What Most People Get Wrong About Mock Exam Practice

If you’re preparing for the BCBA exam, you’ve probably taken at least one mock exam. Maybe several. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most candidates treat mocks like a score event rather than what they actually are—a training and feedback system.

This post is for BCBA exam candidates who want to stop spinning their wheels. Whether you’re a first-time tester, a retaker, or someone who does practice questions but doesn’t see improvement, you’ll find a clear system here. We’ll cover what actually counts as a mock exam, the most common mistakes people make during and after practice tests, and a simple review workflow you can start using today.

First, What Counts as a “Mock Exam”?

A mock exam is a practice version of the real exam designed to copy its format, structure, and timing. Think of it as a trial run. The goal is to simulate test-day conditions as closely as possible—same time limit, same rules, same materials, and ideally similar distractions (or lack of them).

Mock exams serve several purposes. They help you find knowledge gaps you didn’t know you had. They train time management under pressure. They reduce anxiety by making the format familiar. And they let you practice exam technique—reading prompts carefully, choosing between close answer options, and managing your mental energy across a long test.

Timed vs Untimed: How to Choose Today

Not all mock practice is the same, and one of the most common mistakes is using the wrong type for your current goal.

Untimed practice is best for building accuracy and deep understanding. Without a clock, you can slow down, think through your reasoning, and truly learn why each answer is right or wrong. Untimed work is especially useful early in your prep or after a timed test when you want to review questions without time pressure clouding your thinking.

Timed practice trains different skills: pacing, stamina, and performance under pressure. It helps you develop an internal clock and practice making quick decisions about when to skip and return to hard questions. Timed work matters—but it matters most after your accuracy is stable.

Here’s a simple decision rule:

If your untimed accuracy on exam-like question sets isn’t around 80–85%, stay mostly untimed.
Add more timed work once your accuracy stabilizes.
If you panic during tests, practice calm structure first, then layer in timing.
Don’t do full timed mocks every day—that’s a recipe for burnout without real improvement.

Want a simple plan? Pick one goal for your next mock: accuracy (untimed) or pacing (timed). Write it down before you start.

For more on choosing between these approaches, see our guide on timed vs untimed mock exams.

The Biggest Meta-Mistake: Taking Mocks With No Review System

Here’s the mistake that undermines everything else: taking mock exams without a system for learning from them. A mock exam is feedback, not a final grade. If you only check your score and move on, you’re hiding the real problem from yourself.

Think of it this way: a mock is a mirror, not a verdict. The number tells you where you are. The review tells you what to do next.

What “Review” Really Means

Review doesn’t mean glancing at which questions you missed. Real review means finding why you missed each item, then practicing that specific skill.

A rationale is the “why” behind the correct answer—and equally important, why the wrong options are wrong. A pattern is the same type of error showing up again and again across different questions.

Here’s a step-by-step review workflow you can use after every mock:

Record the big metrics: overall score, section or topic breakdown, and accuracy of attempted questions. This gives you the landscape.

Categorize every miss by “why,” not just “what.” Was it a concept gap (you didn’t know the material)? A careless error or misread? An application gap (you knew the idea but couldn’t use it in a scenario)? A strategy error (bad elimination or guessing)?

Analyze your time. Identify questions that were both slow and wrong—those are your biggest opportunities. Note if you rushed at the end or left items unattempted.

Do a blind re-solve. Before looking at the answer key, try the questions you missed again with no time pressure. If you get it right now, the problem was likely time pressure or nerves. If you still miss it, you have a real content or skill gap to address.

Turn your findings into a plan. A common approach is spending about 70% of your study time on weak areas and 30% maintaining strengths. Your review should change your next week of study—otherwise, what was the point?

One more note for BCBA candidates: do not chase “real exam questions” or share protected exam content. Focus on understanding concepts and building skills, not memorizing items. This is both an ethical requirement and a smarter way to prepare.

Before your next mock, block off review time. Treat review as part of the mock, not an extra.

Learn more in our guide on how to review mock exam results step by step.

Mistakes During the Mock: Time, Focus, and Rules

Even with good content knowledge, execution errors during the mock can tank your performance. Here are the most common ones and what to do instead.

Starting too fast or too slow without a pace check. Many candidates rush through the first section (making careless errors) or get bogged down early and panic later. The fix: set simple checkpoints. Use a 3-part pacing structure—scan the exam at the start, do pulse checks every 15–20 minutes, and save a final buffer of about 15 minutes to review flagged questions.

Misreading one word. Words like “not,” “best,” “except,” and “least” completely change what a question is asking. The fix: slow down on key words and underline or highlight them as you read.

Changing answers without a reason. Research on answer-changing is mixed, but the safest rule is behavioral: only change an answer when you can name a clear reason, like “I misread the stem” or “I just remembered the actual definition.” Don’t change based on a vague feeling.

Getting stuck on one hard item. This is a classic time sink. The fix: use a skip-and-return rule. If you’re stuck past your time threshold, flag it, pick the best option you can, and move on. Return in your final buffer.

