Restricted vs Unrestricted Hours in BCBA Fieldwork: What Counts as Which

The two activity categories in BCBA fieldwork

Every fieldwork hour you log is either restricted or unrestricted, and the split decides whether your hours qualify. The BCBA Handbook defines them this way:

The 1,500-hour row is Passy's arithmetic from the same percentages. Three points are easy to miss. The handbook measures the 60% across your total hours, not each month, so a month of mostly direct service is fine if the overall share works out. Its glossary also notes that restricted doesn't simply mean time with a client, since several unrestricted activities involve working directly with one. And the 2027 BCBA Requirements keep the same 60% minimum, so nothing here changes on January 1, 2027.

Activities the BACB lists as unrestricted

The handbook's examples of unrestricted activities are:

• observation and data collection
• training staff and caregivers on behavior-analytic programs or content
• conducting assessments related to the need for behavioral intervention
• meeting with clients about behavior-analytic programming and services
• conducting behavior-analytic assessments, such as functional analyses and stimulus preference assessments
• graphing and analyzing data
• researching literature relevant to a current client's programming
• writing and revising behavior-analytic programs

The BACB's January 2026 blog post Fieldwork: Getting It Right adds more: intake interviews with clients and stakeholders, designing or evaluating a client's data collection system, writing behavior intervention plans, a risk-benefit analysis before an intervention, feedback to RBTs on how they implement a plan, and a discharge plan for fading services.

Several of these are also exam content. Functional analyses and preference assessments sit in Behavior Assessment, and graphing in Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation, which is why practice on assessment and graphing questions is planned for launch alongside the other domains.

Why the same task can be restricted or unrestricted

The BACB says the category depends on context. Its fieldwork FAQ uses data collection as the example: it's restricted if you collect data solely as part of a client's treatment program, and unrestricted if you collect it during a functional assessment to identify the client's future programming needs.

The BACB's Fieldwork Checklist and Tip Sheet shows the same pattern. A trainee told by the supervisor to run a preference-assessment program with a client logs restricted time, and so does a trainee collecting baseline data while the supervisor checks in now and then. Yet the handbook lists conducting preference assessments as unrestricted. Read together (this is Passy's reading, not a BACB rule), the label seems to follow what you are doing in that session and why, carrying out a set program or doing the analysis that shapes one, rather than the name of the task. Your supervisor makes the call for a specific session.

The BACB's example scenarios, sorted

Appendix A of the tip sheet sorts example scenarios two ways: restricted or unrestricted, and how the time is logged (independent, individual supervision, group supervision, observation). Here are some of them, paraphrased:

Two patterns stand out. A supervisor who is present but not interacting in real time gives you an observation, not supervised time. And a phone call without video gives you supervision, not an observation. Those two details matter as much as the category when you check a month against the BCBA fieldwork monthly rules.

What never counts as BCBA fieldwork

Both categories must be behavior-analytic and tied to a specific client's services. The handbook and the January 2026 post list activities that don't count at all:

• conferences, workshops, ACE events and university courses
• coursework assignments, readings and quizzes, and studying for the certification exam
• meetings with little or no behavior-analytic content
• interventions that aren't based in behavior analysis
• non-behavior-analytic administration, paperwork, billing, coding, or assessments such as diagnostic or intellectual testing
• non-behavior-analytic trainings, such as crisis management, CPR or billing systems
• podcasts, case studies, hypothetical scenarios, and readings unrelated to current clients
• role-playing procedures that aren't client related
• teaching at RBT professional development events

Since exam study never counts as fieldwork, it needs its own place in your calendar; you can plan that study time around the planned 30-, 90- or 180-day access options, though checkout isn't open yet.

Keeping 60% unrestricted across your fieldwork

The handbook asks you to record the category for every session, supervision contact and observation, and to review your system regularly so you can see you're accruing enough unrestricted hours. A running check each month avoids an unpleasant discovery at the end. For example, if you have 800 hours logged and 400 of them are unrestricted, you need 800 more unrestricted hours in your last 1,200 to reach 1,200 of 2,000, which is two-thirds of everything that remains (Passy's arithmetic).

How you get there is up to you and your supervisor. The BACB's FAQ says some trainees start with mostly restricted activities and others mix both from the beginning. What it won't do is rule on an individual activity: the handbook says the BACB can't give guidance beyond its requirements, and your supervisor decides whether an activity fits them.

Your next step on restricted and unrestricted hours

Open the tip sheet's Appendix A with your supervisor and agree on how you'll log your most common activities before the month starts. If you work as an RBT, much of your current work is likely restricted; RBT to BCBA explains which RBT hours and meetings can count. For the monthly rules and forms, see the BCBA fieldwork hours guide.

When exam study starts, the 20 free BCBA practice questions give a quick baseline, and original questions across all nine domains are planned for launch.

Passy is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BACB. The scenarios above are paraphrased from BACB documents; confirm how to log your own activities with your supervisor.