Monthly Hour Minimum

The monthly hour minimum is the lowest number of fieldwork hours you must log in any month where you claim fieldwork activity. Across all BACB pathways, this minimum is set at 20 hours per month. If you log any fieldwork hours in a given month, you must reach at least 20 — falling short can result in that entire month being disqualified from your fieldwork record.

The minimum exists to ensure that candidates maintain consistent, meaningful engagement with their fieldwork. Sporadic involvement — a few hours here and there — does not provide the sustained practice experience that the BACB requires for certification. Twenty hours per month represents roughly five hours per week, which the BACB considers the floor for productive fieldwork engagement.

There is an important nuance: you can take a month off entirely. If you log zero hours in a month, that month simply does not count as a fieldwork period — it is not a compliance failure. The problem arises when you log some hours but not enough. Logging 15 hours in a month is worse than logging none, because it creates a period that fails to meet the minimum. If you know a month will be light due to travel, illness, or other commitments, it may be better to plan for a complete break rather than attempting a partial effort that falls short.