Ignoring instructions or question format. Some questions ask for the “best” answer, meaning multiple options might be partially correct. Others ask what you would do “first.” The fix: do a quick “what is this asking?” check before diving into answer choices.

A Simple Pacing Plan

You don’t need complicated math. Pick 2–3 time checkpoints before you begin. At each checkpoint, ask yourself: “Am I on pace?” If not, speed up by using your skip rule—not by guessing wildly on everything. A maximum time threshold per question (say, 90 seconds) protects easier points down the road.

For your next timed mock, write your skip rule on paper before you begin. Follow it even when you feel stressed.

Our test-day strategy guide for mock exams breaks this down further.

Mistakes After the Mock: Score-Checking, Rushing, and Guessing What Went Wrong

The review phase is where most improvement actually happens—and where most people cut corners.

Only looking at percent correct. Your score is a number. Your patterns are the plan. If you only check whether you “passed” the mock, you miss the diagnostic value entirely.

Reviewing only wrong answers. Here’s something many candidates overlook: guessed questions matter too, even when you got them right. A correct guess can hide a weakness and create false confidence. If you can’t explain why the right answer wins and why the other options lose, you don’t own that content yet.

During your mock, flag questions where you guessed, felt unsure, or took too long. After the mock, do blind review on flagged questions first—before looking at the answer key. Then categorize them: confident and correct, not confident but correct, confident but incorrect, not confident and incorrect. The “not confident but correct” items deserve just as much attention as the wrong ones.

Redoing questions until you “remember” them. Memorizing specific items creates an illusion of mastery. After review, practice new questions that target the same skill. That way you’re learning the rule, not the item.

Blaming only intelligence or anxiety. It’s easy to say “I’m just bad at tests” or “I panicked.” But those aren’t actionable categories. Instead, name the exact behavior that broke: reading, time management, concept knowledge, or decision-making under pressure. Then you have something to fix.

Reviewing when you’re exhausted. Deep review takes cognitive energy. If you just finished a 4-hour mock, don’t immediately dive into analysis. Take a real break first, then split review into shorter blocks over the next day or two.

What to Review First

If time is limited, prioritize in this order: guessed questions (even correct ones), wrong questions you felt confident about, and then wrong questions you already knew were weak areas. The “confident but wrong” category often reveals the biggest gaps.

After your next mock, don’t ask “What did I score?” first. Ask “What pattern showed up?”

For more, see our guide on how to review guessed questions.

A Simple Mistake Log You Can Copy

A mistake log is a simple tracker that helps you spot patterns, find root causes, and plan your next drills. The key is keeping it small enough that you’ll actually use it.

Suggested Mistake Log Categories

Your log should capture a few essential pieces of information for each miss:

Question reference (mock number and question number)
Your answer and the correct answer
Error type
Brief root cause explanation
One-sentence takeaway rule
Next action

For error types, keep categories simple and BCBA-friendly: concept gap (you didn’t know it), application gap (you knew the idea but couldn’t use it), misread or missed a keyword, careless slip, strategy or guessing error, and time pressure.

Add a “Next Action” for Every Mistake

Each entry should include what you’ll do next. Write a one-sentence rule you’ll follow next time. Do 5–10 fresh practice questions on that same skill. Or teach the concept out loud in plain words to prove you understand it. The next action transforms passive review into active improvement.

Track patterns weekly rather than obsessing after every single question. Once a week, look at your log and ask: what type of error keeps showing up?

Make your mistake log today. Start with just 10 items from your last mock.

Grab our mistake log template for mock exam review to get started.

What to Do With Repeat Mistakes

If the same error keeps appearing, that’s data—not a character flaw. Repeat mistakes tell you exactly what to train next.

Simple Remediation Plan

Start with root cause analysis. State the pattern plainly: “I miss questions that ask about X” or “I change my answer when I see Y.” Use a “5 Whys” approach—keep asking why until you reach the real cause. Is it a content gap, a reading issue, a timing problem, or a strategy breakdown?

Then make a plan. Choose just 1–2 top patterns to fix first—not all of them. Create a small rule or checklist to prevent the error. For example, if you keep missing “except” questions, your rule might be: “Circle any negative qualifier before reading answer choices.”

Next, implement with targeted training. Do short, focused sets on that exact skill. Add tools like flashcards or pacing rules as needed. Don’t just hope the problem goes away—build a specific drill.

Finally, verify the change. Re-test with a mini-mock of new questions targeting that skill. Check if your error rate actually drops. If it doesn’t, revisit your root cause—you may have diagnosed the wrong problem.

Circle your top repeat mistake. Plan one small fix for the next 7 days. Then retest.

Our weak area remediation plan guide walks through this process in detail.

When to Do Timed vs Untimed Mocks: A Simple Progression

Many candidates use timing the wrong way—either timing everything too early or never building stamina at all.

