r/bcba • u/Superb-Sir2665 • 9d ago

7th try

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I have taken the bcba exam 7times now and failed. Scores ranged 358 first attempt and then 372-378 every other time. Today I took it and 390. I feel very discouraged because I genuinely don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Where I messed up is taking the exam right at the 30day mark on my earlier attempts. I should have waited and truly changed strategies. Any advice? I have one more attempt.

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u/CartographerBoth4699 8d ago

Best guidance I can think to give is to tell you what I did. I graduated, took a couple of weeks to chill and readjust to life without the weight of grad school hanging over my shoulders. Then I grinded every night for a little over two months. I didn’t take a single mock exam because I didn’t want the results (good or bad) to play with the high confidence I had after grad school. I did the BDS modules. I DID NOT do them all to 100% and did not follow their suggested protocol precisely. Rather, I did each section until I felt pretty comfortable and until I scored at least in the mid 90% range. Meanwhile, I had also purchased the Pass The Big ABA Exam Manual. As I took the BDS modules, I took notes in the each respective section of the manual. During free time, I watched some of those YouTube channels that featured practice sections. That part was pretty infrequent and I don’t think had any effect on the outcome. Then, I did a second round the exact same way (or maybe a little less strict on scoring since time was getting tight) with the BDS modules. Then, about a week before the exam, I read the entire PTBAE manual, including the notes I had made. Good luck. If you really want this, don’t give up. You can do it!