and supervisor; every earlier month stays as it was.

A free web app for tracking RBT supervision and BCBA and BCaBA fieldwork. You log your hours, and each month is checked against the BACB requirements for your exact pathway as you go.

Your supervisor joins free and signs your forms with you in the app.

Yes. It's free for RBTs, BCBA and BCaBA trainees, and supervisors: no ads, no credit card, nothing to upgrade.

RBT ongoing supervision, every fieldwork pathway on the pre-2027 and 2027 standards, signed monthly forms, reports, and supervisor accounts are all included.

No. It informs and never blocks: every entry saves, and your month shows exactly where it stands.

Each time you log, the app checks the month for your pathway: supervision, hours, observation, contacts on pre-2027 months, and group hours, plus your total and your unrestricted percentage. If something is short, you see the number and the requirement, and you and your supervisor decide what to do.