A Basic Progression

Foundation phase (several months out): Stay mostly untimed. Focus on building accuracy and understanding. Take a full mock about every 2–3 weeks to check progress, but spend about twice as long reviewing as you spent taking the mock.

Stamina building (1–3 months out): Add strict timing more often. Take a full mock every 1–2 weeks. Start practicing with a timer in your regular study sessions too.

Final month: Increase testing frequency and add short timed drills for weak areas. At this stage, you’re fine-tuning and building endurance.

Remember the decision anchor: start adding more timed work once you’re around 80–85% accurate untimed on exam-like sets. And don’t over-test with full mocks daily—that leads to burnout, not growth.

If timing is hurting you, do your next mock untimed—and put the energy into review instead.

For scheduling guidance, see how to build mock exams into your study schedule.

Ethics and Safety: Practice the Right Way

This section matters especially for ABA scenarios. Your study habits should reflect the same values you’ll use in practice.

A Quick Privacy Checklist for Study Materials

If you use real clinical examples in your notes, you must de-identify them. This means removing or changing information so a person cannot be recognized.

Remove or change: names, emails, phone numbers, full addresses, specific dates tied to a person (birthdates, admission dates), detailed locations (city or ZIP-level detail), and any photos, voice recordings, or biometrics.

Use safer replacements: “the client” or a fictional name, broad age ranges like “school-age” or “age 10–12,” and changed details that don’t affect the learning point. When in doubt, use fully fictional examples from the start.

One important nuance: if you keep a key that links a code back to a real client, that’s coded data, not truly de-identified. For study materials, go fully fictional whenever possible.

Beyond privacy, remember: do not seek stolen, recalled, or protected exam questions. Understanding beats memorization, and shortcuts put your credential at risk.

Do a quick ethics check: if a note could identify a client, rewrite it as a fictional example.

Join The ABA Clubhouse — free weekly ABA CEUs

Our guide on how to protect privacy in ABA study notes covers this in more detail.

Quick Checklist

Use this as a reference before, during, and after every mock.

Before the mock:

Confirm format, number of questions, and time limit
Gather allowed materials and remove everything else
Make the space feel like test day—quiet, minimal distractions
Take care of basics like sleep and food
If testing online, verify your login, browser, power, and internet connection

During the mock:

Scan the whole exam first
Use your pacing checkpoints
Underline keywords like “except,” “least,” and “not”
Follow your skip-and-return rule
Finish the full mock even if it feels rough—stamina is part of the training

After the mock:

Take a real break before deep review
Do blind review on flagged and guessed questions first
Categorize misses by why (concept, careless, application, strategy)
Update your mistake log and pick your next drills
Plan your next week with more time on weak areas

Disclaimer: Mock exams are practice and feedback. They do not guarantee a future score.

Want this as a clean one-page checklist? Copy this section into your notes and use it for every mock. You can also grab our full mock exam review checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it normal to take mock exams and not improve?

Yes, and it usually happens when review is missing or too shallow. Improvement comes from fixing patterns, not just doing more questions. If you’re stuck, start by reviewing guessed questions and building a simple mistake log.

Should I review only the questions I got wrong?

No—guessed questions matter too. Correct guesses can hide weak skills that will show up later under pressure.

How long should mock exam review take?

It depends on your goal. If you’re in learning mode, deep review might take twice as long as the mock itself. If time is limited, prioritize repeat patterns and high-confidence wrong answers. Better to split review into short blocks than to rush through everything at once.

When should I start doing timed mocks?

Start timed work after you can do smaller sets accurately—around 80–85% on exam-style questions. Use timed sets to practice pacing and stamina, not to prove yourself.

What if I keep making the same mistake over and over?

Treat it like data, not failure. Pick one pattern, choose one fix, practice it in fresh items, and retest with a short quiz to confirm the change stuck.

How do I know if a mistake is content or test-taking strategy?

Ask yourself: can you explain the concept in plain words without looking at notes? If not, it’s likely a content gap. If you knew the material but misread, rushed, or second-guessed yourself, it’s a strategy issue. Your mistake log categories help you make this distinction.

Can I use real client scenarios in my study notes?

Use extreme caution. Avoid any identifying details, and when in doubt, prefer fully fictional examples. Ethics first—studying should never risk client confidentiality.

Pulling It All Together

The most common mock exam practice mistakes aren’t about effort—they’re about systems. Taking more mocks without a review workflow is like running the same drill over and over without checking your form. You get tired, but you don’t necessarily get better.

The fix isn’t complicated. Define your goal for each mock (accuracy or pacing). Use a simple pacing plan during the test. Review guessed questions alongside wrong ones. Track patterns in a mistake log. And when the same error keeps appearing, treat it as data and build a targeted drill.

You don’t need to do everything at once. Pick one mock you’ve already taken. Review 10 items today using the mistake log categories. Choose one repeat pattern to fix this week. That small step—repeated consistently—is how mock exams actually improve your skills.