The 60% unrestricted rule in BCBA fieldwork: what counts, and how to catch up

Few BCBA fieldwork rules cause as much worry as the 60% unrestricted requirement. Trainees ask whether every month has to reach 60%, whether there is a minimum number of restricted hours, whether podcasts count, and what to do after a year of mostly direct sessions. Supervisors are asked to sign months that are almost entirely restricted and wonder whether they should.

The rule is simpler than it sounds, and it applies to your fieldwork as a whole, not to any single month. This article covers what the BACB actually requires, what never counts at all, and how to work out where you stand if you are already behind.

What the rule says

For BCBA fieldwork, at least 60% of your total hours must be unrestricted, and restricted activities can make up no more than 40%. With 2,000 hours of Supervised Fieldwork, that is at least 1,200 unrestricted hours. With 1,500 hours of Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork, it is at least 900. The 2027 requirements keep the same rule: at least 60% of total supervised fieldwork hours.

The Handbook is explicit that this is not a monthly requirement:

A month that is almost entirely restricted is not a failed month. Supervision percentage, observation minutes and the monthly hour range are checked month by month. The unrestricted percentage is not.

Two more things the Handbook settles:

• There is no minimum for restricted hours. In the Handbook’s words, “There is no minimum requirement for restricted hours.” You could complete all of your fieldwork with unrestricted activities. If you have seen “at least 800 restricted hours” online, 800 is the most restricted hours a 2,000-hour total can include, not a minimum.
• BCaBA trainees need 40%, not 60%. The BCaBA Handbook sets the minimum at 40% of total fieldwork hours, at least 520 unrestricted hours out of 1,300, and it is not a monthly requirement either.

The rule in one line: 1.5 unrestricted hours for every restricted hour

Because restricted hours can be at most 40% of the total, every restricted hour you count needs 1.5 unrestricted hours alongside it.

• 800 restricted hours need 1,200 unrestricted: 2,000 in total.
• 1,000 restricted hours need 1,500 unrestricted: 2,500 in total.

Restricted or unrestricted depends on what the activity is for

Restricted activities are the delivery of therapeutic and instructional procedures to a client. Unrestricted activities are the ones most likely to be performed by a BCBA: assessments, writing and revising programs, data graphing and analysis, training staff and caregivers, and researching the literature for a current client’s program. The Handbook’s glossary adds that not all time spent working with a client is restricted.

The same task can fall either way. The Handbook’s example is data collection: restricted if you collect data only as part of a client’s treatment program, unrestricted if you collect it to assess what the client needs next.

Supervision meetings are worth a closer look. In the BACB’s Fieldwork Checklist and Tip Sheet, one-to-one meetings to review your performance, discuss a program, or go over feedback are marked as unrestricted. Watching your supervisor model an intervention with a client is marked as restricted. Time with your supervisor away from the client often counts toward the 60%.

The final call belongs to your supervisor. The BACB’s fieldwork FAQ says supervisors are responsible for deciding whether an activity meets the fieldwork requirements. For worked examples, see restricted vs unrestricted hours and 32 unrestricted activity ideas.

What does not count at all

Every fieldwork hour, restricted or unrestricted, “must be related to specific client programming.” The Handbook lists activities that do not count as fieldwork at all, including:

• listening to podcasts
• attending conferences, workshops, or university courses
• coursework, readings for class, and quizzes
• meetings with little or no behavior-analytic content
• non-behavior-analytic administration, paperwork, and billing
• role-playing procedures that are not related to a client

That answers a common question. Podcasts, lectures, and general reading at home do not count. Reading research for a current client’s program does, and so does writing or revising that client’s program.

Why RBTs fall behind

Most RBT work is direct service, which is restricted. The BACB’s fieldwork FAQ notes that unrestricted activities “are likely outside of the scope of an RBT’s responsibilities,” and RBT roles are usually built around direct sessions. That is why it is common to hear from trainees with over a thousand hours and less than a quarter of them unrestricted.

What helps is planning unrestricted work from the first month, not the last year:

• Agree with your supervisor which unrestricted activities you will do for your current clients, and when.
• Graph and analyze your clients’ data, draft program updates for review, and prepare caregiver or staff training.
• Record supervision meetings away from the client in the category the Tip Sheet gives them.
• Check your running percentage every month, not only at the end.

Already behind? Work out where you stand

Multiply your restricted hours by 1.5. That is the unrestricted total you need if you count all of those restricted hours.

For example, a trainee with 1,000 restricted and 300 unrestricted hours has 1,300 hours at 23% unrestricted. They need 1,500 unrestricted hours, so 1,200 more, finishing at 2,500 in total. Every restricted hour added along the way raises that target by another 1.5 hours.

Three things to keep in mind:

• Time matters. Fieldwork must be completed within five continuous years, so a large catch-up needs a realistic weekly plan. At 20 unrestricted hours a week, 1,200 hours takes about 60 weeks.
• There is no after-the-fact fix. The Handbook describes adjusting hours when a month misses a monthly requirement, but not a way to remove hours later to fix the overall percentage. Do not change signed forms to fix the ratio.
• Make the plan with your supervisor. Once your restricted hours reach 40% of the total you plan to finish with, every further restricted hour you count adds to what you need, so agree how your time will be documented from then on.

Concentrated hours and the 1.33 multiplier

If you mix Supervised and Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork, the 1.33 multiplier only helps you reach the combined hour total. The Handbook says it applies only to Concentrated hours and only for reaching that total, and forms record the actual hours. The unrestricted percentage uses actual hours.

For example: 1,000 Supervised hours (550 restricted, 450 unrestricted) and 600 Concentrated hours (100 restricted, 500 unrestricted). Toward the combined total, that is 1,000 + 600 × 1.33 = 1,798 hours. For the ratio, it is 950 unrestricted out of 1,600 actual hours, which is 59.4%, just short. Applying the multiplier to the ratio would show 62% and hide the shortfall.

The monthly form does not show the split

The 2027 Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form records independent hours, supervised hours, and observation time. It has no line for restricted or unrestricted hours, so your supervisor signs each month without the split appearing on the form.

That puts the 60% entirely in your own records. The Handbook asks you to record the activity category, restricted or unrestricted, for every session, supervision contact, and observation, and across all fieldwork hours to keep documentation showing that “they are accruing the minimum number of unrestricted hours and making progress.”

How FieldworkABA helps

FieldworkABA is a BCBA fieldwork tracker. When you log fieldwork hours, each entry is split into restricted and unrestricted time. The Total hours page shows your overall unrestricted percentage across every month, calculated on actual hours, and each month shows its own percentage against the overall target rather than as a monthly pass or fail. A ratio planner, filled in with your own hours, shows how many more unrestricted hours you need and how many restricted hours you can still log. You can try the same math without an account in the free fieldwork hours calculator.

Sources

• BCBA Handbook, BACB, updated 06/2026.
• BCaBA Handbook, BACB, updated 06/2026.
• Commonly Asked Questions About BACB Supervised Fieldwork Requirements, BACB.
• Fieldwork Checklist and Tip Sheet, BACB, updated 06/2026.
• 2027 Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form: Individual Supervisor, BACB, Version 06/2026.