Make sure your time is valid, meaningful, and compliant.
If you’re pursuing BCBA® certification, understanding what activities actually count toward your fieldwork is essential. Logging hours is more than clocking in. Logging hours is about gaining real clinical experience that prepares you for independent practice.
In this post, we’ll break down the types of activities that count, count with limits, and don’t count at all, based on BACB® fieldwork standards.
These are just how we interpret the guidelines. Always, always, always consult directly with your supervisor and the BACB® handbook.
Unrestricted activities must make up at least 60% of your total fieldwork hours. These are tasks that a BCBA® typically performs, including:
✅ Rule of thumb: if it requires analysis, planning, or decision-making, it likely qualifies as unrestricted. If it’s something a BCBA would do AND is behavior analytic in nature, it likely counts as unrestricted.
Shadowing can count toward fieldwork hours—only if it includes:
✅ Example: You shadow a BCBA® conducting an FBA and discuss it with your supervisor afterward—you may count that time.
❌ Shadowing likely does not count if you’re simply observing with no supervision, data collection, or involvement.
Restricted activities can make up no more than 40% of your total hours. These generally involve direct implementation of procedures.
Examples include:
These are still important experiences, but they must be balanced with unrestricted work to meet BACB® requirements.
Some tasks are clearly outside the scope of acceptable fieldwork. These do not count toward your BCBA® hours:
🚫 If you have questions, ask your supervisor.
Here are a few examples of how this looks in the field:
✅ Counts (Unrestricted):
⚠️ Limited Count (Restricted):
❌ Does NOT Count:
Want ideas to maximize your unrestricted hours?
Download our free Guide to Unrestricted Hours: 75+ Unrestricted Activity Ideas →
Copyright notice:
This content references materials from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board® (BACB®). Board Certified Behavior Analyst® Handbook (2025).
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For the most current information, visit www.bacb.com.